Newbie and His First Working Bow

[PrivateDeli]

Hello, I'm 20 years old and woke up one day to find myself wanting to make a bow. So I did some research and found out some bow making tips. I finally decided to make a self-bow and bought a fine piece of oak to build my first bow.

 I sadly don't have pictures of that bow, but I wanted it to be a good 75 pound draw at 30 inches. Well, it failed because of my poor attempt at stringing it. DX

But I was persistant and lowered my standards!!! I finally settled on a piece of maple after about an hour and a half of searching and employee's looking at me funny.

This is the end result. My first actual working bow and my second attempt! =)


Here it is strung with my flemish twist, artificial sinew string. The tillering looks funny in this picture, but on a level plane it looks alright to me, but I'm not real sure since this only my second attempt.




Not strung.



This Bow ended up falling way short of my expectations,, it only draws about 28 pounds at 30 inches.
I steamed it to add a little recurve and it looks real pretty to me so that's what counts right?

[half eye]

Hey PD,
      And a damned fine bow!!! It's bending and shooting and that's great. Most guys dont get a working bow on their second try....good for you, and keep on makin 'em. Welcome to the craft.
rich

[George Tsoukalas]

Very nice bow and congratulations! Jawge

[mullet]

 Great second bow. I don't know how many I broke before I got a shooter. I killed a lot of rabbits with a 25# bow.

[PrivateDeli]

Surprisingly, it shoots really good for a 25 pound bow. Distance wise it's getting some good distances, around 100 yards I think, maybe 125. It hasn't been stained or polyurethaned.

Definitely plan on making more bows in the future. Thanks for the welcome! I'll be doing some rabbit hunting with it soon.

[cowboy]

Keep on making bows, they all get better as you go.. That's one damn fine bow for a second attempt!

[ken75]

as has been said before to get a working bow on the second attempt is awesome , your two years ahead of me . welcome and keep posting ! nice bow

[Jesse]

great job. I remember how happy I was the first time I let an arrow loose out of my first working bow. Nothing like it

[PrivateDeli]

Oh also, for any other aspiring newbies: This is a maple board bow. I made it with about 5 days total time into it including the drying time for the slight recurve. Without the recurve I litterally spent about only 8 hours on this bow. It only draws 25 pounds, but shoots like a 30-40 pounder.

The thickness was only 3/8ths all the way through, and it's 1 1/2 inch width tapers down to 5/8ths. It's 64 inches long.


In this picture you can really see how there is a slight twist in the bow when fully drawn.

[medicinewheel]

You've done very well on your first bow!
You may want to improove it by rounding some edges and workin on the fade outs, but hey, you may as well do that on your next one! 

[wally]

Great first bow.
I've made a few bows but I still hurry the tillering process (I once made a good looking Meare Heath bow heading for 70lb but ended up with a good looking Meare Heath bow of 28lb).
    You will now be addicted to bowmaking and have to put up with 'her indoors' saying- 'Another bow! Haven't you got enough bows!'
welcome

[Pappy]

Great 2nd bow for sure,Now grab a piece of wood and go for 3.
   Pappy

[Thwackaddict]

good job,i have found that wood is worse by far than crack.i at least try to overdose everyday and have had a few close calls!!Remember you have the wood it doesnt have you!!!  welcome aboard and get another going!!

[Del the cat]

Well done, plenty of people give up before getting a shooter. Good to have you on board.
Del
PS, If you click on the world symbol under my username you will get to my website, there are some tillering videos on there which might be of interest.

[Josh]

Very nice first bow!  Got it bookmarked for September Self BOM contest as well.