maple bow

[Paintball9]

as most of u can already tell im new to this site.
a couple of years back i made a trebuchet for a school project and when i made it i had to purchase hardwood for the throwing arm (there's a lot of force behind that sucker) anyways i now realized that i have a fiarly large amount left and was wondering if i could possible make a bow or two out of it.

i have the main board from which i ended up cutting everything else and i figured it out to be 0.7g/cm3. now from what i could tell this is really high for any kind of maple (i dont know which one this is) and the piece i had cut off two years back i found to be only 0.47g/cm3. this seems really low considering it came off the same piece of wood.

if i can make it out of this then great. if not then i do have another possible wood. early this year we had to cut some saskatoon bushes down in our yard because they were too close together. well this wood is fairly heavy, bends far without breaking and i have lots of it. i think its around 10 15' pieces. they are about 2 inches at the bottom and are around 14 feet long. i dont know if this wood would be suitible for making a bow out of but i figured one of u experts would be able to tell me.

if i can make it out of one of those two the rest should be easily available. if i made flax bowstrings i can get flax from one of the farmers nearby. (definitley not a shortage of flax around here). another option is rawhide but that is a little more limited as i actually have to kill the creature first. and from what ive seen there arnt many squirels or gophers around here. (not enough anyways)

any help or advice that could be given to me would be greatly appretiated. i can provide images of most of the stuff i mentioned and elaborate if needed. feel free to ask if u are unsure of what i said.

nick

[Paintball9]

i forgot to mention the legnth of the wood

the short piece is just over 1m long and 1inch by 1 inch

the other piece is 138 cm and is 8.2 by 3.7 or something like that (thats 55 inches long for u imperial users)

[Justin Snyder]

For a first bow, I would get a longer piece of wood.  A short bow is more difficult to tiller without having a problem.  If you do go for a new piece of wood, I would suggest hickory.  Justin

[a finnish native]

a bow with such lenght should have a draw lenght of about 23 inches 57,5 cm. no longer piece of wood is needed. you can easily get a bow for hunting etc from a stave that long. it is not even harder to do than long ones. and requires much less work due to the amount of wood you shall handle. good luck!

[Paintball9]

what about the really short one? would it be possible to make a crossbow out of that one. from the pictures of other crossbows i saw the 2.5x2.5x100 piece of maple i have would be bigger than those.

[a finnish native]

or then you can make a kids bow. I have made a hunting bow from a piece of wood that was 110cm long and it came out at 47# at 48 cm of draw. (19,9 inches)

[Justin Snyder]

Paintball,  Just about anything is possible if all goes right.  However that does not make it likely to happen. I have a 34 1/2" bow that draws 20".  SO WHAT! Short bows have less wood doing the same amount of work.  The forces on a short bow are compounded into a short area.  If you make a slight mistake on a long bow,  66". Often the length will absorb the mistake and the bow will still be fine.  If you make the same mistake on a short bow, 55". Chances of the bow exploding or having a hinge that completely ruins the bow are significantly higher.  I for one would like to see your first bow be something you are proud of and can shoot for years to come.  I would also like to see you learn to build bows and enjoy shooting them.  You will be able to learn to shoot and have a lot more fun with a bow that fits your draw length and is comfortable.  Short bows can be fun to make. I have no doubt you will come back and make a bow from this maple.  But increase your odds on the first bow by going a little longer.

finnish native,  removing less wood does not mean there is less work involved.  The real work of making a bow is the mental work of tillering.  Anybody can take wood off a stick. The trick is to take it off in just the right spot at just the right time to make the stick a bow.    Justin

[a finnish native]

finnish native,  removing less wood does not mean there is less work involved.  The real work of making a bow is the mental work of tillering.  Anybody can take wood off a stick. The trick is to take it off in just the right spot at just the right time to make the stick a bow.    Justin

still there is far more less wood to remove. so physically it has a smaller job though it is harder. 

[Paintball9]

thank you all for your sugestions. i hope to get some time later on and go find some hickory in a longer length.
one question before i do that though. is there a theoritical maximum legnth to a bow or would it be rediculous to even think of making a bow that is 8 feet long?

[Justin Snyder]

No its not unreasonable to consider a bow 8' long, but most designs perform better at shorter lengths.  For a draw length of 28" a bow length of around 68" is a good place to start.  Read "bow making directions" on Georges site. http://mysite.verizon.net/georgeandjoni/archer.html   You can build from the directions and dimensions there and really save yourself a lot of trouble figuring things out.  Justin