Make a bow for under 20 Bucks

Step 5 Bamboo Bows

Heres a picture of a bamboo bow that I made. There are a few more details and tutorials at http://www.dejapong.com

Comments

[timmycutts]

why on earth would you make a bow out of bamboo? it'd be smarter to make it out of a sappy wood, rather than a grassy one... maybe maple or yew... anyway... this instructable isn't very acurate... there's nothing about tillering the bow, which is really important coz if you don't, the bow will either be too thick and snap or be too thin and snap, plus it's good to know the draw weight of the bow before using it...

[MadBricoleur]

Bamboo is extremely elastic and thus a good bow wood but it also takes "set" (permanent bending into an arc, which makes the bow lose potential energy) over time.

[redhawk44]

Bamboo is actually an ideal material for a bow, as many hundreds of thousands of people have discovered. It has be very dry though. When making a bow you adjust the draw weight as a part of the tillering process. As for not mentioning the tillering process what do you think planing down the wood in step 2 was supposed to be? although personally I use a scraper rather than a plane. The use of technical or craft specific terminology in an instructable intended for those who are not initiates of the craft would be pointless and slightly rude.

[rabid_engineer]

Judging from how elaborate Japanese bamboo bows are, there is quite a bit of work (and experience) involved in making one with any useful kind of draw. But it is definitely possible to make one yourself.
You need 3 layers, however, and the middle layer is traditionally not made of one single piece, but multiple small ones, which serve, together with a fairly elastic glue, as a means of lending more flexibility, coupled with a higher strength, to the bow. Or at least that is what I gleaned from looking at them, and using them.

[TheInventor1997]

what's tillering

[timmycutts]

tillering is the removing of wood to achieve the correct bend, draw length and draw wieght in the bowstaff. if you don't tiller it and the bow, it'll be to thick and you won't be able to pull the string back far enough. and if you don't check the draw length and weight, the bowstaff could be too thin and when you shoot with it the arrow will just fall on the ground.

[pingo6]

is this safe? i dont want my homemade bow blowing up in my face

[Sponzyparadox]

Yes and no, when you make it you really need to listen for cracks as you tighten the string. Also make sure you choose a piece with VERY VERY VERY straight grain. I would not use oak myself due to its brittleness I would instead choose yew, ash, or elm.

[MadBricoleur]

Disagree. I used red oak myself and that didn't break.
http://www.instructables.com/id/Red-Oak-Board-Bow/ Granted, I built mine a little more "properly".
Aside from that, there are other cheap choices. Yew is rather expensive and I would put more effort into making a proper bow with yew wood. (shaping, tillering, backing, finishing, good bowstring)
And besides, by the time you hear one crack, it's too late and you'll need to start over. With anything other than a whisper crack you don't want to risk it blowing up in your face. Bend the wood slowly, progressively further, forming the compression in the wood with short and repeated pulls of the string.

[bruins_fan27]

ya is it safe? one of mine blew up in my face wen fireing it :D

[hamzah123]

what kind of bamboo u use??not any kind of bamboos are flexible

[dustindodd]

whats the lbs pullback?

[robonut123]

Thats whicked how much pull back weight does it have and did you show how to create the arrows. It looks like its got some real power.

[tausil8]

yah...it looks like the bow of the rock in the scorpion king...really scary..i dont want to be hit with that

[W trouble]

How many pounds is the pullback

[Illamadi]

Where do you get staves of ash from

[canid]

if you don't live in an area where ash grows you can find many vendors of bowyery supplies that sell split staves of many woods, ash included. you can also make board bows from ash board lumber if you select the pieces properly according to gran straightness and orrientation. the ideal would be fresh cut boles [trunk sections] with a straight and even grain, no major knots/branches. these should be cured or kilned after splitting them up into staves, to help prevent undue splitting from checking during the drying proccess. many hardwoods make great selfbows.

[El-Butchio]

rather than oak, use yew as it is incredibly strong and makes a much more powerful and accurate bow.

[Kingbow111]

YAY YEw where did you get a stave of yew? I want some! I wish I had some... Osage is nice for making a bow too.

[goss scott]

I cant bend the bamboo it keeps breaking. i've heard that if you soak it in water it will bend, is that true?

[James (pseudo-geek)]

you need to oil it

[deerslayer]

hey how do u bend the bamboo cuz it breaks

[snortypenguinpro]

bamboo is actually very flexable.

[jvic1992]

you tiller the bow by placing it on a tillering stick and pulling the bow down each nock on the stick gradually to relieve the stresses until you reach your draw length.

[canid]

remembering to remove wood after each step in all the areas that aren't bending smoothely, or the wood around all areas that are bending too shaprly.

[billy bob]

what do u use for the string

[Toddson]

when the bow is just resting, should there be a gap between the bow and the string?

[TheMadScientist]

when the bow is not in use, you should de-string the bow, as leaving the string on, causes longbows, and recurve bows to eventually form to that crecent moon shape, and eventually, loose power, which is the attraction of compound bows, not really nessecarily needing to be unstrung.

[mymothermeatloaf]

no need to do that mines a pvc longbow onsidering im a nerd and i find pvc lying al over the place it works good considering it cant break when bent unles u touch the ends together