Building a bow with a Khukuri!

6-8 hours of working time, but many more hours of aging, planning ect I bet. Thanks the explanation about flat spots that makes perfect sense. At least those are fixable with the experience to recognize them before they cause other problems. I am guessing a hinge is not something you can recover from easily. Perhaps retuning the rest of the limb to match the thinner area, But nothing short of a major rework sounds like it would fix that. Some day when a salvage operation re-floats my ship and it finally comes in I will have to contact you about getting a bow made. Even though my Archery is limited to target shooting for fun these days, I would love to have a gorgeous hand crafted classic like that.
 
yhaving seen the longbows from the royal warship 'mary rose', i was surprised how gnarrled, gouged, lumpy, & uneven some of them were. interesting article & photos HERE. when i was there they'd set up a replica 150 lb. bow that you could try to draw i managed about half way. :)

cross section, shows heart & sap wood nicely.

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odd gnarly bow for a royal warship & pride of henry 8th's fleet...

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The story of the Mary Rose was an inspiration to me when I first started making bows. I've made some gnarly bows like that, and it's all about following the grain. It may look crooked and weird, but that's where it's strength is. I was able to pick up some Yew from a friend recently that was clearing some land on his property in the Blue Mountains. At least one log looks like it could give up a bow or two. Those probably won't be ready to work until next year at the earliest.

I'd love to go out and make some more progress on the bow today, but as it is it's well over 100 right now. Maybe if it cools down to the 90's I'll give it a go.

Think about that phrase for a moment; "if it cools down to the 90's"...That's not right!!! I need to move north for the summer!
 
It has been about 100 every day here for weeks on end....we too are experiencing a major cooldown to circa 90 and loving every minute of it.....back in the very early 70s i read avidly the few longbow articles available and very few suppliers of yew and lemonwood staves....wish now and have for years since i had followed that path, given the explosion of interest in bow hunting and retro bows....unthinkable back then.....same with knives, only right about then did both start to step out of rare articles in gents and mechanic magazines and start stand-alone magazines and digests....
 
T.C.
Thanks for the thread. I found this both educational and interesting. I wish I had the time to attempt something like this. Keep us up to date..
 
Well, as I continue I notice that one limb is wandering off center just a little. I'm going to use a bit of steam to bring the limb back in line.

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It isn't going to take much. I cover the section I want to bend with tin foil and let it sit for about 15 minutes.

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Here's my fancy bow limb alignment tool courtesy of International Harvester! The trick is to bend the limb just a fraction past the point you want it to settle at. Too far, and all you do is trade one problem for another.

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I can see a bow that I was trying to do like that turning out like a 13 luk Keris LOL. Bend to rebend to new bend to.....
But hey, with those Modern tools you should be able to get it much straighter than those Mary Rose gents.
 
Heck yeah, there's always a way!

Yep Shavru, it can be over done. I only resort to this if I want to introduce reflex, recurve tips, or adjust the tip alignment. The limb can actually wander all over the place as long as the string is fairly well centered through the handle when strung. When you work with primitive wood bows like this, it can be tricky because unstrung, it can look like nothing will line up, then you brace it, and it all falls into place. With this one, I suspect that the stave still had some moisture in it and as it's dried these last few months it's warped a little. From here, I ought to be able to keep it aligned as I remove more wood.
 
"Here's my fancy bow limb alignment tool courtesy of International Harvester! The trick is to bend the limb just a fraction past the point you want it to settle at. Too far, and all you do is trade one problem for another."

How long do you keep the limb in the bent position before releasing it?
 
I held this for just a few minutes and that was enough. Small corrections like this are pretty quick and simple. How long you keep the limb bent really depends on what you're trying to do. If you you're recurving a limb you will steam or boil the limb longer, and may clamp it into a jig overnight. Small corrections like this are pretty quick and simple.
 
Apologies for the digression, but I just came across this video of a tribal fellow making a bow and arrow out of bamboo with a string made of rattan.

[video=youtube;LDSjYvFkbbg]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDSjYvFkbbg[/video]

He appears to be using some sort of golok or parang for the cutting, but I bet you could do the same thing with a thinner khuk.
 
blue lander said:
Apologies for the digression, but I just came across this video of a tribal fellow making a bow and arrow out of bamboo with a string made of rattan.

[video=youtube;LDSjYvFkbbg]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDSjYvFkbbg[/video]

He appears to be using some sort of golok or parang for the cutting, but I bet you could do the same thing with a thinner khuk.
Click to expand...

cool .....
 
When I see the skills that these fellas have in handling their traditional blades, I feel humbled.
 
Cool video! I like the way they integrated the arrow head with the shaft. He does look like he has some time with that blade.
 
i'm reasonably sure he is a filipino, so the knife would be a bolo of some sort. chisel ground, so he sharpens it with the full left side of the blade flat on the stone & doesn't sharpen the bevel on the right side. - a traditional filipino style.
 
T. C. Weston said:
I held this for just a few minutes and that was enough. Small corrections like this are pretty quick and simple. How long you keep the limb bent really depends on what you're trying to do. If you you're recurving a limb you will steam or boil the limb longer, and may clamp it into a jig overnight. Small corrections like this are pretty quick and simple.
Click to expand...

I have enjoyed the build. Thank you T.C. for walking us through it. Any updates?
 
Greetings from the Scorch Lands of Eastern Washington! Sorry it took so long for an update, but here you go. I've tillered it to the point we can put a bowstring on it. Here it is at brace height for the first time.

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From here on, it's a process of shooting at about half draw, checking the tiller, scraping the stiff areas, shooting, and repeating the process, each time getting closer to full draw.

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We're nearly there. I've got it almost to full draw, and it feels in the neighborhood of 50 lbs. It is a smooth draw, and a real pleasure to shoot. Bow season opens on Tuesday, and if I get her finished this weekend, I might chase some deer with it.

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Beautiful job Travis! I guess there is a kinda break in period. Your thread inspired me to get started on one myself. Everything I have on my land is checked and too dry so I started on some bamboo but today i found out it was too small diameter and thin walled and probably wont work. I aint giving up yet tho. Do you make your own arrows? I tried to make an arrow today from an agave flowering stalk. I heated it up and wet it to straighten it and all went well till I broke it trying to shave it. Oh well. Im total newbie but I will get one done someday. Thanks so much for your post. Your experience has been inspiring. I can hrdly type anymore because of all the flint chips in my keyboard:D Been fun! Cheers!
Im in need of some fletching. I see red tail hawks as roadkill (too bad) on the way home from work so Im waiting for the next one and hoping some flight feathers will work? Like I say im total newbie and dont know nothin but im betting they will.
 
T.C. Thank you for the expertise you have demonstrated. I've always wanted to make a bow. It's nice to see someone do it, who knows what their doing. Let us know, if you kill a deer with it this year.
 
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