Board bow tool advice?! Newbie here!

[hurlbri1]

First, thanks to all who post regularly on this site--I feel like I've learned a lot just from reading and looking at all the awesome bows...wow!

I've got the bent stick and TBB Vol 1 and lots of internet(s) research but I am 0 for 4 on hickory board bows.  I live in the big city and can't make my own staves from trees.  I think 2 of the 4 were grain and the other 2 rushed tillering...patience is pretty important.

A personal goal--I do not want to back the bow--I want a true self bow.  I also got deer tags and a turkey tag for this season here in Illinois.  I am not expecting much, but hey, I gotta at least have a bow, right?

Tools--I have an array of rasps, a spoke shave I can't seem to use real well despite all the youtube videos I watch, a Surform rasp, and my Fiskars hatchet which has been amazing as a scraper!

My question--on flatbows, where most of the 2" wide limb is flat, what tool do you recommend?  The surform rasp and other rasps does not remove wood evenly and if really flat, the surform rasp tends to leave thin scars in the wood...I need uniform wood removal...

Thoughts?

Thanks in advance!

-Brian

[autologus]

I don't use a whole lot of tools, I use a 6" hand plane, 4-n-1 rasp/file,half a pair of scissors,  lots of 60 grit sandpaper, oh and a G0555LX Grizzly Band Saw, guess I cheat a little but the band saw sure speeds thing up.

[SLIMBOB]

I think the opinions here will vary greatly.  For me, I pretty much finish my bows with a draw knife, sharp green river knife and sand paper.  I don't use a rasp except around the handle and fades in rough shaping one.  I know others that use a rasp to tiller, not for me.  The green river shaves little ribbons of wood from the belly and keeps it flat.  Sanding evens it out. 

[bubby]

i use these, a oscillating belt sander, on pyramid's i cut them out with a table saw, the rest a bandsaw, not the "purest" way, but when you got wrist's like mine, running a draw knife puts me out of commission for 3 day's, Bub

[HoBow]

I've never had any luck with draw knives on boards.  Planes and rasp work best for me.  I'm up on the north west burbs of Chicago, but there are a couple of others down on the south side that might be able to help.  Perhaps a Chicago get together this winter....

[George Tsoukalas]

Just remember that choosing a board with straight grain is vital. There's info on my site. Jawge

[George Tsoukalas]

http://georgeandjoni.home.comcast.net/~georgeandjoni/index.html

[paulsemp]

Jeff, we never got together this summer and we need a get together in Chicago. hurlbri1 rasps, files and scrapers and patience is all you need. Patience is the the best tool of all of them. I am preparing some hickory backing strips now and have plenty of lumber. I could give you a glue up to floor tiller so you could practice if you want. Also have staves if you want to try that.

[ScottN]

I use the "mystic scraper" on my flat bows. http://www.3riversarchery.com/product.asp?i=6301

Haven't had any problems with it. Small and strong. You can put a burr on all 4 sides and be able to use it for quite a while before you need to resharpen. Perfect for 2" wide limbs.

[foolishman]

2 stanley sureforms, a stanley 20" handsaw, a farriers rasp, and a mill file.  I found that if you use the sureform at a different angle you have a much reduced chance of getting a those annoying thin scares.  After you get the shape using the sureform normally, rotate it so its about 25 degrees from perpendicular to the wood.  It takes a much less aggressive bite and works far faster for removing the scares than a four way rasp. 

[hurlbri1]

Wow!  Thank you for all the great responses!  I love the pic of the tools!  Jawge--I feel as though I've read over your website a ton of times.  Every time I break a board, I got back and read and learn something new from your site, thank you for posting so much good info!

Jeff and Paulsemp--I'd love to get together!  I don't even mind driving to the North Side   Jeff if I break my supply of boards now, I'll take you up on your offer of lumber.  I got 2 more hickory and a red oak board.

I just bought a pile of 60 grit sandpaper and a 9" hand plane and tried it out last night.  The plane work best so far but tends to skip so matter how many time I sharpen it.  I am also developing a love of my fiskers hatchet.  It stays sharp, takes off perfect shaves of wood, and is easy to use and resharpen.  It's also a bit easier on the body.

Thanks for all your input--I appreciate it!

[Onebowonder]

A Shinto Rasp is the perfect tool for my hands, but everyone has their own preference set.  I also like furniture scrappers as we get closer to tiller.

[lostarrow]

Band saw to shape ,blockplane to clean the sawmarks off of the sides.Rasps and sandpaper to do the handle/fade shaping. Spokeshave to clean the limbs up on the belly for rough tiller.Cabinet scraper for reducing to final weight and touch up tiller. Chainsaw file and small round rasp for the nocks. I also use a less aggressive cabinetmakers rasp for cleaning up the coarse stuff before scraping and sanding. Your spokeshave needs to be razor sharp and ground at the right bevel. It also must have good contact between the body and the blade (all the way across ,where the blade extends past the sole. Even with a well tuned shave you will get chatter if the work is not supported beneath the cut . As the bow limb flexes ,it sort of jumps away from the blade and then snaps back in rapid succession, leaving a washboard effect. I make sure the back is nice and smooth so as not to give me splinters or cut me. Then as I draw the shave along the limb ,I reach under with my fingers to support the material and guide the cut as I go. I also skew the cut(angle the plane about 20-30deg.)the opposite way on every subsequent cut .I like to have two cabinet scrapers sharpened and ready to go with a fresh edge. I hate having to sharpen mid stream.
Good luck, Dave

[H Rhodes]

I like the rough side of the ferrier's rasp for hogging off wood.  Finish tillering I alternate between the smoother side of the same rasp and cabinet scraper.    Those two tools take care of 90% of my tillering.

[Strongbow]

I've only got about 8 bows under my belt, but I found the farriers rasp/cabinet scraper combo worked really well for me.  Like the previous poster said the rough side can really hog off wood while you rough out the bow, and the finer side works well for tillering.  The scraper gets the most of the rasp marks out for you.