Found my old bow journal

[Matt S.]

Since I'm new here (I read the forums a lot though), a quick introduction is in order.
I was always interested in archery as a little bow, but back then my bows were bend sticks (usually from our apple tree) and my arrows were unfletched twigs. By high school, I was rediscovering the joys of shooting arrows and started to do a little research. I quickly stumbled upon the TBBs and got ahold of them though an inter-library loan. Wow, was I blown away with all the information and the gorgeous bows and arrows in those books. My parents ended up buying the set (I-III) for me and I made several bows.
After high school, archery pretty much took a back seat while I was in college. Only recently have I started getting back into it.

So my wife and I have been cleaning out the closets and I came across a spiral notebook that had bow designs in it. After flipping through a couple of pages I saw where I kept a journal of every bow I made! Each page was laid out as such:
Bow Name:
Wood:
Design:
Length:
Draw Length:
Draw Weight:
Tiler:
and then I had additional categories for some of the bows, like arrow speed, comfort, etc...

Here's a summary of the bows:
#1 - "Beginne's Luck" from a small diameter, unidentified tree. Drew about 30# @ 26" but had a bad hinge in one of the limbs. I tried backing it with a bright red yarn, but I think the bow eventually failed. Probably made in 1999-2000.
#2 - "Silverback" - Douglas Fir backed with duct tape . This was the breakthrough bow for me, the first tillered bow that handily outperformed my stick bows. Unfortunately it developed a crack in the handle and eventually broke.
#3 - Red Oak 1x2 - was tillering to 42#@28" but broke at 44#@25". Guess I over strained it I even drew a picture of where it broke on the back, the grain was severally violated, so no wonder it broke!
#4 - Another Douglas Fir board bow. Was either never finished or broke during construction.
#5 - My first real success! Red Oak 1x2x6. 'D' bow, 68" long. Backed with some blue cotton material. I still have this bow but I try not to shoot it anymore.
#6 - Douglas Fir flatbow. Was tillered too strong for my cotton string, so retillered. Shot well for many years, but recently I broke it when I made a new linen string for it. It had been in storage for years, so not sure if the extra stress from the non-stretching string did it in, or if the canvas backing had become loose.
*** This was the last bow I made while in high school***
#7 - A quick Mahogany bow made while at my brother's house in Indianapolis. it worked for a while, but the wood just kept taking larger and larger set before it eventually broke.
#8 - Silver maple bow from a tree at from my brother's house. I didn't actually get a chance to work on it until the summer I was working in the Rockies. It never made it past early tillering
*** Then, after another 6 years of no bow or arrow making, I have finally gotten back into it***
#9 - Red Oak 1x2x6. First bow with a deep handle. I actually started this one while in college but never tillered it. I finished this last spring. It's severally over built at 72" long and pulling 45#@29". My first successful unbacked bow!
#10 - Wife's bow - red oak 1x2x6. 70" long, 39"@28". This is a smooooth bow. Arrow rests on both sides so my wife and I can both use it.
#11 - Wife's friend's bow - red oak 1x2x6. 66" long, 35"@28. first bow I actually spent time on finishing (sanding, staining, handle details etc). Really nice.
#12 - Red oak 1x2x6. 50#@28", unbacked. First 50# bow! This one is in my first thread on these boards, "Bends too much near handle, worth retillering". Still a nice bow and made in only one day!

Sorry for the long post, but it was almost surreal going back 10 years to when I just got started making bows.
Does anyone else keep a journal?

[Del the cat]

Excellent!
I recently found some notes in the back of a little note book.
Bow pistol + detachable shoulder stock £20
Bow pistol £35
Bow pistol (decorative laminated stock) £45
1980 Left handed bowpistol with detachable shoulder stock £80
This was from way back and you can see I was into making bowpistols at the time.
The last one (and only dated entry) was for a gamekeeper.
There were also some notes on a couple of laminated crossbow prods I made.

I started keeping a bowyers diary in December 2008. Last april I started doing it as a blog on the web, just google 'bowyers diary' or get to it from my website (click the globe symbol beneath my username) if you want to look.

I bet the memories came flooding back when you opened your journal.
Good to have you on board.
Del
PS. Here's my bowpistol surviving from back then, walnut stock (my Brother cut it from a tree) 50# 132fps. It's great fun shooting in the garage or upto about 20yards.

[Sidewinder]

That journal is cool. Seems to me you need to get your hands on something other than oak and light woods and you will probabley be making yourself some durable shooters. I am sure if you check the density table previously published in the TBB series you will find that some of those woods you were working with were not as desirable as might be had. The thing I have found is that the repition and learning process is whats important at first anyway. As long as you can have a little success at first it will keep you coming back until you have it down and can take it to the next level. Try looking up a cabinet maker in you area and try a couple hickory board bows if you don't have much access to hardwoods or osage. Just aq thought...thanks for posting.  Danny

[Pat B]

This kind of stuff is part of our archery history. Can you imagine finding a journal that was written 50 or 100 years ago. Cool stuff.
  Do you still have any of the bows?

[Matt S.]

Back when I started I used any wood i could get, which, as you can see, was less than ideal. Not only did I not have the greatest wood to work with, I also only had a pocket knife and 8" rasp to make the bows with. I didn't have a workshop either, so I would make the bows on our deck by either sitting on it or putting an old sock over one tip, place that tip against something, and lean into the bow while scraping away. Oh the good old days!

I still have my 5th bow, the red oak D bow. The way I see it, none of the bows that broke were failures, they were just time-consuming lessons