Help a new and young bowyer please.

[PrimitiveSkills]

Hi, I'm in the process of trying to make a bow with hackberry I would like to know from people that have experience working with hackberry on how to shape the bow (and perhaps a few tips)?

-PrimitiveSkills

[DarkSoul]

Run a search for "hackberry" on this forum. It sounds trivial, but honestly, it works like a charm

Also, Paleoplanet has a lot of info on hackberry as a bowwood.

[blackhawk]

How about telling us some more details or pics of your stave,and whats your intended draw weight and length??

And it doesnt hurt to do a search like darksoul mentioned....lots o topics about hackberry


Ive worked with hackberry quite a few times....its a good wood if treated right

[PEARL DRUMS]

67" long, 1 3/4" wide flatbow design. Heat treat it if possible.

[Slackbunny]

Good luck with your project. Make sure you post pics of the finished product   

[PrimitiveSkills]

Thanks people for the replies, I learned a lot but for the dimensions, how thick should it be? I'm not talking about the width cause I already know that.
I'd also like to know how to shape the handle, I've been thinking to make it look narrow from front and the back of the bow, and make it look long from the sides.

-PrimitiveSkills

[blackhawk]

Uh...thickness is determined by tillering....you cant apply a certain mathematical number into selfbows to acheive your desired weight and length...which you never stated yet??   

[JW_Halverson]

You will never find me making a post about hackberry that says anything against that wood.  Oh yes, I do love me some hackberry!

Do you have a style of bow that you feel attracted to more than any other?  Second, what kind of draw length are you pulling these days?  And for that matter, how much do you think you are going to grow in the next year?  With that information we will better be able to give you some dimensions that will be a starting point for you.  We'll be glad to give you any help we can!

[PrimitiveSkills]

A Mongolian/Turkish style bow is very nice IMO but i figured it would be too hard, a normal recurve is my next choice and ATM I'm pulling 26.5 inches gonna grow quite a lot in the few years my estimate is to about 28 inches.

[PEARL DRUMS]

How many bows have you built so far? Recurves and Mongol style bows dont just happen with good instruction from the web. Im assuming your brand new and thats cool. Build a flat bow or five and then consider recurves and such.

[JW_Halverson]

Great, with a draw length range to work with we will be able to calculate how much bow limb you must have. 

If you double the draw length you will have a basic idea how long your bow should be in the simplest form possible....a D bow.  When strung it looks like the letter D.  It will bend thru the handle section and all the way out to the tips.  The entire bow "works" from nock to nock.  Let's just say you feel like building one to fit you now at 26.5" of draw.  Double it.  Fifty-three inches from nock to nock, not counting whatever sticks out past the string nocks on each end of the bow. 

With hackberry, I'd make sure it was at least 1 3/8" wide in the handle section and then tapering down to about  3/4" wide at the tips.  If the grain of your hackberry is anything like what I have here, you can almost lay out the shape of the bow using a yardstick and a pencil!  If there is any twist and/or snakiness to the stave you better follow the grain more closely than I just described. 

Now if you are interested in building something you will grow into, then double the 28" draw for a 56" bow. 

That's just ONE man's opinion. 

[PrimitiveSkills]

Sounds to me like a great opinion however was thinking about going somewhere around 67" in length cause that way I would be able to get some power behind an arrow if you know what I mean.

[JW_Halverson]

Limb length has absolutely nothing to do with strength of the bow or the power it produces.  I will guarantee in writing you cannot get full draw of the sinew backed osage Sioux horsebow in my shop.  It's 36" long, has an 18" draw that pulls almost 90#'s.  Heck, I can't pull it, I black out trying to string it!

Generally speaking, longer limbs need longer draws to actually get efficiency from them.  In order to get a "load" on the back of the bow with longer limbs they will need to be thicker.  By adding mass to the limbs you actually slow them down.  In order to counter this issue of heavy and slow limbs you will need to make them lighter by making them much narrower.  That's how the classic English longbow (ELB) works with such deadly force. 

It's all about trade-offs and what you are wanting.

Ok, go 67" tip to tip.  Narrow the bow down to about 1 1/8" at the handle and bring the tips down to less than half an inch.  Keep it rectangular in cross section.  You can allow the grip area to be a little stiff now, making more of an elliptical tiller.  Being a longer bow it will probably shoot more consistently, too! 

[PrimitiveSkills]

Yup that's exactly why i want a longer bow: consistently and forgiving, probably better accuracy too. Always good to have a stiff grip, BTW I know that the length hasn't anything to do with the power it's the stiffness of the limbs .

[blackhawk]

BTW I know that the length hasn't anything to do with the power it's the stiffness of the limbs .

Thats incorrect......do some more reading and researching before you go making incorrect statements...and better yet make some bows....you can read, read, read, and do lots of research,but untill you actually get your hands dirty you really dont have a clue......how many real bows have you made?

Stick with a simple flatbow...no recurves yet...pearl drums gave you the best dimensions,and research how to heat treat,and heat treat it