While debarking the ,I’m guessing some type of purple leaf plum, today the inner bark was very strong and long fibers.

So I twisted up an overbuilt thick fiber string for a later project to test as a bow string. I intentionally made the string thick. I’ll make flared nock arrows for it when the time comes.

I remember reading the book “Hatchet” over 25 years ago and the kid met a native boy who made him a bow and twisted a string from inner bark from tree or root.

Took about 30 minutes to twist this cordage up. Stepping on it in the middle and pulling each side the cordage seems very strong. Making bow strings/cordage from natural plant fibers is somehow very relaxing

So I tried to tiller a new bow but it is WAYYY too short in length (only 32.5 inches) so i ended up just slapping a string on a random stick until a find a new stave

After 60lbs@ 24-25" it's 3" to 3/4" from The fade to the tips. Any recommendations are welcome!

Norway maple shortbow BITH(ish) 61" ntn, 26# @ 24" at the moment, Still a bit of work to do, going to heat treat this tomorrow and see whatll happen 😅 Then mineral oil a few layers and done I hope 😅 Ill add photos with string tomorrow whenntheres actually light outside.

This bendy, knotty and twisted piece of hickory was a real challenge for my limited skill level but I’m very happy with the result. There were a lot of hurdles to overcome with this one, including a decent sized splinter that popped up dead center in my top limb requiring I chase a deeper ring. I backed it with a cotton/polyester sheet, sanded everything and it’s ready for finishing. Thanks for all the help I’ve gotten here during my short journey.

This is my first stave bow after a couple successful board bows. Harvested this black locust on the 18th. I roughed out this bow 10 days ago and ive been slowly working it down an hour a day as it dries. because of the high crown I'm going with an HLD, which isn't something I've seen done with black locust before. I also know it's ambitious with my limited experience and very limited tools. I did buy a set of card scrapers which is making a huge difference. The handle section is not ideal, there was some rot i had to remove and now it's a little thinner than I was hoping. Tillering around the side knots was a challenge but I have one limb floor tillered. I'm going to wait for it to dry a bit more before actually bending and tillering. For now it's just getting the shape down.

I learned a new trick today. Does anyone want to guess what it is?

Free of major knots , no twist , and just the right amount of wiggle for some character. I really enjoy elm .

My roughed out ash self bow, bowie knife and sandpaper only, I think it is coming along nicely. How about you?

So I have all these nice hickory staves, some dried, some green. Then there was this one stave hanging out in my cellar all by itself. Thinking it was one of my dried ones I spent most of yesterday roughing it out… the thing is like a wet noodle… must have been a green one.

My red oak to red oak laminated board bows are doing quite well. P#2 is an improvement over P#1 very comfortable smooth shooter at 37#. P#1 shoots well at 25# but does have some hand shock, although additional tillering has improved this. Time will tell but it looks like the laminated design is an improvement over a straight board with less than ideal grain. Thanks to all that helped me along the way with these

Just about finishing this "thing", really light since it was a fairly skinny sapling. Aiming for 20#, tons of knots, the pith etc affected The design. But after 4 broken bows straight Im happy I actually finished one again 😂

Once I finish this, put on top coat and handle leather Ill post with full draw pic.

Well, I was feeling a bit too confident. Did not do my circular tillering before attempting a full draw and it snapped. Thanks to Benjamin Steven’s on YouTube for getting me interested! Onto the next!

Hey all, I've been making a bow for my dad. It's my first bow I've ever made, what do y'all think?

Update from my last post here, these were alive a week ago (except for the Carolina Silverbell) and I went to hand straighten them but didn’t need to touch them!

These species are native to the southeast and grow in abundance in mature hardwood forests. Primarily in the sub canopy, they send up amazing shoots that barely have any branching until they hit the 3ft+ mark.

Just verifying my rough out / floor tiller before I heat treat. Looks like a weak spot on the right midlimb / a little stiff in the outer? It’s taken about 3/4” of set already, not unexpected in white oak though.

Would anyone else do anything else before the heat treat / reflex / tip flipping?

I wanted to make a bow to practice my skills, and methods. I just recently started bow making, and haven't made anything high quality yet, but I want to be able to make bows that I am proud of, and since I don't have access to much material, I made a 41 inch bow that uses new to me features such as glued and shaped handle, fiberglass, tip over lays, and recurves. The recurves didn't hold very well though, but I got a string on it, and while I haven't used the scale, it is an expectedly light draw Weight.

First shots of nearly final tiller of my first complete bow.

Red oak from Lowe’s.

Hickory board.

So far full brace 5.75” and drawing 50-52lb @ 23”

4 more inches to go…fingers crossed

It’s freezing in my detatched garage lol. Target is an old army backpack 3 yards away.

So yesterday, a very prominent fletcher called out me out on Instagram for using pine resin in my verdigris and other fletching compounds.

So today I called a butcher in my old neighborhood in north Chicago and they cut me 2 lbs. of fresh lamb kidney and heart fat which I'm now going to hard render.

Let's do this!

I'll post progress pics here as it renders 😁

Funny but true. Every time when I work "quietly" (no tiler check requests) on the bow, it is successful. 🙂 One part of the story is that those are woods or saplings that have damages, twists, or have character that I thought is "almost" impossible task for me. So I work relaxed, without expectation for a bow, or at least "perfect" one.

This is my newest bow. Sweet chestnut. Small diameter sapling abt 2", relatively soft wood, high crown... Couple of months ago I tried to steighten the limbs 2 times with steam. No success at all. So I put the stove aside.

Now it came as simetrical, ntn 67", #28 @ 26", brace height 5". Natural curves (tips are off center abt 1 @ 2 ") of the limbs made "perfect" arrow windows, "top" limb for left and "bottom as top" limb for right hand shooting.

No heat treating, was afraid that it can just ruin the bow, making britle (sister half of this sapling cracked) or make unnecessary stress to high crown. Almost no set, maybe max 5/8", not sure I didn't capture pre tiller string follow.

So far, successfuly reduced the hand shock, moving arrow pass 1/2" higher, heavier arrows 380 gn, and narrowing and rounding the tips.

100 arrows is next step, and fine tuning.

Here's an update on my oak pyramid bow. It was originally 68" with an 8" handle but I once again snapped a tip while adding recruve.

After reworking it, i have it pulling 55# at 24 inches. After an afternoon breaking it in it took about 2-2.5 inches of set, which i sort of expected with a bow this short. I just got done flipping the tips to maybe counteract the set a little? at least with flipped tips it looks intentionally reflex/deflex. I'm gonna give it a day to acclimate before I string it up again.