center shot flat bow

[James Rodney]

Been biting my tongue since this thread started last night.

Dude...get a book...do a LOT of google searching/reading...look at lots of build alongs...pick a SIMPLE plan and then start...if a question pops up then search first..if ya cant find the answer (which im sure it already has been answered before)..then ask. A book needs to be written to answer all your q's(and thank god there is nowadays),and no one here has the time to type out a book like response online. Most replies will be short,sweet,n to the point lacking detail on how to do just what was said. Sooo...go get your hands dirty first then.......START SIMPLE...a 66-70" bend in the handle bow is the easiest to learn. Because anyone with little to no experince can cut out a piece of wood to bow blank dimensions...but that doesnt make a bow. What makes a bow is TILLERING!!! Surprised no one had emphasized this more. Tillering is where a bow is made..or not. And its the hardest thing to learn. After you got a game plan,and especially before you start bending it do some serious searching,reading on how to tiller a wood bow. That is going to be the toughest part hands down.

Well, Sir.  I have been reading. I've made two little bow's for my daughter already, one was stupid, the other not so much.  and i have to agree, Tillering is the biggest pain, and the most crucial part.  i've been reading on how to's for weeks now. A man can read all day on how to do anything, until he starts putting his hands on it.  those words are meaningless.    and i'm sorry my choice of a subject unnerved you.  I'm already seeing the folly of it.  but i still stand firm on what i want. for now.  but i'll change the size as everyone suggests. i'll do a 70" @ 28"D and 45-50#.  center shot is going to depend on the wood choice. i really like the look of a shelf on bows. 

[JoJoDapyro]

James, don't read what isn't there in a post. blackhawk will tell you what you are doing wrong, and won't pull punches. We see a lot of people look very excited to start building bows, and then disappear for whatever reason. There are also a number of people who ask what to do, and then do what they want anyway, and then get mad when it doesn't work. There is more than one way to skin a cat, but there are also thousands of ways to skin a cat the wrong way. The members here are willing to help you learn how not to start down the wrong path. Bad habits stick fast. It may take awhile to learn how to do it right, but it is still a shorter path than learning to do it wrong, and then having to relearn to do it right.

[James Rodney]

No, i am grateful for the advice, and i am listening.  just because i'm saying i still want what i want. doesn't mean i'm not listening and i plan to use the advice.  i have a mental picture of what i want in my head.  and i don't plan on going anywhere. this is a relatively cheap hobby, and i have several friends that are getting interested in it at the same time.  I'm going to do what was suggested and make as many bows as i can.

[JoJoDapyro]

No, i am grateful for the advice, and i am listening.  just because i'm saying i still want what i want. doesn't mean i'm not listening and i plan to use the advice.  i have a mental picture of what i want in my head.  and i don't plan on going anywhere. this is a relatively cheap hobby, and i have several friends that are getting interested in it at the same time.  I'm going to do what was suggested and make as many bows as i can.

Cheap?  Just wait!

[James Rodney]

the bonus is that i'm already a wood worker.. i have all the tools that i could possibly need.  only thing i had to buy was a drawknife.  i'm not using any power tools on this at all.. at least not yet.   i live in the middle of the woods. tons of many different species of woods.  and lots! of dogwood. 

[Knoll]

center shot is going to depend on the wood choice. i really like the look of a shelf on bows.

At the risk of pointing our something you already know . . . center-shot is a type of bow shelf.  In other words ya can have a wood shelf without it being a center-shot shelf. If, for example, the handle was 1" wide then center-shot shelf would be 1/2" (or tad more) deep. But you could also cut shelf, for example, just 1/4" (or even less) deep . . . that would still serve function of  aesthetic appearance, supporting/locating arrow and leave much more wood in handle to absorb stresses.
Good luck on your bow-making adventures!

[bubby]

Soon enough you will realize that tillering is the best part of bow building

[George Tsoukalas]

I once made a selfbow, well actually my friend made it...I just supervised, for a friend with a 34" draw. We used osage and if I remember, we made it 71" ntn (or so).

Yes, you should get a book. I recommend Comstock's The Bent Stick. It is an excellent book.

Go with your dogwood or maple with the dimensions suggested above and then later you can go shorter with osage although I hear dogwood is pretty tough but I never used it.

My site has info.

http://traditionalarchery101.com/

Jawge

[bowandarrow473]

the bonus is that i'm already a wood worker.. i have all the tools that i could possibly need.  only thing i had to buy was a drawknife.  i'm not using any power tools on this at all.. at least not yet.   i live in the middle of the woods. tons of many different species of woods.  and lots! of dogwood. 

Then get cutting! Dogwood is great stuff, as is hickory, mulberry, elm, and if your in the Midwest OSAGE. There are so many great woods but these are some really good ones that may be in your area. Hickory is very forgiving of tillering flaws so try to get some of that, it's also an awesome bowwood.

[James Rodney]

my boss has his own forge.  i just happened to mention needing some good bow wood, he said he has tons of hickory laying around.  he's bringing me some tomorrow.   i'll snap some pics and show you guys and see what you think

[bowandarrow473]

Sounds like a plan! Just be sure to pick boards, or are they staves? With vertical grain and minimal knots, knots and run outs on boards are bad, in staves, not as much but try to avoid staves with large knots or snakey grain on your first few.

[GB]

I make an offset handle on my bows and on a hard maple pyramid bow where the limbs are almost 2" wide at the fades, the arrow pass is just about center shot.  I know you don't need center shot or even close to it if you match the arrow's spine to the bow, but I just like doing it this way.  I agree 100% with bubby on hard maple boards making for good bows. I like hickory boards, too, especially in the winter when the RH is low.

[James Rodney]

i want to thank everyone for knocking center shot.. lol..  I've successfully made my first b-50 dacron String. Even if it was for a 27 inch Flatbow.  My daughter loves it.  I took a red oak board last week and started making it.. today i got some string material and made a continuous loop string to put on it.  i put a 25 inch string.  i rigged up some arrows out of dow rods, Don't laugh.  i was anxious to see what it would do.. and that little sucker sails! some arrows... so, back to the center shot debate.  I'm now kinda loving that it's not.  It took a few shots, but i literally, destroyed my dogs food bag.. lol.. about 15 yards away, this little sucker is fast!  it's not pretty.. but it works.

 also, i attached some pictures of the dogwood stave i have.. it's 55 inches long, i had to cut off 4inches, had a terrible knot at the end. 

another also,  i went to Barefoot archery, and shot a few arrows with a take down bow, 28 inch draw and was pretty comfortable with it. 
again, thanks everyone who's commented.  i had to go and put my hands on one.

[riverrat]

thats a nice little bow there. made one very similar for my grandson. he can zing a arrow clear across the yard with it. he likes to shoot a arrow from the wrong side of the bow . at first i tried to correct him. but then as i watched him, he hit a cardboard box a number of times doing it his way. figured if Ishy could do it, why not my grandson . Tony

[Pappy]

Sounds like some nice shooting. Question : you sure that is Dogwood in the picture, don't look like any I have or have seen? Sometimes pictures can be deceiving.
 Pappy