It's Done!

Well, I did not know for sure whether I would actually get to this point. I finished my 50 hour project. 48" nock to nock. About 50 pounds @ 25". I'm thanking my Creator for allowing me to create this from start to finish. Also, don't forget the kind man who let me have a fresh green limb of his bodark tree.

My draw was a little high here, trying to rush to get it before the camera's self timer went off.

Hey don't feel like you gotta unsubscribe either, I have some other plans for projects I'll be posting here.

~ Zachary

Tilling Progress

After quite a long wait for some time, I've gotten started tillering the bow--that is--making the bow bend in an equal arc. It basically all boils down to this: take off wood where it isn't bending, and don't take off any where it already is. It's a lot harder than it looks. Right now I'm at 20" and it's very good weight-wise, but I want to get 24-28" draw which means I'll have to pull farther. That means the draw-weight will go up. Since it's pretty much already tillered, I need to take wood off slowly and evenly to slowly bring it down. Another couple days of good work and I should be done tillering. After that, I'll do the final touches and wrap the handle with leather. Next, I'll make some hand-forged steel broadhead arrows, most likely with an integral socket versus a tang.

A small, yet critical lifting of the back of the bow. This is pretty bad on most woods, but since Osage is so tough, superglue will prevent it from lifting any more and breaking the entire bow. No guarantees though! If I had sinew, I would use it.

Integral Socket is a socket that fits on the arrow and is glued in place.

This arrow has a tang on the end that is fit into a split arrow shaft and wrapped with sinew.

A good Osage Bow was Worth a Horse and a Blanket

In Arkansas, in the early 19th century, a good Osage bow was worth a horse and a blanket. - Wikipedia

Linen-backed Red Oak Bow

I recently made a red oak board bow backed with linen. It's approx. 40-50# @ 28". I still need to get myself some decent arrows. It's really just a "Pre-bow" so I don't mess up tillering on my nice one that I'm making from osage. Since this one is made from a board, it didn't take me long, helped me get some practice tillering, and if I messed up wouldn't be that much of a deal considering I only spent about 4 or 5 hours on it. :)

Tapering the Bow (I'm at the 40 hour mark!)

Today I spent about 3-4 hours on the bow working on tapering it bringing my total working time on the bow so far to 40 hours. Below are some videos...

Short-Bow Update

Half-way done chasing the ring on the bow.

Finally, I'm done chasing the ring on the back of the bow. It's taken me about 10 hours here and there. Those hours ticked by pretty quick though... I was really enjoying it. The color of the wood is amazing! As Osage Orange gets older, the wood deepens in color from yellow to a dark orange.

What's next for me to do? Well now I have to shape the bow. More than one person on some primitive forums said that mollegabet (the design I was going to use) was the last design they would use for a small bow (Mine's 50") I'm going to go with tapered sides. Probably 1.25" at the handle and .5" at the tips.

Progress

In a bit of a dilemma...

Sorry about the camera moving around so much, I'll try to keep it more steady next time.

I'll continue to keep you posted with more videos!

Zachary

The Perils of Using Kiln-Dried Wood

Quite a while ago, I discovered my interest in bow making. I took out several books out of the library, most of them being survival books. Making a survival bow is quite different than making a bow on the workbench--as a life-or-death situation requires speed not necessarily quality.

I had read from multiple sources that wood was better for bow-making when dried to 7-10% moisture level. Although kiln-dried wood dries to around 7%, it's done rapidly, making the wood brittle and unfit for making bows with. My idea was that 7% moisture content, kiln-dried or not, was ideal. Well, I eventually broke that bow trying to make an arrow rest in it. Later that same day, my dad and I went to the library. I pulled out the only book on the subject and started reading. There it was, plain as day...

. . . if someone tries to convince you to use kiln dried wood for a bow, you should wave your arms and make  horrible faces. If that doesn't scare him off, be prepared to run for your life. Kiln dried wood is brittle and will NOT make a bow . . . Bows & Arrows of the Native Americans by Jim Hamm

I sure learned that lesson. The bow I made did bend nicely and I was able to string it and shoot a quite a few arrows with it. But once I cut that arrow rest, it cracked and broke. Thankfully, it broke on the tiller stick, not in my hands (ouch).

Also, I've gotten a resource page up now where you can find videos, articles, and books I've read. I'm going to be updating it periodically as I go, so check it out!

Splitting the Wood to Make Staves

My Dad and I got to working on splitting the log. It took longer than I had expected; nevertheless we got it split with some metal chisel/wedge spikes we found in the garage. The split wasn't very clean, in fact we cut through my sharpie-line marking the where the bow was going to be. Fortunately, I found a good spot to shape the bow on both halves. This way, if I mess up on one half, I'll have the other half to go back to.

One of the things I planned wrong, was splitting the log on a knot/cut-off branch. Knots are not very good when making bows, and by splitting through, we basically made both halves have the same problem...ugh.

I need a draw knife now to get the half down to the rough size and shape, so I've posted some 'wanted' ads on freecycle (they're expensive). I'm going to let the staves dry for a couple of weeks or more. Some people let theirs dry for a few years. To get around this some people use kiln-dried wood which can be bought at the hardware store. This stuff if brittle and will NOT make a bow. (I'll get into why not and my experience with it in another post)

I'm going to let mine dry for a couple weeks (or until I get my draw knife if that will be longer than a couple weeks) and then rough out the bow. After, if gets rather warm, I'll stick it up in the attic to dry quicker. (a month or so should do) If it doesn't get warm soon, I'll probably work it while it's still green. That way, if I want to add some re-curve to it, it'll be easier to bend with steam and heat. I haven't made up my mind exactly how the process will go, but I'll know later down the line.

Each stave is about 50" long, a little short, but that's okay for my first bow.  :)

Putting wood glue on the ends of the staves slows the drying process to prevent checking or splitting.

Kaya thinks we split it for her...

Day 1 - Collecting the Wood for the Bow

Wednesday, February 23, 2011:

I went to go pick out a good size straight log of bodark--also known as Bois d'arc, Osage Orange, and Horse Apple--for my bow. There were plenty of pieces of bodark lying around, but they weren't suitable for bow making. Anything with many cracks or twisted bark I can't use for a bow. We actually found a perfect size and grain log, but ripping the bark apart, we found that it was ant-infested. Ah well.

The man who owned the property was kind enough to cut a green piece off of one of his trees. Even better since a green limb will be easier to work with. I coated the ends of the log with wood glue to prevent the wood from drying to quickly and cracking as a result. To give you an idea of just how big this thing is, I uploaded a few pictures.

I hope to split it into staves very soon. Maybe tomorrow? I'll make sure to give you guys updates on how it goes.

Zachary