board bow

[blackpanem]

made my first bow from a stave and had some troubles with it but in the end it turned out alright. but i heard board bows are easier. so here i ask, what kind of wood should i try? and i would like to buy from home depot. also how much will it cost? and if you really feel interested post a pic of your board bow so i can see how it went. Thanks!

[15DLongbow]

Red oak Is what im working on, thats an Ok wood, also i see some people using maple...stay away from poplar though.

the red oak board i bought today was 1.08$/ft

[bubby]

i don't think board bows are easyer per se, you still have to layout, tiller and exercise your bow, plus pic out a quality board, in mho it's an inexpensive way to get started and get something going while fresh staves are seasoning, you can use red oak of maple from lowes, but i would try to get some hickory or white oak, very good beginner woods, Bub
i just finished a hickory bow it's on the third page

[George Tsoukalas]

Check my site. You must pick a a straight grained board or nearly so. Jawge

[blackpanem]

bubby, i made a hickory bow recently too. its 49# at 26" and it was my first bow, but there is very little usable wood where i live

[jturkey]

i've used select maple from home depot but they quit carrying it in my home town and i started on red oak boards because it is either that ot popular and everyone here says stay away from it for some reason lol. but i find the maple a little more forgiving in the tillering as the oak tends to be really hard to scrap cleanly but the red oak with good grain is a very good wood and cost roughly 1.29$ a foot so not to bad about 8.89 per bow is ok. but i would rather have the maple if i could get it.

[PAHunter]

Hi man I've done 3 with red oak with good success and HickoryBill has told me hard maple is preferable.  Here's a vid I did of one that may help.  Also check out http://poorfolkbows.com/index.html.

My 3 bows were 42, 49, and 61#.







Best of luck, feel free to ask questions I'm new but will share what I can.

[sweeney3]

PAHunter, that's a really nice buildalong.  You mind if I share it?  I like the "easy to read" instructions.   

[PAHunter]

haha thanks man!  Share away.  I'm just a beginner tring to figure this stuff out also.  The blind leading the blind. 

[15DLongbow]

<<<Is feeling stupid for putting down a perfectly good peice of maple and leaving with oak today... :embarassed:

[PAHunter]

Oops forgot the link; here ya go: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Y7inwBgm38  Again I'm a noob just sharing what I've picked up thus far.

[15DLongbow]

watching the Vid now PAhunter, lol good instruction so far.

[bubby]

if you can find a local cabinit shop, one that actually builds cabinit's they can give you the name of their supplier, then you will have a wide range of higher quality wood than you will get at the depot, and probablly for a better price, Bub

[Onebowonder]

If you can find a woodworking specialty shop in your area, they often sell better quality woods that you might want to use.  There is one in my town that sells quarter sawn lumber in several species, including several very curious looking exotics.  The prices reflect the fact that they are a specialty shop, but they are still not too bad.  Using quarter sawn lumber is likely to give you a lot better strength and growth ring orientation for building a bow.  Again, it'll probably cost more, but a broken bow isn't even good firewood.

[robbsbass]

If I can find red maple or hickory, what thickness should I look for, at about 72 inches. I have been generally screwing up the stave's I have been trying to build lately, maybe I can give this a try.

     Thanks
                Robb