91
Arrows / Re: Plains style Quiver
« Last post by Robert Pougnier on February 06, 2026, 10:27:06 am »Thanks folks!
Recent Posts
92
Trading Post / Re: Looking for a bow without breaking the bank
« Last post by Eric Krewson on February 06, 2026, 10:26:03 am »My progression on bow making is to bandsaw out a blank, I could do the same with a draw knife and horse shoe rasp but I have a bandsaw. It is very important to draw out a perfect bow pattern on the back of your stave before you start cutting it down and don't cut inside your lines, I trim to the lines with less agressive rasp or a large half round file. I draw out side lines on the sides of every limb as well before I start tillering, the roughed out the stave is too thick to bend.
I use the circle method to lay out a bow after I draw a centerline.
I use this;
To achieve this;
Handle layout with circles;
The sidelines keep your limbs exactly the same, I almost never have a limb dogleg to the side after I layout and cut to my sidelines. I start at some random depth at the end of the fade, usually 5/8" for osage, a little more for white woods, I drop the depth 1/16" every 6" until I get to 1/4" and carry that depth to the tip. I leave my bow bellies rounded to start, they flatten out a lot during the tillering process but are still rounded for the last 8" or so. If I have too much poundage when I cut the limbs down to my sidelines I drop the lines another 1/16" except for the 1/4" measurement and start the process over. My limb tips are never less than 1/2" thick with a 1/4" sideline and 1/4" of rounded wood above the line.
This limb tip is very narrow but deep in thickness. Wood is 7 times stronger in depth than width so you can make your limb tips very narrow, just leave them thicker.
This tip looks scary thin but it is 1/2" thick and plenty strong, the extra groove is for a bow simple parachute cord bow stringer.
Sidelines to keep everything uniform and controllable, free hand wood removal without a plan just doesn't work.
I use a rasp to get the limbs bending at which point I switch to a scraper and follow the scraper with various grits of sand paper for the final tillering. The key to success is NOT to get in hurry. The longest part of the process for me is the shoot-in (several hundred arrows) and the final tillering adjustments with sandpaper and an occasional light pass with a scraper.
I use the circle method to lay out a bow after I draw a centerline.
I use this;
To achieve this;
Handle layout with circles;
The sidelines keep your limbs exactly the same, I almost never have a limb dogleg to the side after I layout and cut to my sidelines. I start at some random depth at the end of the fade, usually 5/8" for osage, a little more for white woods, I drop the depth 1/16" every 6" until I get to 1/4" and carry that depth to the tip. I leave my bow bellies rounded to start, they flatten out a lot during the tillering process but are still rounded for the last 8" or so. If I have too much poundage when I cut the limbs down to my sidelines I drop the lines another 1/16" except for the 1/4" measurement and start the process over. My limb tips are never less than 1/2" thick with a 1/4" sideline and 1/4" of rounded wood above the line.
This limb tip is very narrow but deep in thickness. Wood is 7 times stronger in depth than width so you can make your limb tips very narrow, just leave them thicker.
This tip looks scary thin but it is 1/2" thick and plenty strong, the extra groove is for a bow simple parachute cord bow stringer.
Sidelines to keep everything uniform and controllable, free hand wood removal without a plan just doesn't work.
I use a rasp to get the limbs bending at which point I switch to a scraper and follow the scraper with various grits of sand paper for the final tillering. The key to success is NOT to get in hurry. The longest part of the process for me is the shoot-in (several hundred arrows) and the final tillering adjustments with sandpaper and an occasional light pass with a scraper.
93
Bows / Re: Starting Small (finished Firewood pictures)
« Last post by Robert Pougnier on February 06, 2026, 10:25:56 am »Awesome thread, thanks for sharing and for inspiring us! That's some very pretty firewood.
94
Primitive Skills / Re: Life is good
« Last post by Pappy on February 06, 2026, 08:55:54 am »Headed to the cabin this morning, hope yall all have a good one, the weather is supposed to warm a bit so maybe can start a little clean up, I will be limping around doing what I can. 
Life is Good. 
Pappy
Life is Good. Pappy
95
Bows / Re: 2025 Junior Bow Trade
« Last post by Wallski on February 06, 2026, 02:46:03 am »Hey Aaron, I was surprised to see I had been chosen to build a bow for you, since I had received a beautiful bow from you the year before. I’m glad to have exceeded your expectations, that feels good,
it was a fun bow to build. I had never built such a short bow before, so I rough out another, just in case something went wrong, and I’m glad I didn’t need it. Enjoy it, and I’ll be looking forward to the next Junior Bow Build.
it was a fun bow to build. I had never built such a short bow before, so I rough out another, just in case something went wrong, and I’m glad I didn’t need it. Enjoy it, and I’ll be looking forward to the next Junior Bow Build.
96
Bows / Re: Starting Small (finished Firewood pictures)
« Last post by superdav95 on February 06, 2026, 02:06:20 am »Awesome bj! Great thread
97
Bows / Re: bamboo self bow build
« Last post by superdav95 on February 06, 2026, 02:04:47 am »There might be more significance to this bow that it appears on the surface. I really have never seen a bamboo bow perform at a high level. I know they have been building bamboo bows for centuries but I just have never seen one perform at a high level with my own eyes. If this one performs the way it looks like it will it is opening up the doors to a whole new category of bow building. Bamboo is relatively cheap and easy to work. Looking forward to seeing what the future will bring.Thanks badger!
I’m trying to curb my excitement about this bow a bit as it often can set us up for disappointment. I’ve done a lot of testing on these bows and others like it using just bamboo as the working limbs. The 5 piece builds were very good performers despite its limitations with glued siyahs and mass issues. Despite all this they performed good and was attributable to the limbs and the heat treatment. These recurve versions don’t have those same drawbacks or issues. Especially with having less mass out towards the tips. The incorporated tips were just what it needed. After much testing and breaking and fails I managed to get a few sets successfully recurved. Green bamboo is great for bending in recurves but very hard to get in my neck of woods. The other challenge with green for me even if on the odd time I could get some was drying time. It takes a very long time to dry properly without cracking excessively. This cannot be hurried too fast or else more cracks. Finding a way to get the recurves on dried moso slats was in order. My first attempt was a nice little 30lb bow. This prompted me to keep going and shoot for a 50lb set. It’s been a journey for sure to get this bow to this point. We shall see if it performs the way I suspect it will. I’m working on a some arrows. My home made spine tester is mia but I still have my digital depth guage so I’ll just make another I guess. I need good arrows to see good flight. I’ve had more then a few of you guys tell me this so I better not screw this up. lol. 😁
98
Bows / Re: 48" osage shorty bendy handle recurve build
« Last post by medicinewheel on February 06, 2026, 01:07:23 am »
So far so good.
But where is the full draw??
99
Bows / Re: bamboo self bow build
« Last post by Badger on February 05, 2026, 11:34:53 pm » There might be more significance to this bow that it appears on the surface. I really have never seen a bamboo bow perform at a high level. I know they have been building bamboo bows for centuries but I just have never seen one perform at a high level with my own eyes. If this one performs the way it looks like it will it is opening up the doors to a whole new category of bow building. Bamboo is relatively cheap and easy to work. Looking forward to seeing what the future will bring.
100
Trading Post / Re: Looking for a bow without breaking the bank
« Last post by bjrogg on February 05, 2026, 11:22:43 pm »Dean if you look in bow section I brought back a thread I posted a while back. I hope it gives you the confidence to try some scary stuff in a not so scary way.
It’s titled “Starting Small”
Bjrogg
It’s titled “Starting Small”
Bjrogg