building practice bows..

[aero86]

so, some of you know, im in love with horse, horn, asian style bows.  ive been thinking about trying to make one for a while.  the other day, the idea popped into my head, that i need to practice practice practice!  so, im thinking about making some glue ups.  were i will bend them to shape and glue everything together, then shape the bows.  anyone ever done anything like that, and not end up with a bow?  seem like a waste of time and resources?  the glue would probably just be titebondIII

[NTD]

If you are talking about practicing on wood then I would say just make some laminated bows, R/Ds etc.   Then your efforts have a chance at producing something you can shoot.  I don't know SQUAT about horn bows so I don't know if any of the process in building laminates will translate to your goals.  Maybe do some sinew backed bows.  I think that would at least give ya practice laying sinew and be making a bow in the process of developing your skills.

[sweeney3]

Oh man.  I got nuthing.  

Maybe at least call Ed Scott and see if you can pick his brain a bit?  From I read/hear, it takes a master around a hundered man hours, give or take, spread out over a good bit of time to make one of those composite bows.  I'm sure there is lots of variation based on materials and design though. 

[aero86]

yeah, maybe i should just practice v-splices..  also, can sinew be taken off the back of the bow after its been glued down with hide glue?  if you steamed it?

[JW_Halverson]

Steam will cook the sinew and it will not work again for a bow unless you complete the job and cook it into glue.  I think you could probably strip off the sinew and then soak it out in some really soft water with very few minerals in it.  Then you could recover the sinew, comb it straight, and dehydrate the water to recover the hide glue.  Sounds like too much work, though.

[aero86]

yeah, your right.  i was thinking it probably would be..  guess im just gonna have to suck it up and use the sinew i have that isnt doing anything! lol.  ive just got the bow building bug now, but thats the only style i want to build..  maybe i should lower my standards

[NTD]

My advice and definitely feel free to take it or leave it.  Come down to the lowly level of non horn and make some bows.  Whether the techniques translate or not getting some more bows under your belt might build your confidence for other projects.   Which ever way you go, have fun!

[oneeye]

I would definately make a couple shorter  sinew backed osage bows first. You could bend them to a nice NA horsebow shape.   

[ErictheViking]

you could always do a mini horn bow. that way less sinew,wood and effort would be wasted if it failed. then again if you learn anything from it then it wont be a waste.

[aero86]

that is a good idea eric..  ive seen one before.  it was half the size.  but the person said it actually performed really well.

[Pat B]

If I am going to build a practice horn bow I would use the materials and techniques I would use in the "real" bow. It is the materials and techniques that you need to study and experiment with and not just a "sorta" horn bow to practice building the shape. A scaled down version of an authentic horn bow would give you lots of experience. Some of the ancient "carriage bows" were scaled down horn bows used for personal protection.

[Sidewinder]

I feel like every bow I build is practice.  Danny

[toomanyknots]

I recommend doing a sinew backed bow as well. If not for practice to sinew a horn bow, then just for the heck of it. Sinew can be a fiasco the first time you do it. From processing to trying to keep the glue from getting beady when gluing, it is probably something you would want to do once before you try it on a bow you had to v splice and horn you had to boil and so on... But after you get the little processes down of sinewing it is very very fun (for me). To watch the bow slowly curl up a little bit every week is a very cool thing.