Primitive Archer

Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: Jacob1 on September 06, 2020, 01:50:07 pm

Title: Bow building
Post by: Jacob1 on September 06, 2020, 01:50:07 pm

Any advice on making a rattan / manau bow

Title: Re: Bow building
Post by: Eric Krewson on September 07, 2020, 07:17:07 am

You tiller the back not the belly, They make a pile of rattan bows at Mojam to give to the kids, Mojam is a huge bow making get together in Mo.

https://franksupply.com/bamboo/rattan-poles.html

Title: Re: Bow building
Post by: Jacob1 on September 07, 2020, 08:02:25 am

Ok thanks for your advice do you know what a good length is on a first bow of rattan

Title: Re: Bow building
Post by: BAfromPA on September 07, 2020, 08:45:57 am

Can I ask why you seem so set on rattan? Personally, I would try to find someone selling black locust or osage fence posts(I see 8ft lengths of BL for $5-$10 all the time), find a property owner who would let me take down a small tree, buy a hardwood shovel handle, or a nice hardwood board.

Title: Re: Bow building
Post by: Jacob1 on September 08, 2020, 01:30:59 pm

Well I couldn’t find a list of property owners near me and didn’t know about fence posts because the ones at my local homedepot are pine and are full of knots and not left alone in any of the sides and I found rattan cheap and heard it makes good bows

Title: Re: Bow building
Post by: willie on September 08, 2020, 03:04:26 pm

guess rattan  is the wood to go with. how big a bow do you want to make? draw weight? draw length? are you shooting anything now to compare with? it will determine the size of stave you will need to buy.

Title: Re: Bow building
Post by: Jacob1 on September 08, 2020, 04:28:38 pm

Well I would be pleased to have even a 10 lb bow but I would prefer a 30 to  50 lb bow and I have a more Manchu style bow but would like to make a short Turkish bow but am unsure about durability and don’t want to mess up in terms of how long to make it

Title: Re: Bow building
Post by: BAfromPA on September 08, 2020, 04:33:30 pm

Wow, that's a pretty advanced style to start off with. I would recommend starting with a straight bow or maybe some mild recurves but you are free to go with whatever suits you. Sleek would be the one to talk to about a hornbow style in wood. Probably worth sourcing some osage for that kind of project.

Title: Re: Bow building
Post by: Jacob1 on September 08, 2020, 05:15:53 pm

Oh I asked on a different site and someone recommended a horse bow for rattan

Title: Re: Bow building
Post by: pumarchery on September 12, 2020, 06:19:50 am

Checkout the Malaysian Bowyer arybow, I have a pair of small rattan reflex recurved (kinda like horse bow) bows, he is a super friendly man and has info on his FB to fight set with manau/rattan. He also used heating up iirc for resiliency. He also just makes absolute beauties, really see that bowyers are artist with that guy.