Good Wood for A First Timer

[CLevar]

Hi All,

Brand new to this, and wanted some input as to a good native wood to try out for my first bow.  I live in Northern Minnesota.  I am not looking to do anything crazy, just a decent project for over the fall.  I have been doing a little flint knapping over the last few years, and thought that a bow is in order.  Any and all advice will be greatly appreciated.

Much thanks,

Caleb

[brian_restivo]

How good are your arrow heads?? Huntable??  I'd trade a strait and dry peice of osage for a some hunters. My knapp'n isn't nothing to be proud of yet. If you're interested PM me.

[CLevar]

Huntable?  Depends on what I would want to shoot.  I have a few points that would make decent small game heads (rabbits, grouse, etc) but not much in the way of larger points.  Right now I am limited by the amount of flint, chert and obsidian that I can get my hands on in Northern Minnesota.  Eventually, my goal is to take a whitetail with a self made bow and point, hence the desire to get working on a first bow.  Any good sources you can recommend for osage staves?

[brian_restivo]

Pine Hollow Long bow or ebay. Depends on how much you want to drop on one. I think pine hollow runs about 90 and is your better option. I was hope'n to go all primitive this year but...   I'm just about done with the bow. Still need to figure out the hole shaft straiten'n and practice knap'n. Looks like next year. Your friends might think your nuts but just wait till they see the smile it'll put on face. GL

[George Tsoukalas]

If I had it to do all over again I'd either cut or buy a nice straight hickory stave. If I cut it I'd get  myself to a lumberyard and pick out a nice straight grained red oak board. I'd make a bend in the handle board bow. 1.5 in wide would get me 50-55# while 1 3/8 would get me 45-50#. Yes sir, that's what I'd do. What I did was learn or twisty gnarly black locust. I did learn how to work character staves but...LOL. My site has more. Jawge
http://georgeandjoni.home.comcast.net/~georgeandjoni/

[CLevar]

For a red oak board bow, whats the word on backing?  Air?  Rawhide?  I would be looking for something to pull 40# or so at 28 in or a bit longer.  Thanks for all of the info so far...seems like a good group of guys on here.

Caleb

[Josh]

If you are making a board bow unbacked... you want the straightest-grained piece there is.  the grain needs to run straight from end to end on the back of the bow as well as the side of the bow.  I won't use an oak board that has more than 2 run outs on the side per limb.  If it has 2 then I won't make the bow over 50 lbs.  The ideal board is very hard to find but backing them with silk or linen is relatively simple and offers a bit of protection from it lifting a splinter or coming apart.  Also, I like to make my red oak board bows a little bit wider (1.75 inches) They seem stabler and take less string follow. Good luck! 

[tronman]

Living in northern MN you are surrounded or hopefully close by hardwood trees  You should have a nice selection of wood including sugar maple, elm, ironwood or oak. My brother and I took a maple and elm down from the Detroit lakes area and made a couple nice bows from them. Good luck.

[George Tsoukalas]

For boards, I would use silk linen or burlap. Remember to choose a straight grained board. You should back your first few. Jawge

[sailordad]

clevar your in a good spot for good wood in mn
lots oh hhb in northern mn
hop horn beam is an awesome bow wood,i love it

dont make ay plans on hunting with stone heads anytime soon in mn
it is ILLEGAL HERE
the state law is ver clear on this topic,look in the 2010 hunting regs manual
it says "braod heads must have atleast 2 METAL cutting edges and be atleast 7/8ths of inch wide and of barbless design"
i ghate that frigging law,i talked with the head of the dnr in my area
he said forget they aint never gonna change that law,he also said dont get caught using them either.he wouldnt elaborate as to why
my guess is hefty fine,and the loss of hunting privlages for 3 yrs


brian: just throwing it out there.i can make "huntable heads"

[brian_restivo]

looking for osage??

[sailordad]

always 

[brian_restivo]

You have an email? We can swap some pics and work something out.   Im at  brestivo247@yahoo.com

[CLevar]

dont make ay plans on hunting with stone heads anytime soon in mn
it is ILLEGAL HERE

Dang it!  I am glad someone let me know before I went out hunting...oh well.  Thanks for the info.

[CLevar]

So, I decided to go with a red oak board bow as advised.  Thanks for all of your help/input.  Hopefully I will be able to get something shoot-able soon!  I can tell this is going to be as addicting as homebrewing!  One more thing for SWMBO to complain about...