Advice for new Guys

[bushboy]

Another point when building with big box stores milled lumber a bend test (mini bow) is not a bad idea.some of it has not been treated as bow wood and allowed fungus to set in.hickory is always suspect!

[DC]

I think we're getting close to all a guy will want to read when he's starting. Anything need clarifying or punctuation correction?

[Hawkdancer]

Remember to have fun!  This is, after all, a hobby!  There is a great deal of pride in making your own bow and a lot of exuberant celebrating when you hit that target weight and a good tiller!  As well as getting the first arrow down range!  Especially if you made the bow, the string, and the arrow!
Hawkdancer

[Stick Bender]

Have fun. Don't overthink everything to the point your paralysed and afraid to do anything. Remember it's just a piece of wood until you bring it back to life. Enjoy you success and learn from your failures.

I really like the quote above over thinking can freeze your bow work also I would add try to enjoy your failures in other words accept them as a stepping stone to making better bows , and pay attention to the guys that are actually making bows guys that are taking action (making bows) are far better teachers then Theorist !

[timmyd]

one thing I would add is never fall for the old "tiller isn't perfect but I didn't want to lose any more weight so I quit". In my opinion, getting tiller as perfect as you can trumps all. like was already mentioned, its only wood. Even if you have to sacrifice a couple bows due to coming in underweight, in the long run, you'll be a much better bowyer

[Pat B]

Timmy, I agree 100%. Without good tiller you only have a bent stick. Once you learn to see and achieve good tiller your bows will come out the way they was intended with the draw weight you intended.

[gifford]

Agree on the tiller comments.

About the only comment I could offer is 'take your time' when working with hand tools, making a bow blank from a quarter split will take time and effort on your part. A bow isn't made in an evening or two. Oh, it can be, but likely won't be. Relax and take your time.

Cutting tools like drawknives are sharp and take your time when using them, keep them sharp, dull tools require more effort.

Take your time with the tillering process. A scrape here, a scrape there, five pulls on the string, look again, scrape a bit more...repeat as necessary.

While some are doubtless familiar with and competent with drawknives, rasps, scrapers etc when they decide to start making bows, more than a few of us haven't handled them since a shop class or hanging out in your grandad's shed when he was fixing up something around the homeplace.

There is a learning curve to learning proper and therefore efficient and safe use of drawknives, rasps and scrapers.

The learning curve includes multiple tries and fails, just look upon them as paying your dues to becoming a bowyer. If I recall correctly, I believe George Tsoukalas said he made and broke 14 or 15 bows until he a had a shooter. He stuck with it.

And that's my two cents.

[Knoll]

DC . . . look at #9 . . . "tend to off like bombs" . . . and . . . "were as" . . .?

This is excellent excellent stuff!!

[Selfbowman]

Good advise from some top notch bowyers . No need to add much at all .
Arvin

[PatM]

Ring porous woods like maple,paper birch,red cedar tend to off like bombs,were as diffuse porous like elm,hickory,Osage,oak will sometimes give a tick warning,but not always!

  Your porous/ring porous terms don't match the woods.

[bushboy]

Oh dang Pat where did I go wrong?was just going by memory,think that was a Friday night or something

[DC]

I decided not to try to crunch all the suggestions into one post. It was looking like they were all my ideas and I didn't want that. I deleted everyone elses ideas from the original post but they are all still there.

[sleek]

Im going to go against the grain ( see what i did there? ) and say that chasing a ring on osage is far from necessary. Many bows have been made without doing so. Dont let  being intimidated by chasing a ring stop you from working osage.

[George Tsoukalas]

Remember it's the journey that counts. Jawge

[Taxus brevifolia]

This is awesome, thanks all.

I want to contribute. After a year I'm just finishing my 8th attempt. For the first 6 I chose pretty crappy pieces of wood so as not to waste good ones, so you could say they were planned failures. #6 was a good stave, but I put a hinge in it by not understanding good tillering technique; i evened out for a kid's bow, but it broke in final tillering.

#8 is awesome and makes all that went before worth it.

The best advice I'm qualified to give about bowyering is "make use of PA as THE best resource". Also YouTube.

I do have a solid year of wood gathering under my belt, this is something I can claim to be qualified to talk about...I'm out there 3-4 times a week.

My tips:

While you're waiting on your yew or osage to dry, cut some juniper and work it green. It's best worked green, even if you've heard different. Because it's easier to untwist it, and it dries very fast.

 find out EVERY viable species in your area for bows and arrows shafts. There's a lot more to life than yew and osage. For example where I live, there's an abundance of ocean spray, hazel, ninebark & honeysuckle; relatively nearby are serviceberry, vinemaple, juniper, and incense cedar.

Thanks again you guys, this forum is truly a wonderful resource