Pro's in SE PA?

[bubby]

start with a board, preferablly hickory, and in the how to's there is a build a long, ranger b i think, also there is a good boardbow build a long on you tube, you can build a board bow cheap, learning without a high cost, and get a good shooter to boot. also jawges link is at the top of the how to page, all the info you need for a board bow, Bub

[MtDent]

Can someone give me a good place to start with to get tools, etc? The extent of my tool collection pretty much covers cars, not wood working of any sort beyond the basic cross-cut saw.

[Bevan R.]

Start checking flea markets, garage sales, estate auctions. You can watch ebay for some things. I just bought a new farrier rasp from a local farm supply for $20. Check for farriers in your area and pick up a used one.
A small hatchet is handy. I perfer a smaller drawknife 4" to 7" blade. Others like bigger ones. I know Dron makes some nice looking ones.
Depending on what you are making your bow out of, you do not need a ton of equipment.

[MtDent]

Hmm.....there aren't too many farm supply stores, flea markets or the like out around here. We have Home Depot and Sears Hardware.... I've looked online for drawknives and hatchets but I really don't have that much money to spend. I have a couple of small pocket knives..... I'm not sure that they would work out too well though. On eBay I just keep seeing "vintage this" and "old that". Should I risk buying an old drawknife or go with a new one? Sorry for all the questions! 

[Bevan R.]

All but 1 of my drawknifes are 'old' or 'vintage'. Usually they are the best. If you decide to bid on the auction, you want to look at the blade. The color is not what you are looking for, look for chips out of the edge and the back of the knife. Has it been beaten a lot with a hammer ( forcing it to do stuff it was not designed to do).
Also look at the handle. Are they tight looking or busted and loose.
In eastern Penn you should have some Amish stores around somewhere.
You might start looking around for trade items. Stuff you can offer here on the board to people as trade for tools and such. No cash but look at the trade thread. Lots of non primitive stuff has been traded for tools, wood, feathers, you name it.

[HickoryBill]

I get down to the Harrisburg area quite often( Like every couple of months or so) Where ya at exactly?

[MtDent]

Thanks for the info Bev! Very helpful! I'll probably head up to Lancaster and check it out seeing as it's pretty much Amish territory. And Bill, I live near West Chester, PA. It's about 45 mins to an hour west of center city. It's pretty much as "City" as you'll get without going to Philly. It's about an hour and a half, two hours away from Harrisburg according to google maps. I've never actually driven to Harrisburg so I wouldn't know exactly.

[Bevan R.]

It would be worth the extra money to get your hand tools from a good Amish supply. They will last you a lifetime!!

[MtDent]

They do make some quality stuff! I'll have to do that though because eBay won't work for me.... I have to be 18 in order to join eBay I'm 17 for another 3 and a half months! I'll plan on going to Lancaster this weekend or sometime soon!

So, from all the comments I've received, a good set of tools would be:
1) a drawknife
2) a small hatchet
3) a rasp

Is there anything I should add or remove?

[Bevan R.]

You can still look at stuff on ebay. see what it is selling for. It will give you an idea of some of the cost/value of things.

Some type of scrapper will be usefull. Lots of guys make there own out of scrap metal. I buy cabnet scrapers from a woodworking shop. But you will need someone to show you how to sharpen them. A good pocket knife can be used instead, but if you get used to using a good SHARP cabnet scrapper, you will never go back to a knife blade.

For a rasp, my first was a 4 in 1. They are relatively inexpensive. ( I just looked at home depot on line and they have it). They have curved and flat rasp and file parts. The first several bows I did used it.

[bubby]

for a scraper i still use a couple of pocket knives, they work fine, if your short on cash buy a 4 in 1 rasp, like $7 at HD, Bub

[MtDent]

I knew all you guys were nice but I didn't think I'd get so much help! On other forums (on other subjects), I'd never get this much help. Thanks a bunch! I'll go to my local Lowe's and pick up some boards and any other tools I can get cheap there and start myself a board bow. Hopefully I'll have the patience to get this to work well!

[Bevan R.]

Take your time. Ask questions. Post pics if you can. You will get lots of advice. Good Luck.
I would recommend one other thing. Paul Comstocks 'little' book called "The Bent Stick". You can order it on line. After I got that, my confidence and the quality of my bows really shot up. I still reread it.

[MtDent]

I'll try my best to get pictures and information up as soon as I start. I would like to go to Lowe's tonight and pick it up but we'll see how much time I have tonight!

One more question though. In the build alongs and instruction pages I've found, they say to glue the riser block to the bow. One build along in specific mentioned using Titebond II or III. What would you suggest I use?

[Bevan R.]

TB II is a little less expensive and will do what you need. for your first bow, I might suggest a bend in the handle type that does not have a glued on riser. That would take out another point of failure that can happen.