Red Oak Pyramid Bow

Step 10 Addendum

Many people have commented on "backing the bow', this involves gluing a fabric such as linen, burlap, denim, silk, etc or rawhide or sinew to the back of the bow. With the exception of sinew, these backing do not improve the performance of the bow and are more an insurance policy that if the bow fails it will not result in a catastrophic detonation. So, having said that, if you feel uncomfortable with the risk attendant to an unbacked bow, by all means apply a coating of titebond, lay on a layer of fabric and two more coats of titebond wood glue and then trim when dry.


And now for something completely different, fruit at 8 paces.

Comments

[steadfast1984]

another question, when its done, is it just your hand that supports the arrow on the handle, or is there anything you can buy that glues on? what kind of Bowstring do I buy that fits this 70" bow? thanks. do you just twist the bow string to ajust its size if there is only one kind of string to buy?

[Tool Using Animal]

Yep, I just shoot off my hand,can be a little dangerous if your arrow has a splinter. Once got an inch of fletching embedded in my finger. You can just make a small shelf from wood and glue it on, or buy a cheap stick-on rest, or wear a calfskin glove.

The string is 2 inches shorter than the nock to nock length. Yes you can use twisting to adjust the length.

I just bought a cheap 67" string off the net.

[sandmman]

would 3ply hemp twine work better?

[MR.builderguy]

What do you use for a target?

[Tool Using Animal]

A cardboard box stuffed with cardboard.

[MR.builderguy]

interresting. I use a cedar shaving bale( wire-bound)

[steadfast1984]

thats what i did, a cardboard box stuffed with cardboard. got all the cardboard i could handle at the local grocery store. By the way. Finally finished my bow. works amazing. when i first tested it, i put a carbon arrow with a field tip through 4 pieces of cardboard and quarter inch into the side of my garage. all that from about 120 feet away. (give or take 5 feet) it really impressed me. i couldn't believe the power it punched.

[jcicolani]

You probably don't want to use carbon arrows on a wooden bow. There's just not enough mass to provide adequate resistance to the bow. It's essentially like dry-firing (firing the bow with no arrow). This is bad... With no resistance to the arms of the bow you can cause stress fractures which will, eventually, cause catastrophic failure, often accompanies with a shower of splinters and, at an extreme, the occasional impalement (seen it, not pretty).

[steadfast1984]

actually the carbon arrows are weighted. the ones I use are 7596 Goldentip arrows. +/- 2 Grain, +/-0.006 straight for hunting. Plus a 100grain field tip. there is even more weight when you use broad heads up to 400grain more or less. the weight between a wooden arrow and a carbon arrow is the same. the only difference is the material. Like i said, they add weight to the carbon arrows so they don't do exactly what you said.
the Goldtip 7595 have a coating that simulate wood grain.
I prefer carbon because they stay straight through their lifetime and are less likely to break.
I brought my hand made bow to the archery shop and these arrows are the ones the owner of the store recommended for my bow.

[esmith37]

"The more you know" *ding*

[Tool Using Animal]

I tried to get some hay bales, but couldn't find them, BTW nice looking bow!

[MR.builderguy]

I went to Lester shingle Co. in Sweet Home, Oregon.(they have a website)
It costs about $7.50.

[Tool Using Animal]

I'm about 95% sure this is the string I ordered.

http://www.dalehollowoutdoors.com/triple-trophy-dacron-bowstring-16st-67-blck.html

[MR.builderguy]

I ordered one off of Amazon.com. 58".

[azurelupine]

Three layers of fiberglas, and a final of snakeskin (your choice) - I'm gonna use copperhead, simply because you can't swing a dead cat around here without stirring one up! Besides, glycerin tanned copperhead is a beautiful piece of leather.

[sconner1]

Bet that looks cool!

[bertotrumpet]

Try 3 layers of fiberglass drywall mesh tape. works great , but not very attractive unless painted or backed over tape with linnen.

[jcicolani]

Best backings for the money... sinew, rawhide, bamboo, or fiberglass (like the stuff you use on a boat). The backing actually serves two, sometimes three, purposes.

First, yeah, safety. If/when the bow fails, it's not good to have pieces flung about. Oak shrapnel is no fun.

Second is to reduce string follow. Oak is a good, solid wood which helps resist compression in the belly (string side) of the bow. However it's missing a natural backing. A good, elastic backing is needed to make sure the bow returns to it's full upright position. Over time the belly will compress and you will see more and more arc in the bow when unstrung. This is string follow. A good, elastic backing reduces this.

Third, the right backing could also provide a little more speed to the bow. Again, er go back to the elastic nature of a good backing. The best modern backing is fiberglass. Put a couple coats of fiberglass on the back and you'll have a very snappy bow.

[steadfast1984]

i bet 2 layers of Carbon Fiber would work good as well as look amazing. The best way to do this is if you can get a professional to do it because they have a a special vacuum press they could put it in to get good even pressure forcing the resin into the fiber.

[hailsteeve]

Bad idea. Carbon fibre has a strength close to steel but is as brittle as glass under load. Imagine a bow made of steel springs that shatters explosively if it bends too far. You want fibre glass because it has the flexibility you want without explosive failure.

[MR.builderguy]

What about a few layers of Duct Tape?

[steadfast1984]

that could work as a temp backing. but you can easily get fiberglass resin and fiberglass sheets at any auto-part auto-body store. its actually really cheap to. not a big deal.

[sconner1]

Fiberglass would look cool too.
Once it's wet with resin, the mesh turns clear and you'll see the grain of the wood again (with a slight plaid "texture"). Sand and polish it to a smooth shiny finish and it'll look like varnish.

[steadfast1984]

Well Im at the stage of completion where all I have to do is noch the bow string mounts, *or lash on some nochs* I've got it tillerd, which was way easier then I thought it was going to be. it didnt need much work at all, took about 20 minutes.
Hours of finish sanding and rubbing down with steal wool, an I'm at the point where I'm ready to apply the finish. I believe I'm going to use tungoil and a rub down of raw beas wax melted into cheese cloth.
((melt the wax in a double boiler (pot with water in it, and a smaller pot that fits inside the first one. you can use a sauce pan and a steal mixing bowl.) fold cheese cloth into a nice palm sized square, 4 maybe 5 layers thick, or a 1/2 inch thick of folds, then soak the cheese cloth in the wax, saturate it as much as possible, then let it cool off and solidify. now you got a ice block of reinforced bea's wax you can use to rub down your bow. its great because its nontoxic (so if you need to sand again, your not putting toxic wax dust into the air) and it comes off easy with some paint thinner or wood cleaner.))

[ClockworkDragonfly]

"Many people have commented on "backing the bow', this involves gluing a fabric such as linen, burlap, denim, silk, etc or rawhide or sinew to the back of the bow. With the exception of sinew, these backing do not improve the performance of the bow"

This information is not quite correct. Applied properly, a rawhide backing will also improve a bows performance (this is how many Asiatic bows were given their reflex profiles), as will a backing made up of any fiber cordage that has a decent amount of stretch and return (such as silk). It would be accurate to say, however, that sinew is probably the appropriate backing for this type of bow in most situations and is the hardest one to screw up.

[arpruss]

How does one back with sinew?  It comes as a string, right?  Does one weave something from it and glue it on?

[ClockworkDragonfly]

The stuff that comes already in strand form is usually artificial sinew. Real sinew, when purchased unprocessed comes in fibrous hanks such as this http://www.3riversarchery.com/product.asp?i=4354. To back a bow with it you have to process it, which involves pounding it out to flatten it and break up the fibers and soaking it to remove the gluey proteins. The still damp (if you want the sinew to reflex the bow) or dry (if you want the bow to remain straight) sinew is then glued to the back of the bow in thin, flat layers with hide glue an allowed to dry. Obviously that's a simplification of the process, you can find more detailed information online or in books on making traditional or primitive bows such as the Traditional Bowyer's Bible.