First bow, need help on handle design

[emr454]

Hi all, first post here. I've been lurking a while trying to gather up as much info as I can about bow making.

I am using this site as a guide for my first board bow: http://poorfolkbows.com/oak.htm

I plan on following the directions word for word, but I've read that for your first bow it may be easier to make it bend through the handle. Does anyone have any guidelines/designs for a bendy handle red oak bow?

Right now I'm about halfway done with the side limb taper on this board. After I have the side taper done I'd like to wait and see what you folks here have to say about the handle. Thanks in advance!

Eric

[profsaffel]

What you heard about D bows usually being easier for a beginner has some truth to it, but it's far from a set rule. My first six (7 or 8 maybe, can't remember) bows were similar in style to the 'poorfolks bow' so there is nothing wrong with learning using his guide. D bows can have some subtle (and a few not so subtle) problems to overcome as well. I think the thing that is most important at this juncture is making the bow YOU want to make. If you want a D bow, make that. If you want the American flatbow, use the 'poor folks guide'. For a guide on D bows, and there are plenty more out there, you could try Jawge's site: http://georgeandjoni.home.comcast.net/~georgeandjoni/archer.html

Have fun, break a bow or two, make one, break three more, scrape scrape scrape 'sigh' scrape scrape, and have fun bending wood. (sorry, I couldn't help summing up about five general philosophies into one post - see what you all are doing to me!)

-Prof

[walkabout]

"d" bows take advantage of more working limb, which keeps from overworking limbs in most cases. if youre following the build you posted a link to youll be fine, i also started building using sams site. after you get a few done you can start toying with dimensions and handle styles, etc.. till you find what style you like building , then just experiment with diferent stuff. really the sky is the limit once you get the basics down, and sams site will steer you in the right direction. if you are still set on a "d" bow, georges site has great information, although if you already glued on a block for the handle its probably too late to build one unless you plan on taking it off.

[emr454]

Thanks guys!

I havent glued on a handle yet, but I just may go ahead and continue with the tutorial. With a limited amount of tools I thought it might be easier to make a bendy handle bow. I dont have a belt sander or a rasp to make the radius where the handle meets the limbs. So far I've just been using a plane and it's working pretty well. We'll see how it goes!

Eric

[walkabout]

sounds good. remember though you dont have to really cut in an arrow shelf, you could always just narrow the handle and add a floppy rest. my first bow from sams tutorial didnt have a shelf cut in and it turned out great. my first one was also done with all hand tools. if i had to use only hand tools, and wanted a shelf, id cut it with a coping saw and then rasp it to final shape with a 4 way rasp/file then sand it. make sure not to cut too deep, really you only need enough for the arrow shaft to ride on and the fletching to not pinch.

[youngbowyer33]

Sounds like my first bow. For the fades you can just use a rounded rasp, or, what I did, cut a straight angled line with a jig saw then rasp, saves some time. I also used a plane for getting the dimensions down, and I found it worked great. And for the arrow self if you do a non-bending handle if you have a jig saw it works great.