How to make a layered oak bow (or How NOT to make a pyramid bow)

I've been wanting to make my own bow for a while and I had been reading up on it for a couple weeks when I decided to give it a go. I figured I'd make a pyramid bow based on Tool Using Animal 's instructable, found here . (Props to him by the way. Great instructions. I just didn't follow them very well)

To give you a heads up, I did not end up with a pyramid bow, and the bow I ended up with has about a 30 lb draw, but I decided to put this here so others could learn from my mistakes, or maybe adapt what I came up with to suit their needs.

This is what I ended up with...

Step 1 Gather Materials

I started out with :

1x3x8 oak
tape measure
jigsaw
Stanley SurForm wrasp/plain thing (good for shaping wood, and actually used it to remove up to about 1/4-3/8" at various times)

I ended up also using:

Table saw
Bow saw
Chisel
Bench vise
Wood Glue
Screws
Twine
3/8" dowel
Drill w/ 3/8" bit

...may hav forgotten 1 or 2 things...

Comments

[electfire]

Ha, you had better luck than on the bow I was working on! I had made a two layer bow (I don't remember quite the woods I used but it wasn't cheap)... Anyways I had it almost finished...and in a hurry to test it, I didn't let the glue dry nor did I tiller it... anyways I strung it - it was ok.. I started to pull on the bow string and SNAP! the wood split rendering all the work I did pointless... looking back I should have let the glue dry longer or just do a single layer type bow, I should have added reinforcing pins/pegs.. and I probably should have tillered it once I strung it... oh well - I gave up for now on making a bow and bought a small bow...(child's - but perfect for practice) though I couldn't find a basic bow (though I was at the Evil Empire (Wal-mart)..instead of someplace better suited...) So I got the one I found for about 25$ not too bad for a little compound bow, that's good for practice.. though I have to say it's going to take quite a bit of practice to master as I have never used a compound bow before...

[RCS82]

I've found its good to practice relatively close to start with, and then increase your distance after a few shots. i.e start at 10 paces and them increase to 20 to 25.

[zazenergy]

Thanks for sharing your experience making this. Sometimes the best Instructables are the ones which help us learn from others' mistakes!