New Member, First Bow Advice?

[Thesquirrelslinger]

if you have cut-off wheels or grinding wheels, or drill bits, or grinder-bits, or deburrs, etc.
You can cut the nocks with a dremel.
It might burn the wood, go at about 15-20,000 RPM. I used 30,000 and actually caught my wood on fire when I was cutting nocks into a long oak board bow...

[darwin]

-Hatchet or draw knife (or both)
-wood rasp
-sand paper
-red oak board from a home improvement store

It's really worth it to buy a draw knife i love mine, however i bought an old one off ebay and with my dremel and some sandpaper i reconditioned it the whole thing only cost me 10 bucks.

[ionicmuffin]

the bare minimum you say? a kitchen knife or half of a pair of Scissors and a way of reducing the board to dimensions. Also need a board. Thats the basic minimum unless you wan to make it with stones alone. which you could find a sandstone or other abrasive stone to sand with when your done with tiller or very close. ive never done it myself, but id imagine with those tools you could make a decent bow. Thats less than ideal to learn on though, if you can get a hold of a rasp and a hatchet it would be faster and will really make your experience more enjoyable.

[Slackbunny]

I love my spokeshave, and recommend that any aspiring bowyer invest in one. But you don't need it. A rasp and handsaw will get the job done just fine without being overly frustrating or time consuming.

Patience and perserverance are both key. Rushing it will get you a broken bow, but even if you break one or two, or ten, just keep at it. I broke three or four before I finally got a sluggish 25 pound shooter.

And remember, this isn't supposed to be easy.

[sadiejane]

-Hatchet or draw knife (or both)
-wood rasp
-sand paper
-red oak board from a home improvement store

It's really worth it to buy a draw knife i love mine, however i bought an old one off ebay and with my dremel and some sandpaper i reconditioned it the whole thing only cost me 10 bucks.

might take ya a bit more time, but all these tools can be had at yard sales or flea markets for pretty cheap. i find wood and farriers rasps sometimes for $1 or $2. small hatchets for about the same, maybe up to $4. draw knives are a bit harder to stumble upon sometimes but have found plenty to give away or trade over the years for $10 or less. can tell ya one thing for sure-you will be much happier with an old good condition drawknife than the $60 one. unless ya spend the big bucks($150 or more) or have a custom one made, do not buy a modern drawknife. sounds like ya have some flotsam in the garage from past adventures, ya might try craigslist for trade or if there is a fb garage sale or bartertown page for yr area.
board bow is a good way to start. good practice, cheap and can make a good bow if ya take yr time. besides all the great tutorials on PA, there is a website called poorfolksbows that has a good step by step tutorial on making a board bow. good luck and keep us posted how its going.

[ionicmuffin]

poorfolkbows is where i got my inspiration for my first bow. Lots of pictures there.

[kinslayer1965]

I found a sweet drawknife on ebay. Got it for $14.00 + shipping.

CR

[NewArcher]

Thank you all for your advice.  I found a few draw knives on eBay (I honestly hadn't thought about using that) and none on Craiglist (I live in a very small town, go figure), so I guess a follow-up question would be how to judge the item?  I found one that's apparently from the 1880's, found some newer ones, and the pictures don't really show anything that a novice like myself would be able to see, notice, and say "oh no, that's not good" when looking at the pictures.  Any guidelines?

What exactly is tillering?  Just trying to get the bow to bend enough?  I see images where people are hanging their bows up on these "trees", and slowly shaving portions (not the center, though) of the stave and then pulling the string down farther.

[ionicmuffin]

when there are stiff spots or where the bow isnt bending enough in a certain spot you selectively remove a small amount of wood and check the bend again, you continue doing this until it is bending nearly all if not all of the length of the bow. Thats tillering.

[NewArcher]

Ahh, I see.  Makes sense!

I'm going to Sutherland's and Home Depot to look for boards (based on images from the Poorfolksbows site) ;-)

I'm eager to start, but have plenty of patience (and time, since I've only got an hour or two per day to devote to it during the week).  I just want to shoot, but can't afford the huge cost of purchasing the items necessary.

[sadiejane]

forgot to mention this current follow along.
great advice here and some real gracious support from the fellas here on PA
http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php/topic,37695.0.html

[darwin]

i would recommend taking several long looks at the build along section on this as well as poorfolks bows, also if you have the money investing in the first volume of traditional bowyers bible

As far as the ebay drawknives go you want to look for one with minimum pitting on the blade and unless your willing to remake the handles you need to make sure those are still intact, mine is a 9 in curved model some people prefer straight models but it really all comes down to preference

[NewArcher]

I didn't have a chance to visit the local Sutherland's, but I just looked on their web site and saw this:

2x4 8ft Construction Common S4s Redwood Board:
http://sutherlands.com/products/product.php?item=13383#.UUzpKFdm18E

Is that the right size board?  It's a little long (http://poorfolkbows.com/oak.htm had a 6ft board), but maybe I can use the leftovers for something else.

If that isn't the correct size, they have others:
http://sutherlands.com/search/index.php?cat=2907005#.UUzpD1dm18E

[ionicmuffin]

that looks a lot like how they cut pine, im rather wary about "redwood" there are several types of wood that have red in them. This is pretty close to what red oak should look like, in grain and in color, more or less.

[JW_Halverson]

We used to have a great member in here from Tucson.  He worked Border Patrol and was into breeding and keeping exotic snakes.  Unfortunately, his personal life took a bad left turn a while back and he's been unresponsive for quite some time.  He was a great guy and would have walked you thru your first bows. 

There are some talented bowyers in here that build amazing bows from boards.  Don't think they are somehow less of a bow.  They can still take the largest big game you are likely to run across in North America!  You really won't need a drawknife until you start chasing growthrings on staves, anyway.  Sure, they are a handy tool for hogging off lotsa wood fast, but until you got some experience, slow and steady is a better battle plan.  A spokeshave isn't too hard to come by in flea markets and Ebay, but they can be a pain in the tookus when dull and out of adjustment.  Plus they need a little more tool control that only comes with experience. 

Go buy a Nicholson 4-in-1 rasp.  One side is flat and has half the face in coarse tooth pattern and half fine tooth.  On the other side, the tool is rounded and again half and half coarse/smooth.  You are gonna burn a lot of elbow grease using this and a scraper made from a knife blade or half a pair of scissors.  But it can be done!!!