Any self bow enthusiasts here.

I've got a little stave of red oak from Home Depot with a bow for my 4 year old son in mind. Haven't got around to working on it yet. I've been busy stone carving lately.

I used to believe that it should come from the woods, and I still believe that is best. But, I also don't believe that a tree that has been felled and sent to the lumberyard shouldn't die in vain - so I'm OK with using wood from anywhere that I can find it.
 
My one experience with a self bow was a hickory (shagbark IIRC) stave as tall as I was. I thought I had it tillered pretty well, and shot it thru the month of November and a couple weeks of December. This bow was only 50# pull @ 33", but comfortable for me. One clear cold morning, I took it out of the house and strung it right away. Nocking an arrow, I pulled to my jaw and the whole thang let loose...exploded just above the riser, maybe 3" above the grip. the upper limb whirled around and hit me such a lick between the eyes (scar's still there), but a piece of the bottom half near castrated me at the same time....the shock so great I didn't have time to yell er nothing...jes' laid me out straight back. My friend said later it sounded like a gun going off, yet I heard nothing.... seriously. Now days, my recurves are wood and fiberglass laminates, and the bow is outside an hour before stringing up!
 
Nevertheless, working the wood into the bow was a great experience I would not care to miss, and I recommend the undertaking to anyone so inclined. Reading up on it for several months before trying it was an education in itself, and after all, it did work well for over a month. Hope the earlier comment didn't scare anyone off! I sincerely believe the 30+ degree gradient in ambient temperature between inside and outside caused the bow to fail, or maybe just a marginal job of tillering put more strain in one spot.
 
jurassicnarc44 said:
Nevertheless, working the wood into the bow was a great experience I would not care to miss, and I recommend the undertaking to anyone so inclined.

or maybe just a marginal job of tillering put more strain in one spot.
Click to expand...

Mac wood can do strange and funny things when taken from one temperature extreme to another.
I read a couple of hunting articles long, long, ago that talked about missing long sought after trophy shots because the rifle was taken from the warm air inside a cabin and then subjected to very cold temps causing the stock to change enough to move the barrel off sight quite a long ways.
The recommendation was to leave your hunting rifle in a secure dry place outside when you were going after elusive hard to spot trophy animals but I'd say the same for any hunter that was serious about bringing home meat.
 
Ah - memories of exploding bows! I was onto the final tillering of a self bow -it was on the kitchen floor - a beautiful bow it was ...until ka-boom!No more bow just splinters.Boy was I ever chapped over that one!
Another time I was at full draw with my store bought 55lb recurve when the world sort of just went unhindged!Ka-boom again...when my eyes finally refocused I was holding the centre serving of the string, arrow at my feet..the string silencers went further than the arrow.Meanwhile my good buddies are all rolling on the ground wetting themselves laughing.Thanks guys !
 
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