New to it all, but I want to make a bow.

[Lessinor]

Hello everyone. I am new to this website and to the entire bow making process. I also have never hunted before but I am rather skilled with many other survival skills.

So I live in Colorado in the Denver area and I am looking to make a bow totally from scratch. Harvesting and processing the materials for the entire bow but as I have already mentioned I don't know more than the very basics.

Here are my material ideas:
From the research I have done the good bow woods that live in Colorado would be; Oneseed and Rocky Mountain Juniper, Rocky Mountain Mahogany, Gambel Oak and possibly Peachleaf or Pacific Willow. Correct me if any of these are poor woods or if any are far better than the others.

For the bowstring I was thinking of making it with Dogbane, something I am rather skilled with but how thick should I make it and how much weight should it be able to bear?

So what I need help with right now is:
Choosing whether to make a selfbow or some sort of composite.
What attributes should I look for in the piece of wood to harvest?
How should I harvest it? (Saw or ax?)
How long should I age it? and how should I age it? (heard someone mention covering the cut ends with glue, someone leaving it in their car under the windshield in the sun)

Also if anyone in Colorado knows where any good sized Rocky Mountain Mahogany is I would greatly appreciate it.
 
Also what tools should I get for the bowmaking process, all I have is a saw and carving knives.
 

[Slackbunny]

Welcome to the forum. I'll warn you, once you get started into this hobby its nearly impossible to stop, and you'll never look at another tree the same way again.

I'm not familiar with those wood species, or your area so I haven't got much to contribute there.

But in general you are ideally looking for about a six foot section of a tree with no branches or other defects. Watch how the bark runs up the tree, if it seems to spiral as it climbs up the trunk, the grain is twisted and maybe you should find another tree. You will never find the perfect tree, so just pick the best one you can find and go with it.

As far as harvesting, a saw or axe doesn't really matter. Just take care not to damage the tree too heavily during the process, especially if its a whitewood. With most whitewoods the first growth ring under the cambium will be the back of your bow, so you need to treat them with extra care.

Debark it, split it and seal the ends and back with a sealer of your choice. I use shellac because I always have it on hand and its easy to sand off later. Some people use glue or paint. Anything to keep the back and the ends from losing moisture too quickly and cracking.

Let the debarked and sealed staves dry in a relatively dry spot, out of the weather, and away from bugs. A garage is a good place, or a shed. Its good to let it dry for a year in most places but you can get away with less if you rough it out to near net shape early and monitor its weight loss. When it stops losing weight, its dry, and you can start the real fun.

As far as tools go, there are just a few that I consider essential. A hatchet, a drawknife, a rasp and a scraper. You can make do with much less, but I use all four of those things a lot. I use a stanley surform rasp and I highly recommend it. For a scraper you could just use a knife, but I really like my cabinet scrapers and I also highly recommend them.

[Bogaman]

Lessinor, For a first bow I would suggest a selfbow (one piece of wood). I am not familiar with any of the woods you suggested, generally you should look for something at least 6-8" in diameter, bigger is better for the woods I have access to. And something that is relatively straight for at least 6'. Since I don't know about the species you posted, wait until someone on here who knows those woods posts something. Saw or ax will work, saw would be better.
The aging process depends on your patience ;^). How ever you do it, first seal the ends. It needs to be stored inside where it will be protected from moisture, insects and mildew. Some woods dry out a little faster so time will depend on the wood species.
Tim Baker has a very informative chapter on strings in volume 2 of the Bowyers Bible series.
For tools the basics are files, drawknife, scrapers and sandpaper. A 6" straight edge is very helpful in the tillering process. I have many more tools than I listed here, so what I listed are just basic and should get you started. The first two files I bought was a farriers file and a combination rasp. I'm sure you will get a lot of good advice from the people on here.

[Don Case]

After you cut your stave and are waiting for it to dry, immediately start working on arrows. Nothing worse than finishing a bow and not having any arrows to shoot.(He says impatiently)

[OffTiller]

Best of luck to you and your first bow. I am pretty new to bow making myself so I will tell you what little I can recommend. this forum will be your greatest tool. I wish during the first 2 bows I made I had posted, asking questions and getting feedback; but with my computer in the dumps, I could only look through this forum to get info - I hate tablets, can't use them. my first 2 blew up and my third, even though came out under my intentional draw weight, finally bent. as for other tools - everyone seems to have their favorites they just might take some time getting use to. I would recommend setting yourself up with a tillering board. look it up on line. it is the safest and easiest way to check your tiller during. I finally got mine set up today and wish I had done that to begin with. Oh and patience - stock up on plenty of that. Again good luck to you.

[PAHunter]

Welcome to the fun!  Knowlede is your friend.  Get some books including the bowyer's bible(s), watch some YouTube videos, and by all mean read the great how to's on this site.  I will just say that making an entire setup entirely youself is quite ambitious.  I too had such a vision.  But I realized that it is much easier to take it one step at a time as each is an art.  Best of luck!

[Crogacht]

I'm new too, just started on my first bow in the last week or so. I'll give my opinion on what I can.

I would say selfbow for sure, composite just adds steps/complications you probably don't want right now.

Doesn't matter HOW you harvest it, but it matters very much what you do with it after that. I prefer an axe myself.

I'm using an old (quality steel) hatchet sharpened up well, a nice big sturdy flat drawknife, a short sharp knife for scraping (didn't like the cabinet scraper, but most people use them) and a large Nicholson rasp... I also built a big heavy workbench which I bolted a big heavy swivel vice onto. I just put a couple of scraps of pine between the vice teeth and the stave.

I also use a pencil ... and I'm going to get one of those thin bendy rulers because using a rigid straight ruler or combination square is not ideal on a curved, bumpy bendy piece of wood.

A deckchair and a cold beer are good too... but not too many when you're using the hatchet/drawknife

[TimothyR]

Welcome to PA. You will love this hobby.   Tools. I like a good old fashioned old timer lock blade for my scraper. And I us a Shinto saw or rasp.  Very helpful, It is coarse on one side and fine on the other.  Sand paper and block. Your string needs to be 4 time your intended bows draw weight. And you might give ramie or China grass a try if you want works pretty good. Have fun with the addition!

[Wiley]

You picked the best place to ask your questions, nearly an infinite amount of bowyer wisdom on this forum. I can't answer all of your questions but I will answer what I can.

So what I need help with right now is:
Choosing whether to make a selfbow or some sort of composite.
What attributes should I look for in the piece of wood to harvest?
How should I harvest it? (Saw or ax?)
How long should I age it? and how should I age it? (heard someone mention covering the cut ends with glue, someone leaving it in their car under the windshield in the sun)
 
Also what tools should I get for the bowmaking process, all I have is a saw and carving knives.

I would go with a self bow for your first bow. With your limited tools and experience a composite bow is more complicated than you really need to start wit.

Look for a straight grained tree, look at the bark and how it runs up and down the tree. Straight bark = straight grain, twisted bark = twisted grain. For your first look for a really straight specimen. Trees grown under an over-story of taller trees will tend to be straighter growing because they reach for the sun above them. As knot free as possible for your first one, it will make things easier. You want a stave about 6 feet long, but cut it a little longer as it can always be made shorter.

Harvest however you like, a saw will give you a cleaner cut that will be easier to seal than you are likely to get wit an axe. Your less likely to mess up the outermost growth ring with a saw than a misplaced swing of an axe. You should seal the ends of the stave as soon as possible, and get it out of the woods and out of the elements as soon as possible. With most white woods you can remove the bark, seal the back (outermost growth ring under the bark) and begin working the bow out to bow dimensions and then clamp it down to dry for a month or so depending on the humidity of the storage enviroment. Drying time will vary between woods, temperature, and humidity of the storage environment.

Tools I use. For hand tools I've got myself a hatchet, a stanley surform, rasp/basterd file, cabinet scraper, and another scraper or two if these were all I had it would be all I needed to make a good bow.I'm going to add a spokeshave and draw knife to my hand tools soon, hatcheting is pretty hard on my wrist.  I've got access to a number of power tools that come in handy like a finishing sander, bench belt/disc sander, power planer, band-saw, table saw, miter saw, and probably a couple i'm forgetting but these things are not entirely necessary. But I can zip out something on the band-saw in a minute that would take me hours with a hatchet. Power tools are faster, but they can also ruin a stave a lot faster than a hand tool.

[Slackbunny]

Wiley, you won't be disappointing with the spokeshave. I love mine. I mostly use it during floor tillering and in the early stages of regular tillering. I don't consider it an essential tool, but it sure is handy.

[Wiley]

I'm hoping the draw knife/spokesave will work better on greener wood. I put my stanley surform to the dogwood stave i'm working on and it's just so green and fibrous that it gums it up the teeth in not a lot of swipes. I'm thinking more of a cutting tool like the spokesave and drawknife will work it better.

[bubby]

Also if you can get the last three issues of primitive archer there is a great build a long by Micky lotz  that will wall you thru the paces