Easter Woodlands Board Bow Questions

[yebon]

Hello all,

I am very new to primitive archery but am very interested. I was looking for a hobby that I could do with my son.  He is only 1 but I came across this website and just thought it was the coolest thing.  I want to start to learn how to build bows arrows and other primitive items so when my son is of age we can do it together.
  I am looking to make my first board bow soon.  I really like the look of the eastern woodlands style bows.  I have some questions tho.  I at this time cannot afford the Traditional bowyers bible so I do not have a good depiction of what the dimensions were.  From what I have seen form posts is that they are around 64" but that is all I know.  What I was planning was one that was around the 64" ntn and around 45-50lbs draw at around 27".  I was hoping someone could give me some guidance on dimensions wood selection (Board Bow). and any other tips would be greatly appreciated. 

Thanks I am really excited to start.

Chris

[BOWMAN53]

Heres a link with what your looking for.

http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php/topic,5630.msg77931.html#msg77931

[Thesquirrelslinger]

Make it around 70", red oak or hickory 1x2*. I haven't tried hickory(i can't get any) yet, but I have made a few of the red oak ones.  Mark the center of the board, then mark the centerline(parallel to the sides) of the board. At the tips- mark 3/16 from the centerline on both sides, then draw lines so the board looks sort of like this-
EDIT- attachment 1.
The tips should be about 3/8 inch wide to 1/2 inch wide, full thickness of board.
the handle should be about 1 3/4 or so wide, full thickness of board.
 the limbs should taper from the handle to the tips.

then grip the bow in the handle, put one tip agianst the floor, and lean into it. It may or may not bend. if it does.. then see where. if it bends mostly in the handle area.. you need to thin, NOT NARROW, the limbs, but NOT the handle. try to keep the belly side of the bow flat. To tiller a bow- remove wood where the bow doesn't bend enough. its not easy.
Ill finish this later.
*there should be fewer than 3 dark lines(grain runouts) on the back of the bow. Its best to back a board bow if there are many or the lines go into the edge of the limb..
I advise you to get TBB volume 1. its cheapish... and really, really, really helps.

[ionicmuffin]

You can make the bow 64" if you wish or even 66-68", something that I've found helpful is to make yourself a pulley system tillering tree because as a beginner you tend to overstress the limbs without seeing your mistakes and faults in the tiller of the bow. By using that kind of tillering device I think that you can step back and see the problems and at the same time not put the stress on the limbs for more than a second or two, this can reduce some set because if you just notch the string in and step back that's several seconds that the limbs are holding that stress. The other advice I can give are these. Go for a simple and flat side profile, reflexing is complex and often tillering it can be a bit of a pain. With red oak you want to keep it a bit wide as in 1.5" or 1.75" maybe 2" but that could be excessive, guess it depends on the length of the bow. Looks like Eastern Woodlands style is the same width until the tips, so it looks like 1.5 or 1.75 would be best and taper to 5/8" tips a couple of inches(not sure here but guessing about 2-5) What ever board you buy make sure the grain is good quality and make sure it looks like a dense piece. If it starts gaining weight after you get it home then its probably too low  MC (Moisture Content) and so you should let it stabilize to a weight where it doesn't change much at all. The difference between a dry piece and a proper MC piece would be explosion vs none(hopefully). Take your time while tillering and check yourself often. Round the edges always, it helps to prevent a splinter from lifting and could keep you from a lot of headache. Wear eye protection so as to avoid any mishaps until you are comfortable with your ability or if you have  a pulley tillering set up then you may not need it. Ask questions on here as often as you have need of it because there is a lot of knowledge from all the people on here. Take your time looking for a board, if you don't find a good one at that store move on and look for another one, boards get expensive and frustrating if you break a bunch of bad boards.

[Scallorn]

Here are some measurements of a pair of bows collected in the Virginia colony around 1665. These are the "blueprints" I go to when building eastern woodland style bows.

[George Tsoukalas]

There's a board buildalong on my site. YOu can change the width to 1 3/8" and that will get you 45-50# if you do your part but making weight is tough for beginners.

Please the website shows a bend in the handle bow. No glued on handles. The build is easier and anyway you said you wanted to make an Eastern Woodland bow and that's the way they were. I've seen pictures of very few with handles.

http://georgeandjoni.home.comcast.net/~georgeandjoni/index.html

Jawge

[bubby]

x2 on jawges site, that will get you going good, happy building, bub

[yebon]

Wow thank you all for the wealth of information.  I am excited to get started.  Again any tips to add to those that are already posted are welcome. 

Thanks
Chris

[Thesquirrelslinger]

Follow Goerge's buildalong.