First Board Bow

[GaryL]

Okay, I built my first board bow and what a mess I made!  I started with a piece of 1.5 by .75 inch Red Oak from Home Depot.  I made the bow 70" and backed it with Linen.  I totally missed the weight mark, I think the bow is less than 20 pounds and I was hoping for 50 or more   I know I was probably way too aggressive during my tillering and need to take more time and care for my next one. 

The one thing that surprised me and something I need help with was the amount of string follow.  When I applied the backing I tied the handle down to a 4X4 and reflexed the tips by using 3 inch wood blocks.  I then glued the linen on with titebond III and let it dry for 24 hours. After tillering the bow I have about 2.5 inches of string follow. 

I will be returning to Home Depot to try this again but I was hoping for some advise for the next go around, especially with eliminating the excessive string follow.  Also, just to confirm, the top limb should be about 1/8th inch more positive than the bottom correct?

I have attached a couple of pics of my first failure below.

[youngbowyer33]

Hey if you learned anything I say it's a success. Plus it shoots! It looks like there is a lot of bend in both limbs a few inches out from the fades, and the rest of the limbs aren't doing much bending. Where the limbs are bending a lot they are under a lot of stress, and this is likely why there is so much string follow. It's also good to bend the limbs a bunch of times to get the wood used to bending after removing wood during tillering.

[George Tsoukalas]

I like a little more near handle wood bending. Other than that the tiller looks good.
What is your draw length?
Jawge

[Eric Krewson]

Did you use a tillering gizmo on your limbs during the tillering process?

[simson]

A linen backing on 70" long bow is no good idea, that construction is too heavy for an efficient bow.
When you go to Home Depot try to get a rift sawn board, best 2" thick. Then chase a ring and you will need no backing.
Better to make a wider bow with red oak.
go slow, patience is a good compagnion

btw nice construction with the tiller tree mounted on the rack incl. the cardboard sheets.

[scp]

Not bad at all for the first bow. I would heat treat the inner 1/3 of limbs and shorten the tips by several inches. You can probably gain more than 10 pounds that way. Then call it a youth bow. But at 30 pounds, it would the perfect bow to practice your shooting posture. Good luck.

[Hawkdancer]

It isn't a failure until it breaks!  You may find a better board at a store that caters to woodworkers.  You get what you pay for. HD doesn't exactly carry first grade lumber.  I'm not going to comment on your work, I'm too new, but it looks pretty good.  The next one will be closer to your expectations, I'm sure.
Hawkdancer

[GaryL]

Thanks Everybody. 

Hey George, my draw length is 27".   

I think I will try a wider board this time and take a little more care when I am tillering.  My bend was a little more even until I realized that my lower limb was a little more positive then the top and when I tried to correct this I removed too much material from the middle section of the limbs causing the big middle arch.

One problem I had was when using my block plane and spoke shave they would occasionally dig in and I would have to remove a lot of material to fix this, which is part of the reason I missed my weight so badly. 

Learning new tools I guess is part of the process. 

When I get around to my second attempt I will post the results.  Thanks for everyone's input!

[TimBo]

Try a rasp and scraper next time instead of the plane and spokeshave.  It may be lighter than you wanted, but this experience will really pay off with the next one, and the next one, etc. 

[Eric Krewson]

After I floor tiller I no longer use a rasp on my bows, I use an agressive scraper made from a half pair of scissors and an orbital sander to finish things up. The sander gets rid of any washboard surfaces left from the scraper.

[Marc St Louis]

Your bow looks well tillered.  Well done.  It is a bit over-built for a 27" draw and you could boost the draw weight by cutting it down but better to make another

[Bojahu]

Congratulations on your first board bow. They can be a lot of fun to make. And I don't think a guy in here hasn't missed their goal weight at one point r another, especially when starting out. Keep with it and it will slowly come easier and easier. I do find that with boards you really cant do much with the draw knife or spoke shave, they tend to dig to much and want to pull of grain. When I have done board bows I do the side profiles with a draw knife and or a hand axe, and then all tillering is done with a farriers rasp to start then down to a file and then a scarper for the final tillering. It takes a long while, but the hard work generally pays off with a nice looking well tillered bow that meets or exceeds your goal for draw weight. And don't be afraid of taking time to throw that bad bow on a tillering stick every few minutes so you can step back and take a look when your getting down to fine tillering. All the same, It looks like you have a bow that will sling an arrow, and it looks pretty good!

[ohma2]

Youve done well for your first

[JW_Halverson]

At this point, set aside any doubts you have and OWN the fact that you are a successful bowyer. You have a shooting bow. Period. Full Stop. End of paragraph.

Your next chapter begins with the words, "At this point I felt the need to make one even better. So I organized my tools and went looking for the next piece of wood." 

Congratulations on your new addiction, bow-brother!

[backtowood B2W]

Hey, I'm not the expert here as I'm doing it for a year now, but you should be happy as it shoots! Mine first two broke...
getting the bend right inner limb was hard for me too, but with the next and the next you will get more and more feeling for the wood the tools the bend ...
hoping to see more