Introduction: Hand Carved Bow (Video, Pics)
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About: Travelling since 2013. I'm currently in Australia for some reason. --- I’m Calvin Drews, and I love to learn, experiment, invent, create, repair, and generally just do things myself. A sort of modern jack of …
I made this over a couple days. It's the third bow I've ever made.
Its made of a hickory stave I bought from a flooring manufacturer (who sold it to me for $3.00).
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24 Comments
10 years ago on Introduction
i have heard of oother people carving bows that usally snap after a while. has yours snapped yet or is it still in good condition?
11 years ago on Introduction
make an ible please ? it looks great :)
13 years ago on Introduction
is the back of the grip made of a different wood than the rest of the bow ?
Reply 13 years ago on Introduction
Yes, it is.
A longbow is made of two different pieces of wood glued together.
A selfbow, I believe, is made of only one piece of wood.
In the picture, the blue part is the handle, and the red part is the limb. When the blue and red part are glued together, you have a longbow. If you just have the red part, you have a selfbow.
Reply 13 years ago on Introduction
cool, thanks for the info.
13 years ago on Introduction
great job on the bow, you are an excellent woodworker.
Reply 13 years ago on Introduction
Thanks!!!
13 years ago on Introduction
Nice bow, but where is the video you mentioned?
Reply 13 years ago on Introduction
It's embedded, directly above the comments. Can you see it? if you cannot, you may need to upgrade your Flash Player.
Reply 13 years ago on Introduction
There is a big, video-sized empty space above the comments. I probably do need to upgrade my Flash Player. Thanks for the quick reply!
Reply 13 years ago on Introduction
Sure :)
Reply 13 years ago on Introduction
Here is the YouTube link
www.youtube.com/watch
Reply 13 years ago on Introduction
I updated my Flash Player and the video magically appeared! Lol - Thanks for your help.
Reply 13 years ago on Introduction
Great! What do you think of it?
Reply 13 years ago on Introduction
It's awesome. I have been thinking about buying a recurve for hunting, but I might just make my own now.
13 years ago on Introduction
hi, i was wondering where you got that stave from? there are not enough good bow building instructables, you should really make one.
Reply 13 years ago on Introduction
The stave is from a flooring manufacturer. Hickory is fairly common at lumber yards ect.
Hickory is crazy springy and forgiving. It looks better than wood of a similar price, and the grain does not have to be super straight. When you select your stave, remember that it CANNOT HAVE ANY KNOTS IN THE GRAIN.
Knots= fail :)
Also, hickory isn't all that hard. It sands away like balsa wood, but it is heavy and sturdy like oak.
The wood structure itself looks like a mix between oak and very pale mahogany.
Bottomline: if you plan to make your first bow, get the straightest grained piece of hickory you can find. 5 ft long, 2 inches wide, 1 inch thick. Google "selfbow".
Good luck!
13 years ago on Introduction
What kind of bow string did you use?
Reply 13 years ago on Introduction
A 56 inch cheap bowstring from a local hunting place.
Jute cord works fine...but I learned this AFTER I bought the bowstring :)
13 years ago on Introduction
What wood did you use? (what tree)