Hunting and Fishing in NJ - A forum for NJ Hunters and NJ Anglers

I'm building a bow for a friend from New Zealand. The bow is from a fresh cut ash tree split in quarters. It was cut 3 weeks ago. I don't have pic's of the cutting & splitting.

Anyway, The bow is 54" n2n 1.5" width nocks .5" it has a nice small hand gripping handle.
Here you can see the area to be the pass (window & shelf) from the back of the bow ( For those who don't know where the back of the bow is, It's the side of the bow that faces the target.)

Here is a pic of the backing I got from rudders bow's. It is a cotton camo backing, You can also see this bow has wedge nocks. These are made of Osage ( The wood of the Gods). I'll be adding a temp-wrap of sinew to help hold the nocks till tillering is finished.

Here is what the wrapping look like. This is my ROP (Red Oak Pyramid) Bow. It is 51#@24" & flies a 60-65# 29.5" Back Of Point.

Laying out the bow. First I looked down the stave to fine the straightest area to become a bow. Try and start out with the longest piece. You can / will cut it down to size. Use a chalk line on the belly side ( the side that faces the archer). All Your lay outs are done on this side. Using white wood to start with is better, just remove the outer & inner bark and there's you're backing. Start with a flat surface. To do this You can use a rasp, draw knife, hand planner or table saw. To start with make the stave 2" by 2" by what ever length you want the bow. Calk line the center of the bow, then mark the center from tip 2 tip. For now make the handle area 1.75" wide by 6" long using the 2 center lines. width, 14/16 th on both sides for a total of 1.75" wide. On the handle mark 2.5" on one side of center line & 3.5" on the other side. the short side is the top limb. On the ends mark .25" on both sides of the center line they are your nocks.

here's the bow with backing curing I just finished cutting the extra backing off & sanding down the edges.

Now you made your marks off the centers lines to time to draw the & handle. First the limbs, From the handle your lines off center mark 2" from the lines going to the tips. Draw a line from one side to other. You then are going to draw a line from where the line runs off the side of the bow to the .25" mark on the nock end do the same thing on the other side then the other limb. This lay out can also be done on a cut out board as well. Now the handle, from long center line mark .5" out on both sides. This gives you a 1" wide handle. Make the lines to form a box that should be 6"X1" in the center of the bow. Now from the corner of the handle area, draw a line to the outside of the limbs, This is the fades. Every thing on the outside of the lines gets cut off. Leave about 1/16" of wood before the lines, this is to help dry the bow if working with fresh green cut staves.

Thats Awwesome

How much time from start to finish? man hours

I brake everything in days... I work slow all the work up to now has been 2 weeks due to drying time.... steady work hours would be about 4-5 I know ppl that can do a bow from a stave in 24 hours or about 2 days of work.. I have ruffed out a board bow and had it to 16" draw with short string in 8 hours... bow broke.