Hickory flatbow for my Son *Completed ! + pics*

[Bert]

heya guys !
I've got my Osage bow to floor tiller, but i'm giving it a week off to take on this project I promised my son (5y old).
He really is into "his big dad making a new bow" for him, and it would be great if he got to shoot it in the summer vacation !

At my local hardware store they've got a section with broom handles, axe grips, spades and whatnot.
Spotted alot of handles in various sizes and forms made out of Ash (wich is the wood by choice for handles in my parts)

Amongst them i've spotted a pile of Hickory grips, made for sledge-hammers. These are 100cm high (40") and quite thick.
I reckoned this might serve well to get a kid-sized bow out, and after searching trough more then 50 handles, I found this one :


Its all sapwood hickory, and the most straight grained in the pile.


I chased a nice thick ring close to the center of the handle, to serve as the back:



After that i drew out an american flatbow style, scaling down dimensions of design I remembered from earlier.




After giving it a good hour above the steam pots, i decided to try and give the bow a little recurve.
Hoping it would help counter a bit of string follow tillering and shooting it might bring along.


Let it sleep in the clamp overnight. The day after i started drawing and reducing the limbs, trying to get closer to floor tillering it.





I reduced the thickness with caution, as i don't want to 'overshoot' my target ..
Obviously the above pictures show my limbs to be very rough.

I continiued to reduce the limbs some more, to the point its about 10mm thick leaving the riser, and 8mm on the tips.
(upper limb)


(lower limb)



I was wondering what you guys think here, as this (tiny) bow is starting (ever so slightly) to bend on the floor (not even 1/4") wheter i should continue to reduce the thickness or take off some of the width of the limbs ?

It's a bit odd to judge, as this bow is a miniature. Reducing the thickness "feels" like its gonna get extremely 'fine'.

Thanks for reading !
Bert

[bubby]

with the draw weight for a 5 yr old your final limb thickness will probablly end up around 1/4"so it's gonna get "fine", not shure on your dimension's but you can take the width down to an inch and a half or smaller, but i'd start there, it's looking good, i love building kids bow's, Bub

[tattoo dave]

Ya what Bubby said. You could reduce the thickness and the width a lot for a 5 yr old. Keep us posted, and have fun with it. I'm sure your boy will.

Tattoo Dave

[lostarrow]

Hey Bert, I finished up a couple of bows for my kids this spring (7+5).HHB backed with linen cloth. 40" tip to tip ,1-1/8" at the fades,1/4" at the nock . Steady taper with about a 5" handle and arrow pass. Stave bow from 4"-5" tree. Slightly rounded belly to match the rounded back. Heat treated it while I was fliping the tips ever so slightly. It had a bit of reflex so it settled into a classic Plains gull wing profile. The limbs are only 1/4" thick  which can make it a bit tricky to tiller. Make sure you have an arrow of the correct draw length on hand when you are working in the limbs so you dont pull it too far.(You WILL want to pull it back by hand regardless of what tillering method you use.They are just so cute you can't resist.) The linen back might be overkill but others on this site can probably attest to the amazing things linen backed Hophornbem can accomplish. My daughter's bow is a 45" ntn Red Oak board bow along the lines of the one you are making.1-1/4" at the fades down to5/16" at the tips. Working limb isonce again 1/4" back up to3/8" at the tips which were given a slight recurve. 1/4" to 3/8" taper starts at 6" from the tip . Both bows shoot  #10 @17" . Might seem a little heavy for him at first but they grow so quickly at this age.You may want to tiller it out slightly longer so he can get another year out of it. Try to get it as close to center shot as possible or you may have a hard time matching arrows to it.I used 5/16 poplar dowels from Lowes and they work great. These little bows are NOT toys however diminutive they may be . They will bury a field point  1/2" into a fence board easily. Have fun!!!!!!! P.S. I think I posted pics on this site  a while ago .

[lostarrow]

Sorry , I just realised the pics are elsewhere. I'll have to get some in a smaller format to post.
 

[Bert]

Hiya guys,
back with some update pics :

Followed up on the advice to make the limbs thinner, ended up with a hair above 3/16 " thickness.
Started tillering; instantly noticed a limb twist in the upper limb (right side)

Tillering these small bows (40" ntn) is a slow process in my book 

Shortened my tiller 'string' here, this is the max bend I'm looking for.
Final stages was tillering with rough sandpaper !


Limb twist works out fine .. I'm not sure i can do much about it.
My son had a few arrows on it and it did take on some stringfollow (small inch)
Had to pry it out his hands to finish it up 
Pulls 24# @ 22", but tough for him, but he grows sOoo fast I bet he'll draw it easily when the winter comes ...

[DarkSoul]

WOW!  That is some serious bending there! So you've made a 40 inch nock to nock bow that pulls to 22" drawlength?! That's crazy, even for a drawweight this low.
Watch that fade in the right limb. It's a bit hingey there...

[Bert]

Yes I agree on the 'dodgy' fade on the right limb, but it's doing allright !
It took me 4-5 hours tillering this bow, as I remember someone saying

A small problem in a big bow, is a big problem in a small bow !

And this is actually very much right ..
I'm not saying this is the best tiller, but for me being rusty, and this actually being a sledghammer, I'm happy with the result ! 

Gonna post some pics of what -hopefully- be a finished bow tomorrow evening !

Bert

[Bert]

As promised, some pictures of the end result :

Its a fair and simple flatbow. Might still add a leather grip & arrow shelf. Not gonna do any tip overlays.
Did a small celtic boar 'talisman' on the upper limb. Its me wishing my son good luck with this bow 

Gave it a nice coat with some clear scratchproof varnish.
(He's just starting to learn to shoot, so i pardon his stance  , also he cannot yet pull it full drawlenght)

Sure looks happy with it ! isn't that what its all about ?


Just an honest tip







I'll have some full draw shots when the wife gets home to take the pic !
So ? Whadya think ?

[paulsemp]

That is one lucky kid! Nice job dad

[Slackbunny]

Very nice. I've always wondered about using those hardware store handles.

[lostarrow]

That smile is the greatest payment a man could ever recieve! Well done!

[lesken2011]

That one turned out really nice for the young man! Good job, Dad!!

[Badly Bent]

You are right about how difficult kids bows are to make but it sure gives you a great feeling when you give one to a kid. You made a nice little bow there.

[uncleduck]

That smile is the greatest payment a man could ever recieve! Well done!

That smile on his face says it all!