Show Me your First Bow ! Good ,Bad & Ugly ?

[Pat B]

I built bows for probably 10 years before I had one blow. Most were badly bent but no breaks.

[Springbuck]

 "It was an osage board and broke right where it should have."

Pat, where exactly does one OBTAIN a bow-quality osage board?  That sounds like a finding a unicorn to me.....

[osage outlaw]

Check out this beauty.  She's got it all; frets, giant antler arrow shelf, 3/4" wide tips, under weight, set, and a horrible tiller.  I did a good job chasing a ring and the finish looks decent.  I think it was spray poly.  I only shot a handful of arrows out of this bow the day that I finished it.  I knew it had problems and I started a new one the next morning. 

[Julian]

Ok guys this is embarrassing but lets have a look at my first effort!

In my defense, I was I think 15 or 16 when I made this monstrosity. I had a heat gun and I was determined to use it.







This bow is actually made from bamboo flooring boards. I got a box of them for free from a local store. Doesn't work at all for a board bow, but I've heard reasonable things about them as middle laminations. the board took all the torture I had to throw at it. zero tillering and it came out about #15 at that thickness and width hahaha.

just look at that draw on the admittedly pretty good effort at a tillering tree by me..

[Pat B]

Springbuck, I got that board from a guy named Dan Tice (maybe from OK.)back in 1986 or 87. I think he was Jay Massey's cousin.

[Msturm]

My first was finished on Jan 6, 2011. I was so proud of my 68 inch red oak, pyramid, board bow with a purple heart and curly koa handle. It was backed with an old pair of Dickies brown work pants.  It took some set during tillering and came in about 15 lbs underweight.  I did kill some good sized catfish with it and I had it until last year. 








The bow is over my back. Those giant yarn silencers didn't really work.


Msturm

[Ippus]

Simple red oak board bow, long, nice wide pyramid design, October 2016.

[Badger]

My first was finished on Jan 6, 2011. I was so proud of my 68 inch red oak, pyramid, board bow with a purple heart and curly koa handle. It was backed with an old pair of Dickies brown work pants.  It took some set during tillering and came in about 15 lbs underweight.  I did kill some good sized catfish with it and I had it until last year. 








The bow is over my back. Those giant yarn silencers didn't really work.


Msturm

 Beautiful tiller on that bow!

[Marc St Louis]

No pics but my first was a simple flatbow made in the early 70's.  Probably pulled about 90# and it would shoot about the same distance as my younger brothers 55# glass recurve.  One of the limbs broke after awhile

[DC]

I didn't think I had pictures but I actually found my first post. http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php/topic,41218.0.html

Ocean Spray somewhere around 50"NTN, I didn't have a scale then but it was pretty light. I eventually broke it trying to get it a little heavier.

[Louie]

Simple pine bow, stained with coffee (didn't have any wood stain). Was a training bow to familiarize myself with the tools and the craft of bowmaking before attempting my first real bow (hickory backed ipe). Bow has had about 100 arrows through it and still in one piece. They said it couldn't be done with pine. Its a wall hanger now, I have since made 2 hickory backed ipe bows and they shoot really nice.

[S.C. hunter]

Hi Guys,
My first bow, a Red Oak board from Lowe's. It's backed with fiberglass drywall tape, covered in camo fabric.   It's about 44 lbs at 27 inches.

[S.C. hunter]

More

[S.C. hunter]

sorry about the pics, having problems getting them to send, will try again later.

[Eric Krewson]

You did an exceptional job on tillering your first bow, I am glad mine blew up so I don't have to show it.