This is the first shootable bow that I made. I wandered off to the Library and checked out the Bower's Bibles Vol. I-III. There was a section that described making a bow out of a regular old board that you could buy down at the local Lowes or Home Depot. So I trooped off down to Lowes and looked through their stack of red oak boards until I found one that had the required straight grain. I paid the asked for $5 and change and headed home.
Upon arrival back home I went into the basement and laid out the shape of the bow on the board and proceeded to build me a bow.
The board was 1"X2"X6' which is actually 3/4"X1 3/4"X6'. I cut the board to 68" and measured 3 feet in the middle. This middle section I left full width. I then measured marked a 1/2" section on the ends of the board for my tip width. I connected the marks to create a constant taper from the middle section to the tips and then cut off the waste pieces. I then cut what are know as "pin nocks" into the tips for the string. I then gradually removed wood from the belly (the side toward the archer when shooting the bow) until the limbs were bending evenly and smoothly at my draw length of 28". I ended up with a bow that pulls 43 pounds at 28". The handle has a short shaped piece of red oak glued on and an arrow rest made of several layers of leather superglued together and shaped. I covered it with leather and added rabbit fur to the ends of the handle and a horse hair tassle to the upper limb tip. It took me about 18 hours of working time from start to finish. The bow is 68" from nock to nock. It pulls 43 pounds at 28" of draw.
Red Oak board - $5
bow string - $15
Having a shootable bow - Priceless!
|
