Ozbow

Hi Guys,

Just a quick question. Looking over all the posts on this board I notice that there are lots of posts about people trying specific techniques for the first time, however I see very little from people trying their first bow.

Is there a specific type\build which is recommended for the first bow? Something boring and dependable with a higher chance of success perhaps? I'll leave the timber art for a future bow I think. I have looked around and found various references to some designs built with flooring (I happen to have ~20sqm of Blackbutt in the garage if that's useful). When I read about Tillering I feel that I might be getting it, or perhaps I'm not..

I have no carving skill at present but a few years making ugly home furniture and am competent enough to make half decent dovetails\mortise & tenons.

Any basic suggestions or is there a beginners guide?

Note : I tried a few searches my by search terms were too common.

Welcome! As you can see i'm also new and also currently building my first bow!
I may be able to help you out a bit by throwing some links down.

Firstly a website that has a few build along's for several different bows. This is a useful place to start!
http://poorfolkbows.com

Next is a write up from a bloke who lives close to me and has helped me out a lot with understanding some things.
http://www.ozbow.net/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=34&t=11440

Lastly something that really helps me is learning from other people! Nezwin posted a thread recently of a bow that he made that unfortunely didn't work. This should give you some ideas of what you can do to avoid breakages!
http://www.ozbow.net/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=34&t=15287

Hope this helps but I'm sure some of the other guys on this forum will have some more useful information!

Thanks,
Matt

A backed Blackbutt self bow, like the Red Oak Board Bow on www.poorfolkbows.com, might work. The limbs would need to be wider than the bow I tried with it (which were admittedly slender) and I would avoid bamboo backing. Yeoman has had a degree of success using the timber like this, I believe.

But a length of Spotted Gum board is fairly easy to obtain and would probably provide more reliable results - even I, despite the other breakages, managed a bow out of cloth backed Spotted Gum!

Kind thanks guys I'll go get some spotted gum and get cracking... err started .

Welcome to Ozbow,

If you want to down load the following link it has dimensions for a flat bow;

Click on the text 'Make an American Flat Bow Plans"

http://www.vintageprojects.com/archery/ ... plans.html

One criticism I have of these plans is that the fade outs are too abrupt and do not transition smoothly into the limbs.

It may be helpful to put your general location into your avatar.

Daryl.