[sterling_archer]

PART 1 - Tools, wood selection, preparation

I decided to make this datasheet because of interest my „build-a-long“ ash bow produced and also I thought that there are more guys here interested in how to actually make a bow themselves, but they are simply in position where they don't know how to start. This datasheet will have three parts.

Aim of this datasheet is to build American flatbow type of bow, with draw weight of around 50 pounds at 28 inches of draw length (50#@28“). 50# is enough to kill almost every animal in Northern hemisphere and for target practice is easy on the muscles. Its important for target practice to have bow that is not too strong for you. 50# ensures that no grown man should have trouble with this poundage. Some even recommend 40# for beginners.

My advice is that you read thoroughly this datasheet before attempting to make a bow.

Warning: bow building requires some financial investments in order to maximize your success. Of course, you can do it caveman style (literally) and go with sharp stones and flints, but if you want to make proper bow, the easiest and fastest way, than you must buy at least couple of good tools. Good rasp and draw knife will do wonders and most of these investments are actually one time investments that will pay off numerous times. There are some other things that need to be bought, but I will mention them later.


1.1. Tools

Here are some of the tools/accessories you need in order to make your bow. I will try to keep list to a minimum:
- Hand saw - for cutting wood and it helps during shaping process; you can also use chainsaw to fell a tree
- Metal tape measure - I use self retracting one, one with both inches and centimeters is good choice
- Ruler - for bow layout
- Calipers - optional tool but I like to use it as gizmo for drawing thickness lines
- Marker - you can use sharpie, ballpoint pen or pencil for wood
- String - about 2,5 meters long, used for bow layout
- Paracord - about 3 meters long, for use as a tillering string, you can also buy proper tillering string from archery stores
- Draw knife - for removing bark, chasing the rings or even precise shaping of the bow
- Hatchet - for removing large pieces of wood during shaping process
- Wood rasp - very rough for fast removing of wood, and/or fine tooth for precise wood removal
- Rat tail rasp - for cutting of the string grooves, 5 - 6 mm in diameter is best
- Other, optional tools - spokeshave is commonly mentioned as a very good tool for small wood removal, very suitable during last stages of tillering, scraper is also useful tool for precise wood removal, I actually don't have these two tools
- Vise and clamps - important for holding wood in place while you work on it
- Tillering tree - this is most important accessory in bow building, it separates bows from firewood, I suggest you will make this according to instructions provided later
- Scale with hook - for measuring the draw weight
- Bow string - beginners should buy bow string instead of making it themselves, Dacron B50 is good material for bows under 40 - 50# in draw weight, but for bows over 50# I recommend using Astroflight or FastFlight material, which are similar to Kevlar in construction; for bow we are building (70 inches nock to nock) string should be around 66 inches long, but please see in the stores for the proper length
- Bow stringer - piece of cord with loops on each end, about 2 meters long, its used to put bow string on a bow, you can also buy it if you don't want to make it
- Sandpaper - grits from 100 up to 400, at the end bow needs to be smooth before applying protective finish
- Protective finish - pork fat, Tru Oil, beeswax, linen seed oil and „plastic“ finish in spray are all very good protective finishes that make your bow waterproof


1.2. Wood selection

When we think about wood selection, we don't focus only on the species of wood, but we also must focus on the shape of tree, where it grows and when we cut it.
There is lot of discussion on various forums about when to cut wood and general agreement is that bow wood is best cut at Autumn. So think about late September or October, up to November. When you cut wood you can notice two distinct types of rings; early and late wood rings.



We aim to make bow that has its layout drawn on the late wood. Late wood rings are harder than early wood rings. That is why we cut wood at Autumn, where late wood ring is immediately under the bark. If we would cut wood in Spring or Summer, under the bark would be early ring that is a bit spongier in consistency. Bow wouldn't be really „worse“ because of it, but as I said, its preferable to cut it in Autumn.

What about tree species? There is actually ridiculous number of species suitable for bows, but at the end it simply matters where you live and if you have money to buy wood or access to woods. Long story short, prefer hard type of woods. Look at each wood listed, see if its available in your area and see what exact species it is.
Contact me if you have access to tree that is not listed below. Here are some of the popular wood choices:

- Apple
- Ashes (American ashes, European Ash)
- Birch
- Eastern Red Cedar
- Wych Elm
- Holly
- Hazel
- European Hornbeam
- Hophornbeam
- Juniper
- Lemonwood
- Black Locust
- Honey Locust
- Maple (Sycamore Maple, Vine Maple)
- Mulberry
- Oak (White Oak, Red Oak, English Oak)
- Osage Orange
- Pear
- Hickory (Pecan, Pignut, Shagbark)
- Rowan
- Black Walnut
- Yew
- Elderberry
- Hawthorn
- Buckthorn
- Blackthorn

Of course I don't have to mention that you need to do cutting legally, so ask around, see what are laws in your country; I can't really help you with this. If you want to buy already cut and prepared staves for bows, there are some vendors that do that. I think they only function for North America.

Bow shape and where it grows is final thing we must look closely. Avoid cutting wood that grows near rivers or creaks. That wood tends to be softer and less dense than the ones in the hills.
Avoid excessively weird shaped trees as you cannot properly draw layout on it. Avoid trees that are really bent.
If the tree is straight but parallel to the ground because its bent near the root, choose the side that faces away from the soil. That side has much stronger cells because they must hold the tree against gravity.





Straight tree like this is very rare. You need to work with what you got.

I will be working with Hawthorn that has been cut in the October last year.


1.3. Wood preparation

Try to look for trees at least 6 - 7 cm in diameter. This ensures that you will have enough wood to make this into flatbow.
If the wood is much over 7 cm, such as 25 cm, a 30 cm or even more, split it using this instructions. This will produce couple of good staves that you can use later for either new bows or for firewood.
Cut the tree as closer to the ground and from that, cut it at length of 2 meters.
When you cut a wood, split it if you have to and paint the ends of the cuts or put wood glue on them.

Now comes the most boring part. Leaving wood to be dry enough for working.

Leave wood at least 6 months minimum to dry somewhere where you have nice air flow and where environment is dry. Attics are good places, top of the barn under the roof, balcony in apartment or inside of apartment. Put some bricks underneath the staves/stave as wood must be above the ground.
One thing to remember that you must not leave wood exposed to big temperature changes, such effect produces checking and will ruin your wood before you even started the bow!

After 6 months put wood in some vise or clamp it somewhere and use draw knife carefully to remove the bark. I put arrow indicating side where layout will be. Go slowly so the draw knife doesn't dig into the wood below the bark. Be careful around the knots; never violate a knot!







Side of the bow that looks at target is called „back“ and the side that looks at us is called „belly“.
Wood below the bark will form back of the bow and it must be in pristine condition. You don't need to remove bark from the whole stave, just remove bark from the side on which you will put the layout.
Hawthorn has this reddish underbark which is easily removed with scraping. I put the draw knife perpendicular to wood and pull it towards myself in short draws.





Then I proceed to gently rub the back of the bow with sanding paper to clean further. Bow is ready for layout.



Note:
One thing I should mention is that some of species listed have such structure where you need to „chase rings“. All trees have heartwood (middle area) and whitewood (wood immediately under the bark). Most of the trees listed have same density of these types of structures, but there are some species like Osage, Mulberry and Locusts that have whitewood so soft that if you would to make bow out of this species, it will probably break where heartwood and whitewood separates. That is why we need to chase rings on these species. We must remove the bark and remove all whitewood rings until we get to the first ring of the heartwood.
So for beginners I suggest that you don't use trees such as Osage, Mulberry and Locusts as its lot of work where you can easily mess up heartwood.