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Anyone make a self bow? Trying my hand.

i built a Menard board bow. built a tillering tree. made a flemish twist for it and served it. loads of fun and a great winter project.

also cut down an Ash when the ash borer came thru and have some staves drying.

goal to kill a deer with a bow that i built from a tree from my property.

great way to learn even more about archery and to appreciate that people have been making bows for a LONG time and they can live off what they killed with the bows they made.
 
NMSbowhunter said:
Ok, so as if I don't already have enough going on, I have been slowly falling down the rabbit hole of primitive archery and bow making. My goal is to make a selfbow, my own river cane arrows, and knapped stone points and kill a deer with it. I doubt very seriously I will be anywhere near ready this for this fall, but it is a process and I have begun.

I am trying my hand at making a hickory selfbow. After looking at quite a bit of information online and in books I chose hickory because of the quality it has for being readily dried and fire hardened from a green stave. I do plan to go harvest a few Osage orange staves soon. It does not grow around my house, but it does grow about a half hour to the east and I have a place I can go get some. It does need to dry and season for at least a year, though, and quite frankly my bow building skills are pretty much zero right now so I would likely not mangle a premium stave anyway, if I had one, at this point.

So, here is what I did so far. I cut a hickory tree the other day and chose a good, straight piece and cut it 70 inches. I can shorten it later if need be. Today I went out and split it and peeled the bark. I then built a fire and put the stave over it to force dry it.

So, has anyone else done this?
Click to expand...

I did this about precisely as you did. Fire hardened hickory. I used clay Hayes book as my guide. I did it all last summer and have shot it on and off. I got a black hunter recurve to practice with so I don’t wear out my self bow shooting but my plan is to take it back to where I chopped down that hickory tree where I have clover now planted and kill a deer with it where it once grew
 
www.3riversarchery.com

Beginner’s Guide to Building a Hickory Longbow

You'll learn everything you need to know to turn a lifeless piece of wood into a beautiful handcrafted hickory longbow. Bow building is hard, but rewarding.
www.3riversarchery.com

Seems germane to anyone interested in building along. I recall seeing a lot of pyramid bow build-alongs on Tradgang but I'm not seeing so many anymore. Maybe I'm remembering wrong.
 
i used the Clay's book and the archer's handbooks, but also learned a ton from Kramer Ammons and shatterproof archery. he makes it fun and entertaining to learn and try. so you break one, haahaa, try again.
 
Swampman said:
Good luck splitting that. Hophornbeam makes a great bow but it doesn't get there very easily. That is my least favorite wood to split but one of my favorites once it is a self bow.
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I have wondered about this wood for a while: thanks for the great tip!!
 
I have killed one deer with hand made bow, arrow and knapped arrowhead. I am going to try to do it again this year. Mike Yancey at Pine Hollow Longbows is a great source of knowledge and supplies. He has a few videos on youtube. Here is a link to a tillering gizmo. They make tillering a whole lot easier.
 
razorsharptokill said:
I have killed one deer with hand made bow, arrow and knapped arrowhead. I am going to try to do it again this year. Mike Yancey at Pine Hollow Longbows is a great source of knowledge and supplies. He has a few videos on youtube. Here is a link to a tillering gizmo. They make tillering a whole lot easier.
Click to expand...

quite the accomplishment. respect.
 
Here is what will happen if you violate the growth ring or get it too thin. Hickory is a different animal. This is Osage. Had hundreds and hundreds of shots out of it. Noticed some cracks on the back getting worse recently. Quite spectacular when they break! LOL
367076770_23981756928104549_1240261461827140116_n.jpg
 
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NMSbowhunter said:
Ok, so as if I don't already have enough going on, I have been slowly falling down the rabbit hole of primitive archery and bow making. My goal is to make a selfbow, my own river cane arrows, and knapped stone points and kill a deer with it. I doubt very seriously I will be anywhere near ready this for this fall, but it is a process and I have begun.

I am trying my hand at making a hickory selfbow. After looking at quite a bit of information online and in books I chose hickory because of the quality it has for being readily dried and fire hardened from a green stave. I do plan to go harvest a few Osage orange staves soon. It does not grow around my house, but it does grow about a half hour to the east and I have a place I can go get some. It does need to dry and season for at least a year, though, and quite frankly my bow building skills are pretty much zero right now so I would likely not mangle a premium stave anyway, if I had one, at this point.

So, here is what I did so far. I cut a hickory tree the other day and chose a good, straight piece and cut it 70 inches. I can shorten it later if need be. Today I went out and split it and peeled the bark. I then built a fire and put the stave over it to force dry it.
So, has anyone else done this?
Click to expand...
Tried it once with an Osage orange billet. I didn't take quite enough wood off with a spokeshave. I go antsy to try it, put on a test string
for a 3/4 test draw and it cracked. I cried!! I gave the cracked bow to a young bowyer. Not sure what he did with it...likely pitched it.
My advice is this: When it gets time to test draw it go easy! I hope you have more patience than I did. Best of luck and show us some pics.
 
I've made many of Osage and Hickory as well as a couple Sweat Gums. Go slow, you can't put wood back on. As mentioned learn to bend wood. Rip a 2X4 to 1/2" and learn to tiller. That's the thing that will get you a bow and not blow up a lot of good staves. I of course did not do that and lost some of the best Osage I have seen. It's very rewarding to shoot a bow you made and especially have a successful hunt.
 
Here’s one with a tillering string on it. I’m about to make a string for it and see how it shoots. It’s a low draw weight bow, 35lbs at 28”. My only advice is to make a bunch of bows, don’t be afraid of failure. I’m far from building a great self bow, but I learn from every attempt.IMG_5355.png
 
Jammintree said:
Here’s one with a tillering string on it. I’m about to make a string for it and see how it shoots. It’s a low draw weight bow, 35lbs at 28”. My only advice is to make a bunch of bows, don’t be afraid of failure. I’m far from building a great self bow, but I learn from every attempt.View attachment 89079
Click to expand...
Looking pretty sweet!! I don't have the skill unfortunately. I'm jealous!!
 
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