My First Bow (saying hi)

[carpespasm]

Hi all, I've been reading up on bowyering for some time now, and after a few false starts I think I may have the startings of what may be my first serviceable bow. I'm going off of the instructions Sam Harper put up on geocities.com/salampsio/oak and working with Red Oak. Below are a few photos of what I have so far, I'd appreciate any input you all have since this is my first bow and I'm hoping to get something fairly decent from it.


As it stands tonight, I'll be backing it with the fiberglass tape tomorrow afternoon.


One arm of the bow, as well as some the tools at my disposal.


Riser being glued onto the bow.

I still need to make a tillering tree and figure out the best way to make my string since I'm planning on using some artificial sinew I have to make that, but I think this could become a quickly addicting hobby.

[mullet]

  You could back it with rawhide,sinew,or bamboo and not taint it with that plastic stuff ;)Check out Jawges site on here for some good information on board bows.Oh, and welcome.

[mullet]

 Hmmm,looking at the last picture,where are you at in Florida?

[carpespasm]

Indeed I do. I'm from Jacksonville. I'll probably try some more traditional backing with my next bow, but for right now I have the itch to get one that works and the drywall tape is a lot easier to come by than nice rawhide strips, lots of sinew, or nice neat strips of bamboo . I'd definitly like to do a full out hide glue, sinew, and stick I've cut myself bow. This one is more for practice and getting some experience.

[Minuteman]

You can use arty sinew if it is made of dacron. If its nylon the string you make from it won't be worth a hoot. Too much stretch.  A roll of B-50 isn't very expensive( 3 rivers carries it) and it'll make a buncha strings for the long line of bows you will inevitably crank out. The paper drywall tape works pretty well. And you've got a canvas on the back of the bow ready to decorate when yer done. Make sure you round the edges of the back before you start bending the wood.

[cowboy]

Good lookin stick so far - looks like you've got a bout the same settup as I do, cept mine's not as organized - everything scattered around haphazardly. You can make some cardboard sleeves real quick to store your rasps in, make those teeth stay sharp a lot longer ( tip from Bob). Welcome aboard!

[Beleg813]

I still need to make a tillering tree and figure out the best way to make my string since I'm planning on using some artificial sinew I have to make that, but I think this could become a quickly addicting hobby.

http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php/topic,3423.0.html

Hey Carpespasm!

I hope this link works. It's a link to the topic I started regarding tillering trees. I'm in the process of making one from what seems to be considerably less tools than you have, so you should have no problem making a tree or a tillering stick whichever you prefer. All the things I bought are listed in this post including some very helpful pictures, plans, etc. Hope it helps

[carpespasm]

Update: I've been kinda busy the past few days, but I did shape the handle a little better and got some string wax and a spool of line to wrap my string with.

[carpespasm]

I was wondering, what would the likelyhood of making a workable bowstring from nylon dental floss be? It comes pre-waxed and seems to have a good tensile strength.

[D. Tiller]

Uhm! Dont know! You can always giive it a try but I think you will need a lot of floss! 

[cowboy]

I read about using it for tying fletchin's and stuff, didn't see any mention about string's though - don't see why not, other than maybe it'd stretch some?

[mullet]

   Whew,that's alot of dental floss.You would be better off with B-50.It would be a shame to see a string break and the bow go with it.I see that you have that plastic drywall tape.What are you going to glue it with?The reason I'm asking is alot of glues will not bond with 'glass,plastic and wood.The paper tape,a couple or three layers would be a better choice with TB3.

[carpespasm]

I was planning on using a very liberal coating of Titebond II, pretty much encasing the tape.

[mullet]

It will not bond and lock it to the wood with that backing.You need a backing that water will flow through for the water soluble glue to bond everything together.Tite bond is just a chemical cousin of the fibreglass or plastic tape you are using.You will have to use a flexible glass resin to work with that stuff.And in my opinion I still don't think it will bond.

[Pat B]

Brown grocery bag will hold it together as well as the dry wall tape and you don't have to buy it. Think about what paper is...a conglomeration of wood fibers that are matted together. Add a water soluble glue and you have the same effects as fiber glass...and not as brittle.
   Fiberglass is wonderful stuff but it isn't needed for traditional archery! I finally realized it wasn't necessary and now I'm going "backwards" to true archery...and it works as well as any of the other types of archery if you practice with your stuff.       Pat