# Building a Board Bow



## wildbill001 (Mar 2, 2011)

*A Wood Bow is dreamed up.*

Several years ago I got re-interested in archery via a garage-sale purchase of a very used compound bow. That led to the purchase of a better used model and eventually and even better and more powerful bow, though still used.. Unfortunately, my shoulder gave out about 6 months after that. The doc said I had to lay off shooting for "a while" and IF I was able to get back to it, use a very light draw-weight (less than 40#). SWMBO suggested I give it up all together. So, the new, used bow went up on Ebay and I nursed my shoulder for the next few years as it turned out.

Shortly after I signed up on LJ, I ran across a project post by another member showing a wood bow he built using just a 1×2 piece of red oak. NEVER would have dreamed that was possible. "Everyone knows" you have to build a bow out of a piece of yew, right? Well, turns out "everyone" is wrong. Not only that, with some careful work I should be able to build a bow for just a few bucks that also has a light draw weight.

So off to google-land and I start researching. Turns out quite a few folks are building what are called board-bows using red oak that they get from the local big-box store. And even more surprising to me, the bows are holding up. Since this looks do-able, inexpensive, I decide to give it a try. Worst case I end up blowing about $8 for a piece of red oak.

My goal was to build a pyramid-style bow with a 35# draw @ 27" (my draw-length). Pyramid-style means that the limbs of the bow look like a pyramid or elongated triangle. I also decided to make it about 69" long.

Here are some pics of the wood I ended up with:

End-view:









What will be the back of the bow:









Glued a piece of canarywood to the handle area to make it a bit beefier









Now that I know a little more than I did before I started, I can say that it turns out this piece was not a great choice. Grain runs off the edge in a few places which can lead to splintering and breakage. But, as I later found out, not always.

More to come tomorrow.

Bill


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## AkBob (Jun 5, 2011)

wildbill001 said:


> *A Wood Bow is dreamed up.*
> 
> Several years ago I got re-interested in archery via a garage-sale purchase of a very used compound bow. That led to the purchase of a better used model and eventually and even better and more powerful bow, though still used.. Unfortunately, my shoulder gave out about 6 months after that. The doc said I had to lay off shooting for "a while" and IF I was able to get back to it, use a very light draw-weight (less than 40#). SWMBO suggested I give it up all together. So, the new, used bow went up on Ebay and I nursed my shoulder for the next few years as it turned out.
> 
> ...


I look forward to seeing your end product. Sounds like a fun project.


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## BlairH (Jan 19, 2009)

wildbill001 said:


> *A Wood Bow is dreamed up.*
> 
> Several years ago I got re-interested in archery via a garage-sale purchase of a very used compound bow. That led to the purchase of a better used model and eventually and even better and more powerful bow, though still used.. Unfortunately, my shoulder gave out about 6 months after that. The doc said I had to lay off shooting for "a while" and IF I was able to get back to it, use a very light draw-weight (less than 40#). SWMBO suggested I give it up all together. So, the new, used bow went up on Ebay and I nursed my shoulder for the next few years as it turned out.
> 
> ...


I too will be building a board bow soon, probably over the winter. A friend and I have been planing on starting for a while but life got in the way. We have a few nice pieces of maple floor boards to practice on then we'll see what we can find. From the research that I've done so far, it seems like you can build a pretty decent bow out of almost any hardwood. The trick is finding nice straight grains and being open to the possibility of adding backing such as linen or bamboo. You're already much further than I am, good luck!

Question 1: Have you heard of any one who has tried to use engineered bamboo for a board bow? I've asked around but haven't had any luck. It seems worth a try, the grain of course is super straight and is quite springy considering that it is a laminate. What do you think?

Question2: Have you shot traditional bow before? You mentioned compounds but I'm curious. I've been shooting a Martin #45 recurve. It was fairly inexpensive but I love it. My friend has a Bear #50 longbow which feels completely different and I would assume, much closer to what these board bows will be like, that is, if we can even get them to shoot without exploding!


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## wildbill001 (Mar 2, 2011)

wildbill001 said:


> *A Wood Bow is dreamed up.*
> 
> Several years ago I got re-interested in archery via a garage-sale purchase of a very used compound bow. That led to the purchase of a better used model and eventually and even better and more powerful bow, though still used.. Unfortunately, my shoulder gave out about 6 months after that. The doc said I had to lay off shooting for "a while" and IF I was able to get back to it, use a very light draw-weight (less than 40#). SWMBO suggested I give it up all together. So, the new, used bow went up on Ebay and I nursed my shoulder for the next few years as it turned out.
> 
> ...


Well, I've only built 3 board bows so far, all from Home Depot red oak, so I am far from an expert. However, from what I have read I'm not sure laminated flooring would work. The issues are tension and compression. The back of the bow (the wood facing away from you) is put in tension when you draw the bow. The belly is put in compression. So while the oak veneer on the floor board may handle the compression on, whatever is on the back side will be in tension and more than likely will fail. I'd suggest going to the local lumber yard/big-box store and getting some nice straight grain oak 1×3 and going from there.

There is a LOT of information on the web about board-bows. I would suggest going through:

http://poorfolkbows.com/

first, then
http://tradgang.com/noncgi/ultimatebb.php?ubb=forum;f=125

I also used a lot of the information found in this youtube video series






Go slow and be prepared for your first bow(s) to break. From what I understand I was/am real lucky that my first bow has survived.

As for the traditional, yes. I discovered that I was actually a pretty good shot many, many years ago when I was in the scouts. Started out with a traditional bow and shot that for many years. Got away from archery for a while then found a compound at a garage sale for something like $20 which got me started all over again. Seeing Sam (poorfolkbows) build a useable bow from a piece of red-oak got me all fired up again.

Let me know how it goes for you.

Bill W


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## BlairH (Jan 19, 2009)

wildbill001 said:


> *A Wood Bow is dreamed up.*
> 
> Several years ago I got re-interested in archery via a garage-sale purchase of a very used compound bow. That led to the purchase of a better used model and eventually and even better and more powerful bow, though still used.. Unfortunately, my shoulder gave out about 6 months after that. The doc said I had to lay off shooting for "a while" and IF I was able to get back to it, use a very light draw-weight (less than 40#). SWMBO suggested I give it up all together. So, the new, used bow went up on Ebay and I nursed my shoulder for the next few years as it turned out.
> 
> ...


Sorry the floorboards are solid maple, no lamination. The first question was about engineered bamboo but I would assume it would have the issues. Thanks a lot for all of the links!


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## wildbill001 (Mar 2, 2011)

*The bow takes shape*

When I started this blog, I had no idea what lay ahead. Work, health issues, death in the family, more work and just life in general. So it has been some time since I last posted. I have a few minutes before I have to start work so I thought I'd try to get caught up.

When I started this bow, I have to admit that it was a bit of a folly and I had no idea how it would turn out. Didn't even think to photograph the progress so this is not a complete "build-along". No, it's more of "Wow, I did this!"

The design is what is called a pyramid, flat-bow. Pyramid because the limbs of the bow are long triangles, tapering from about 1/2" at the tip to about 2" near the handle. This design is very forgiving of both wood and technique. But it does yield a nice, shootable bow. It also has a non-bending handle, i.e., when drawn, the tension stops at the handle and the wood does not bend through the handle. This is accomplished by cutting what are known as fades.










Next stop is cutting the taper in the limbs. Didn't photograph that, sorry. Once I got the limbs cut and roughed out, the wood removal process starts on the belly of the bow. The belly is the part of the bow that faces you when you are shooting. The idea is to remove equal amounts of wood so that the limbs bend evenly throughout the drawing of the bow. This then leads to a process known as tillering. Tillering is gently bending the bow to get the wood used to bending as well as ensuring even bending on both limbs. A board known as a tillering tree is used for this process.










Removal of wood on the limbs is also how you get the draw-weight to where you want it. Mine ended up at about 45lbs at 27" (my draw-length). A little more than I was shooting for but still good for me.

Once I got the draw-weight and tiller where I was happy, I cut in the handle and shaped it.










A little more sanding, some finish (wiped-on poly) and I now have a bow! Total cost about $20 for wood, glue, and finish.


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## BlairH (Jan 19, 2009)

wildbill001 said:


> *The bow takes shape*
> 
> When I started this blog, I had no idea what lay ahead. Work, health issues, death in the family, more work and just life in general. So it has been some time since I last posted. I have a few minutes before I have to start work so I thought I'd try to get caught up.
> 
> ...


This is amazing! You've given me a bit of confidence that ours will actually work. Thanks a lot for posting.


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## jaxonquad (Apr 20, 2011)

wildbill001 said:


> *The bow takes shape*
> 
> When I started this blog, I had no idea what lay ahead. Work, health issues, death in the family, more work and just life in general. So it has been some time since I last posted. I have a few minutes before I have to start work so I thought I'd try to get caught up.
> 
> ...


VERY COOL! Another one for my bucket list builds!


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