Bows!

T

T. C. Weston

Joined
Apr 10, 2011
Messages
153
Hello to all!

I let it be known in a recent thread that I make bows, and will soon be doing a step by step thread building a bow with my HI Chiruwa Ang Khola as my primary tool. I promised some pics of my work, so here it is.

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If you have any questions about the bows pictured, I'm more than glad to help. I'm really looking forward to doing a complete build a long with my fantastic khukuri!
 
very cool stuff man, looking forward too it! stunning and beautiful work!

what wood works best for bows or is it dependent on type?

have you ever made a recurve bow?
 
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Nice bows, looks like a little Osage Orange on one and a snake definitely gave it's life for the middle one.

They all look real nice.
 
AWESOME T.C.!!!! I just emailed you about your bows. I love the osage orange bow, I have a few Bark River knives in Osage orange that match it perfectly. Man you know how to make nice stuff.

The top bow in the second photo looks like a recurve bow... slight recurve but it does appear that way.
 
really like that one on the far right 3rd to the end, what type of wood is that? looks great with the knot
 
Gehazi said:
really like that one on the far right 3rd to the end, what type of wood is that? looks great with the knot
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It looks like Osage Orange to me. I am going to have him make me a bow. I am thinking Osage to match my Bark River Osage orange blades. It is know to be an excellent material to make bows with.
 
Yep, that one is Osage. The one at the top of the second pic is Pacific Yew, recurved with blood wood tip overlays. You can make a bow out of all kinds of woods and I have worked many of them. My favorites are Yew, Osage, and Vine Maple. I work a lot of Black Locust because it is abundantly available, but the stave quality seems to be really inconsistent. I have a Hackberry stave on order, never worked that stuff before so that should be fun.

I have loads of pictures of these bows, including a step by step build a long for an sinew backed Osage bow with bull snake skins. I'll set up an album and post a link to it. Glad you guys like them!
 
Archery is my favorite backyard hobby. So relaxing and so much fun. Those are gorgeous work, friend:) Can't wait to see how they are made.

Just a friendly moderator reminder, we have to be careful promoting anything that is a paid service without a memebership. It's BFC rules, but as long as there is no blatant sales, I would be more than happy to see how all this is made. I know that if you do get a membership that you'll have a lot of customers lining up, myself included.

I prefer a shorter recurve of about 35-40# for plinking. However, I like to shoot off the draw side so blows made for a particular hand can be a bit uncomfortable. Also, I'm ambidextrous and prefer to shoot with both hands with the same bow.

I'm difficult:D
 
Awesome! Thank you for sharing your work. Quite a range! I really like the one to the right of the Snakeskin version. Something about the shape of it just calls my name. I imagine you make your arrows too? This has been a fun appetizer. Has quite wet my appetite for the build thread, that I am looking forward to.
 
Thanks for the heads up on the rules. It really isn't my intention to open up shop and start selling here, just share what I do. I actually haven't sold a bow in years; most have just gone to family and friends. You are correct Shavru, I do make my own arrows as well. Stone points and knives as well!

Below is a link to a build a long I did a while back. I hope the link works; if anyone has trouble seeing it, let me know!

http://imgur.com/a/cQmU0
 
T. C. Weston said:
Thanks for the heads up on the rules. It really isn't my intention to open up shop and start selling here, just share what I do. I actually haven't sold a bow in years; most have just gone to family and friends. You are correct Shavru, I do make my own arrows as well. Stone points and knives as well!

Below is a link to a build a long I did a while back. I hope the link works; if anyone has trouble seeing it, let me know!

http://imgur.com/a/cQmU0
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I hope I didn't come across as heavy handed. I would just hate to see you getting dinged by someone for sharing with us.

That's some great talent you have there:) Thanks so much for sharing it with us. I'll be watching and trying to learn a bit. I'd love to try make one myself some day.
 
No problem at all!

One of the great things about doing this is that it is a lot more simple than people think. It doesn't require shop space or expensive tools. All of my bows have been made pretty much right at my kitchen table and or sitting next to the fire. You can take your stave with you into the woods as a walking stick, with your knife or hatchet at your side, and work on it at the camp site, feeding the chips and shaving to the fire as you go.
 
Hey TC I sent you an email a couple days ago... I just had a couple questions about your bows. Have u received an email?
 
gurkha berserka said:
Hey TC I sent you an email a couple days ago... I just had a couple questions about your bows. Have u received an email?
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I was looking for it, but it doesn't look like it went through. I'll check again. The friend request went through, but no message that I could see. Weird.
 
That snake skin long bow is a beaut:) Do you have any resources for quality staves? Any particular drying/curing time for the wood before it is shaped?

I really need to buy or make a new traditional bow. Mine is a nice budget laminated limb recurve, but I need something more ambidextrous and with a lower draw weight. 50# is fine if I want to go hunting, but for flinging some arrows with my daughter, 35-40# would be a lot easier and not tucker me out so much:D

Archery really is a fun hobby and a lifetime sport. I'm rather pleased to see it being offered as a Jr High/High School sport in my area. Even if you're like me and will never launch an arrow at some "dinner", it's a fun exercise in muscle control, practice, and discipline with instant feedback. Truthfully, I would give up shooting my guns over my bows if I had to.
 
Steely_Gunz said:
That snake skin long bow is a beaut:) Do you have any resources for quality staves? Any particular drying/curing time for the wood before it is shaped?

I really need to buy or make a new traditional bow. Mine is a nice budget laminated limb recurve, but I need something more ambidextrous and with a lower draw weight. 50# is fine if I want to go hunting, but for flinging some arrows with my daughter, 35-40# would be a lot easier and not tucker me out so much:D

Archery really is a fun hobby and a lifetime sport. I'm rather pleased to see it being offered as a Jr High/High School sport in my area. Even if you're like me and will never launch an arrow at some "dinner", it's a fun exercise in muscle control, practice, and discipline with instant feedback. Truthfully, I would give up shooting my guns over my bows if I had to.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I've never quite gotten over letting that one go. You don't see many backed with bull snake skin. Rattle snake seems much more common. It's beautiful too!

As to a resource for staves, I usually harvest and cure my own. Occasionally I buy from an auction site if I want to work with some specific wood. How long it takes to season/dry depends on the type of wood, and the size. A stave roughed out close to bow dimensions will cure much faster than a quarter split log. I usually figure a split stave is going to take a couple months to dry. I don't very often take a stave and finish it in one sitting, so starting green isn't much of a problem for me. It will dry out as I go. As long as it's dry before it starts to bend.

I wholeheartedly endorse the idea of making your own bow! It's truly a rewarding experience. It helps if you love working with hand tools, have a lot of patience, and a high tolerance for failure. If you're making bows, you're breaking bows, particularly when you first start.
 
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