First handmade bow

[robin hoods friend]

Hi all I usually jus read posts and look at some of the great work yous do but I decided I try myself so I got all the materials to make arrows, fetching jig the works nd gave it a blast nd they turned out great very accurate and consinstant so time to try make a bow and just have a few questions. First is I had a look around the internet nd I found ash seems to be decent wood to use(I'm in Ireland) so I went out and found a nice piece, question is would I be better off spliting and sealing it or just seal it first and also if I split it do I just seal the ends or all exposed wood? Thanks in advance
Ian

[OTDEAN]

Hi mate,

I am over in Yorkshire, UK. You have picked a good wood, I like Ash alot. Especially for flat bows.

Ash splits nice and easily, usually! Go ahead and split that sucker, take the bark off and don't damage the back of the bow. I would cut the wood to bow profile as much as you can, seal the ends with PVC glue and clamp it down to a form and let it dry.  IF you cut the stave down to almost bow dimensions it will dry a lot quicker.  Just clamp the drying wood to a thick form and seal the ends and it should not warp while it dries. 

Just make sure the bow limbs are tapered and you will be ready for floor tiller and long string in no time once the wood is dry.  I normally make my ash flatbows 1 - 1.5 inch thick at handle, 3/4 inch thick at mid limb and half inch thick at nock so there is an easy taper to work from once the wood dries.  These are not finished dimensions they are just a round guide of what I use when roughing out a flat bow while it dries.  You can use whatever you want, this works for me.

Ash is tension strong on the back so a flat bow design normally works well, I would go with 2 inch wide if its your first bow with a handle of 4" with 2" fades either side and make it 72" long if you have a big enough piece of wood.   Building the Ash flatbow long and wide like this will significantly increase your chances of a nice fast bow as a beginner.  Start easy and make the difficult bows later once you have spent time making mistakes.

Good luck with it mate,

Dean

[robin hoods friend]

Some great info in there pal thank you, yeah I'm going to make it as long wide and thick as possible for the first go, I know it will affect the performance but the next one il be more confident I was even thinking about fibreglassing it to be even more bulletproof but it might be overkill anyway il be starting it tomorrow and I will be putting up pics as I go and no doubt will have more questions. Thanks again pal
P.s sorry bout dodgy writing I'm doin it on a phone

[riverrat]

love ash myself. makes a great flat bow. your friend is spot on with the ruff it out then let it dry advice. i make mine bend through the handle flat bows. like Native Americans did in the eastern part of the country. so mine tend to be smaller sized. more area working. but if you ruff it out. it dries faster and you can build a bow faster out of it. some folks like to let it dry, bark on and split a couple years just seal the ends and wait. or take off the bark , ruff it out, seal the ends , there ya go. itll dry . quick.the other fella mentioned putting it in a form. i dont do that. as it dries most times it picks up a little reset. not a bad thing at all
Tony

[bowandarrow473]

As previously stated, rough it out to near bow deminesions and let it sit for 1-2 months, I would recomend either a pyramid bow, AFB, or eastern woodland style bow. Try 2in at the fades to 1/2 in tips for the pyramid and 1 5/8in to 1.75 in for the AFB and then tapering to 1/2 nocks 10 in from the tips, for the eastern woodland bow do 1 3/8 or so at the fades and tapering to 1/2 in nocks 10-8 in from the tips. Just my thoughts though, others ideas may vary, choose what design you like the best and stick with it, whether it be a recurve, D-bow, or AFB a good bow will never let you down.

[OTDEAN]

Thats good advice from Bowandarrow and riverrat.  When you say reset River, do you mean reflex as it dries?  I have never tried to just let my bows dry to do that.  The suckers always warp laterally when I cut them green to bow dimensions and just let them sit unclamped.  How do you rough out a green bow and let is sit unclamped without it warping, plus I am intrigued how you get reflex into it as it dries.

[Blaflair2]

Clamp it in a form or caul. It will bend when it is thicker because of the moisture. Tie or clamp it down till it dries. After u rough out the bow of corse

[riverrat]

yes thats what i meant, reflex. lol . Tony

[riverrat]

i ruff it out. the width is always wider than the thickness. keep in mind i dont use a handle like some folks do. so therefore my "handle" although the thickest part of the bow isnt all that thick.if i notice a sideways bend developing {very uncommon} i lay it on its side, so the other side now tries to bend back the other way. since i lay it on its belly on a floor, as it dries, most times it starts to reflex. most times at the tips because they are usually the thinnest parts. worst thing the happens most times is a little twist near the tips. but its easy to fix once dry or even as its drying. what ever way its twisting, thin out the opposite side just a little thinner than the stronger side. as it continues to dry it most times twists itself right back .if i want reflex in the tips or handle after its dry, i just grease it up and heat bend it. ive always done it like this.i tried a form once, its easier to heat bend far as im concerned.besides i like letting the wood be itself to some degree. i like bend through the handle flatbows and piramid bows. and this works for them. Tony

[OTDEAN]

Cheers Tony

[robin hoods friend]

Thanks fir all the info it a great help and much appreciated. Iv cut my stave the split and debarked it nd marked it out and just started roughing it out, there is a slight bend in the wood so do I need to follow the bend or can I jus go straight through it? Also there is scraps on it but very slight so can I sand them out or will I jus leave them, I know pics would help I'm trying to figure out how to post them on the phone

[bowandarrow473]

Small nicks in the back are no problem as long as you can sand them down with a few passes of 100 grit. If your bow is snakes side to side I would follow it or steam it out.

[riverrat]

follow it.Tony