Oakwood Bow

[Arrowind]

This is my second bow...First successful bow.  It is made from...what else? A Red Oak board I bought from Lowes.  It's called Oakwood Bow two reasons.  One because of the wood it's made from and the other from it's owner.  The story is that it belonged to a human called Toren Oakwood who began learning to make bows from the elves and this is what he produced....Yes I'm kind of a fantasy / Medeaval / Lord of the Rings fan....  It measures in at 72" ttt backed with burlap.  36# @ 28" The top limb has my name written in Elvish runes and the bottom says "Oakwood bow".   I learned alot from this bow. I'm still learning from this bow.  When I made it back in December I didn't know what I didn't know and I didn't really know much at all.  You know?  When I finished I thought I had done a great job and was quite pleased with myself. It works! It actually works!  I was surprised at how exciting it was to shoot an arrow from a bow that I made.  Now when I pick it up I can see my mistakes so very clearly and that's a good thing.  It means I'm learning...As you will readily see the bottom limb is almost whip ended and has a fair amount of positive tiller.  I should have made it the top limb and taken more wood off near the fades.  I also tillered it to 33 inches my mistakenly measured draw length...so it pulls 36lbs to 28 and if I really pull past my ear almost... 40lbs at 33....I'm  sure I made many other mistakes but I like this bow.  And I like that I can see my mistakes because it means I am getting better at this... and now I know a little more of what I don't know....I hope you like it.  Any comments are appreciated.   

[Arrowind]

Some more pics

[toomanyknots]

Very cool nock overlays!

[fishfinder401]

very nice, i like the elvish , nice to see a fellow lord of the rings fan on here
good luck with future bows
noel

[Dvshunter]

Very cool bow. I like the artwork and the tips. On the next one try to get both limbs bending the same amount at the same place. In the picture above, it looks like your left limb is stiffer than the right and the right limb is bending more midlimb than the left. I wouldn't change anything on it now, just enjoy it and make more. Lots more!

[LEGIONNAIRE]

Nice artwork!

[toymaker]

That is a beautiful bow! Nice Job!

[Arrowind]

Thanks Everyone!  I really appreciate the comments. 

Dvshunter - Thanks for the advice. I do appreciate your observations. I am working hard to improve my tillering skills and I hope to  be able to produce some better tillered bows like so many I've seen on this site.  I have a few in progress.  I hope they turn out.  Thanks again.

[George Tsoukalas]

That is a mighty nice bow...from the artwork to the tiller. Jawge

[Jesse]

Once you get the functional part of bow building figured out you are going to make some killer bows. For a first bow that is outstanding.

[Almostpighunter]

Very nice! Love the artwork and tip overlays.

[Pappy]

Very nice work,just beautiful.     
   Pappy

[crooketarrow]

   I'd say thats perrty nice for your second bow.  GOOD JOB

[briarjumper12]

what did you use to paint on the designs?  I been wanting to do something similar but I haven't painted anything since I gave up fingerpainting back in the 80's.
What paint/brushes should a man purchase to do what you done?
Thanks,
John

[Matt S.]

That bow looks very nice! The tillering skills will come quickly... it looks like you're almost there. In the meantime, enjoy your Oakwood Bow!