Red Oak Board Bow

[Tom Alker]

Hey Y'all,

My mate had a go at a red oak board bow a few weekends ago and i helped him best i could through most of it but he was fed up by the end heh.. Doesn't even want the bow anymore actually..

He really wanted a handle so we tried to do the old glue-on wood handle even after i warned him they pop off eventually unless done correctly, Anyway - Here's what we ended up with, 30lb @ 28", 72". The handle has remained on the bow after 300+ shots and it's still shooting nicely. There was a stiff spot on the top limb we had to fix and we also thinned up the tips of the bow as they were very wide when we declared it "done".

It shoots pretty well with light arrows. I'm not sure if the handle will stay on as the fades are very short and abrupt.

Cheers.

[longbow steve]

Looks great Tom, congrats to you and your mate. Looks like the handle area isn't under to much strain. Cheers Steve

[Tom Alker]

Thanks Steve,

I tried to keep the original dimensions of the board in the middle of the bow to make it as stiff as possible, I assume that's what's keeping the handle attached at the moment.

I got two more boards today to get started on, I flipped through every singe board. Got stared at by the shop keepers at masters for a little while but once i explained they thought it was interesting.

[Tom Alker]

I'm trying to decide what backing to go with, either brown paper bag (on a roll though) or fiberglass tape again. If not that then maybe dogbone rawhide..

[yeoman]

Rawhide.

I think the glass will be too strong, and the paper is really not that great.

[Tom Alker]

Thanks for the tips man. Dog bone it is!

[longbow steve]

Thanks for the tips man. Dog bone it is!

Make sure to de grease them as the ones I got were quite fatty. I got went through the Masters Red oak too a couple of weeks ago. Steve

[yeoman]

The problem here is there's not much turnover of stock so I see the same boards from week to week.

[perry]

The Bugs bit hard Tom, keep churning them out Tom, only way to learn

regards Perry

[Gringa Bows]

looking good

[Tom Alker]

The problem here is there's not much turnover of stock so I see the same boards from week to week.

I had the exact same problem, I got mates at work who tell me when we swap the spotted gum boards to new boards which helps, but as for masters its really hard to figure out when they restock. It took me about an hour to find two really good boards and i had to actually pull every board down to check the ones behind. Worth it in the end though.

Cheers

[Tom Alker]

The Bugs bit hard Tom, keep churning them out Tom, only way to learn

regards Perry

Bit me TOO hard i think Perry, I've just finished another bow this weekend gone, It' slight bend in the handle red oak longbow, It came out at #58 which is a bit much for my liking but im hoping it will drop a few pounds over time. I had to try my hardest to maintain the original thickness of the board so i can get a higher draw weight. The first 2 i built came in at about 30lb which was a bit too light for my liking. Gotta keep at it though!

Cheers

[Tom Alker]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPxq-Fy ... Vn3j2bj0xA

There's a vid of the new bow, Pics to come.

Thanks for reading.

[cmoore]

Top shelf work tiller looks good ...how much hand shock did that 50#'er have? Keep up the good work

[perry]

Back Tension Tom ?? I need to meet up with you for a shot so we can get you back on track Mate

Cant tell much about the tiller but watch the brace height. looks high Mate, looks a good chunky Bow though. The American Timbers are a little easier to read the grain on, look forward to seeing it in person

regards Jacko

[bigbob]

good shooting too tom, looks like you're coming along very well!

[Tom Alker]

good shooting too tom, looks like you're coming along very well!

Thanks bob, I think id be better if I dedicated to one bow. I keep changing which throws me off.

I've broken 8/12 powerflights using my ILF bow now which I guess is a good sign only shooting 30 yards though.

Time to upgrade poundage and shoot at a longer distance.

cheers

[Tom Alker]

Top shelf work tiller looks good ...how much hand shock did that 50#'er have? Keep up the good work

Thanks, it took a while to work it to that shape, there was many times where I thought I stuffed it but it came out quite good.

As for the #58'er its a huge hand shocker, I won't lie. The limb tips are very thick still which isn't helping. I may have to re-tiller it now because I'm seeing compression marks on one of the limbs (bad ones too)

I was getting bad pain in my pinky finger on my bow hand from shooting this bow but once I added a light handle it sorted it all out. I can shoot this bow very accurately for some reason, I think its the increase in FPS, now my arrows have a flatter trajectory allowing me to shoot more where I'm aiming instead of having to shoot slightly high every time to make up for the low FPS of a low poundage bow.

Hope I explained that well...

Cheers!

[Tom Alker]

Back Tension Tom ?? I need to meet up with you for a shot so we can get you back on track Mate

Cant tell much about the tiller but watch the brace height. looks high Mate, looks a good chunky Bow though. The American Timbers are a little easier to read the grain on, look forward to seeing it in person

regards Jacko

Yeah Perry, someone also informed me my elbow is sky high when I shoot, it looks too high but when I shoot it feels so natural.. need help addressing form for sure. Even though I generally shoot good groups I feel in my mind that my forms bad.

As for the wood, working with red oak is amazing for me, I'm colour deficient so seeing grain is hard enough already, but this timber has very visible grain which is helping me greatly.

Keen for a shoot when-ever.

Cheers Pez.