First Attempt - Maple Self Bow

[Ray]

First round on the tillering tree. A photo from straight away would probably be a better perspective.. The pictures are from an angle but things were looking good on saturday. I scratched a little bit more off yesterday and even made a string for it. I am guessing the current weight is around 70 lbs which I would like to scratch down well below 60. The limb on the right is really going to be extra work. I measured the bow length to be 63 inches.

[pacyew]

Annette,

Cherry is generally more brittle than Vine Maple, Cascara and Hazelnut, all of which can be used to make a pretty good working bow of a similar shape to the one Ray's building.

Vine Maple, once it's dried, is a pretty efficient arrow launcher!

All the best!  Jay

[boneaddict]

pretty cool project.  Neat to see the different steps.

[runamuk]

pretty cool project.  Neat to see the different steps.

 

looking good

[Hornseeker]

Comin along! Good job Ray.

PacYew...do you have any good pics of vine maple bows? Cascarra?

When I lived there (grew up in Duvall) I was not a bow guy... I missed out on some great wood!!

Ernie

[bankwalker]

Annette,

Cherry is generally more brittle than Vine Maple, Cascara and Hazelnut, all of which can be used to make a pretty good working bow of a similar shape to the one Ray's building.

Vine Maple, once it's dried, is a pretty efficient arrow launcher!

All the best!  Jay

a friend of the family name don built a vine maple bow for another friend of the family. that bow was the nicest shooting bow ive ever shot.

[big ed]

LOOKS REAL NICE .I NOW HAVE A PROJECT TO THINK ABOUT TRYING .I GOT A BUNCH OF VINE MAPLE IN THE FRONT YARD .ARE THERE ANY BOOKS AROUND ON HOW TO GET STARTED.

[Ray]

Ed, I have read the first two books in the series Traditional Bowyer's Bible. However that left me with more questions than before I read them. I know that there are other books and here is one which has been around:  Billets to Bow.

[big ed]

THANKS LOOKS LIKE I'M OFF TO THE BOOK STORE TOMORROW TO SEE WHAT THEY GOT .JUST AS WELL USE THIS TREE FOR MORE THAN FIREWOOD.

[WDFW-SUX]

 Ray, If you kill something with that and a homemade arrow your going to get props from me for life

[Ray]

I'll give her a whirl for certain. 

[WDFW-SUX]

I hope you go all the way and use a flint broadhead........

[lazydrifter]

So do you cut an arrow rest into the bow or make it out of bone or just wrap it with leather.  What happens if a 50 or 60 lb bow breaks at full draw?  Do you seal the bow with oil or varnish?  Looks like quite a project.

[Ray]

I'll probably cut an arrow rest from it as long as there is no reason for me not to. Although I do like shooting off the hand too. It works just fine that way. Probably will use Tru Oil.

[bowhuntin]

Looking good. You planning on making your own arrows and string for it also?