Hey I'm a newbie as well and didn't really want to start another thread on the same topic so just going to post in here.
Let me try to get this straight:
To build a bow, the basic steps are just to:
Get wood (chop it down or buy from lumber store)
Trace out your outline on the front
Cut off the excess on the side
Make it thinner slightly on the limbs and try floor tillering to see if it bends.
Then make it thinner and put it on a tiller tree (or in front of a mirror) and see what needs to go to get the draw you want
Then finish it up with sanding/staining/backing?
Is that it? Any steps I missed for a basic bow? No fancy recurve or anything, just a self-bow or board bow (same thing I would think?)
Also this is probably a stupid question but I never really worked with wood much growing up nor did my father (he's extremely allergic to sawdust, we cut down some Firs last week and he's still coughing/sneezing from it) so I don't know what a straight grain is. I would assume just a straight line going down the plank like this:
And not this where it bends slightly to the left:
Or can it bend that much and still be OK?
