Wood bow logic and common sense and words of wisdom

[Sidewinder]

King Osage is very forgiving and believe me I have needed my fair share of forgiveness in learning to make bows.

[Sabb]

In the low double digits for bows built, but this is helping me. Start with a clear intention (design statement). Consider afterwards what worked, what didn't,  and why. Then start the next. Enjoy failure..

John Strunk's workflow really helped organise my approach, too. Back, sides, belly, handle. Ideally, complete one, then move to the next.. Can't say I stick solidly to it, but it helps.

Sabb

[hoosierf]

Probably not wisdom but practical advice nonetheless. Minor tiller and weight adjustments are often best achieved by trapping backs and bellies. Keeps you from going ditch to ditch with your adjustments.

[NorthHeart]

I nominate this thread as a sticky.  The advice here is some of the best ive seen in one place.

My experience holds little weight compared to these other "gems of wisdom" from the seasoned veterans.  But for some reason when it comes to bow building i have to make the same mistake more than once for it to sink in.  To be able to identify exactly where and why and how a mistake took place in the bow building process, and to avoid it the next time, is a thing im still working to achieve. 

Nowadays i like to do the bow building process in different segments, so to speak.  Someone here stated repetition is necessary to create skill, or something to that affect.  For this reason, working on multiple staves and bows at the same time is the way to go for me.  It saves me from the heartache of relying on one bow at a time to work out.  So split a few logs into staves, take a few staves down to bow dimensions.  Heat bend a few pieces.  Then tiller a few bows.  If at any point you get frustrated or unsure of what to do, stop, ask the PA crew for advice.  You still might mess up but not as bad.  In the mean time blow off some steam by picking up another log or stave and roughing it out.  That way you still feel productive for the next day or so but dont rush on an important step.  Also, on things like sinew backing, it helps to get multiple bows glued up and curing since its gonna take 3-6 months before you can start again, and if you make a mistake youll want a backup or two ready.

[NorthHeart]

   The front view should agree with the braced and drawn profiles.

Ill need some clarification on this comment because i'm not sure i get it.  How would they agree, or not agree?  Perhaps they are very tolerant of each other and simply accept their differences.   Elaborate please.

[Jim Davis]

Yeah, it's like the guys who have all the jokes memorized to the point that all the have to do to get a laugh is call the joke's number. If you're new to the group, it ain't funny.

[willie]

   The front view should agree with the braced and drawn profiles.

Ill need some clarification on this comment because i'm not sure i get it.  How would they agree, or not agree?  Perhaps they are very tolerant of each other and simply accept their differences.   Elaborate please.

A limb primarily tapered in width, and not so much in thickness, bends with a rather circular bend, while a limb that is tapered in thickness, and not so much in width, bends more in the outer limb, and is referred to as an elliptical bend.  Creating these bend profiles assume an equal stress and therefore an equal strain is desired. Often an equally distributed strain is desired, but we often create exceptions. Tips and handles are strained less by design, so the the advice should be applied to the working portions of the limb

[willie]

Know when to stop or when to say, "Close enough". 

The technobabical, engineering, analytical sliderule, calculator minds we are conditioned with cause us to over-analyze or in other words - make the perfect bow.  This is primitive archery.  Learn to accept some flaws or at least know when the flaws aren't critical to expelling an arrow from a stick and a string.

Matt, do you think the human mindset has changed that much? Wouldn't the earlier bowyers be a bit offended if they knew we saw them as primitive? Some were probably at the top of their game, proud craftsmen, and accepted flaws with the same reservations we do nowadays.
It's true, I am playing the devils advocate a bit with that comment, but in all seriousness, I often have read that the Native Americans put more time and effort into arrow building?

[PatM]

There did seem to  be a PC trend to imparting high tech attributes to pretty much every primitive bow style a few years ago.

[Springbuck]

STOP a lot and look at what you are doing.......

Work in good light.

Learn to take what the stave will give you.  As Jawge said, let the stave determine the design. Length width, specie, knots, etc... use them to manage expectations.

Pappy; "Never fall in Love with a piece of wood, it is just that, a piece of wood, it can break your heart and spirit, especially for a beginner."  AMEN!  It pays to know when to quit, when you are beaten. 

Badger: "The front view should agree with the braced and drawn profiles."  This is another short saying packed with info.  I just spent HOURS trying to talk a beginner out of his misunderstanding that thickness helped "resist" set.   Not all tillers are smooth arcs.  If you want tiller help on here, please post a front view as well as a bent bow.   Put the bend where it's supposed to go on that bow.

One of my favorites from Dean Torges: "Cast comes from dry wood, properly tillered." 

Use ANYTHING that works for you.   I am now married to the method that goes, "check, rasp, scrape, repeat", and the dogma of never pulling a bow harder than intended draw weight. I use black crayons relentlessly.  I know a guy who thickness tapers his limbs by jamming on a complete set of metric wrenches down both sides of the bow.  It works.

Don't overlook possibilities for dogma, but don't overlook dogma, either.  I don't remember ever seeing or hearing of either a Native American bow of any style, nor European paleo or longbow made from plum, and yet the stuff in AMAZING.  I can't seem to make a mistake with it.

Even dumb questions have answers.

Start with anything you can get your hands on, but buy the best tools you can afford as soon as you can after that.

[Badger]

  Good ones Springbuck

  The cheapest sandpaper you can buy is the most expensive off the shelf belt sander included. Good sandpaper and good belts cost about 2 or 3 times as much as the cheap stuff but will outlast it 20 to 1.

[Aaron H]

Always radius your edges and keep your limbs sanded/scraped smooth before and throughout the tillering process.

Always radius your edges before doing any heat bending also, especially while recurving tips.

[gfugal]

This may be related to the thickness, width, and profile discussion. But I heard something to the effect that reducing thickness reduces weight 4 times as fast as width, or was it the other way, where reducing width will reduce weight 4 times as fast as thickness. I can't remember the saying and would like someone who knows to chip in

[Jim Davis]

This may be related to the thickness, width, and profile discussion. But I heard something to the effect that reducing thickness reduces weight 4 times as fast as width, or was it the other way, where reducing width will reduce weight 4 times as fast as thickness. I can't remember the saying and would like someone who knows to chip in

8 times as fast. Strength varies directly with changes in width. Strength changes as the cube of changes in thickness. Double the thickness, you increase the strength by a factor of 2x2x2--8. Reduction of thickness makes as much change toward a weaker limb.

[PatM]

It's just the opposite of how wood strength increases. Twice as wide is twice as strong, twice as thick is eight times as strong.