# making a bow



## minnesota_hunter (Jun 29, 2008)

i was wondering if anyone has every made a self bow before. im thinking about building my own and wondering if it was difficult to do.

THANKS


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## Thomas Dow (Aug 11, 2007)

I built a oak board bow. Wasn't hard, but it's got quite a bit of hand shock. I'm in the process of building another out of maple. Just experimenting a little with it. It's not hard at all. Just takes a little patience. Here are a couple of sites I've used. Granted, they aren't pretty osage selfbows, but they do work and you built it yourself.

http://residents.bowhunting.net/stickns ... dbows.html

http://www.angelfire.com/magic/jawge/bo ... along.html


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## Thomas Dow (Aug 11, 2007)

also you can go to tradgang.com or the leatherwall II and search around. There are some pretty good build-a-longs on both sites.


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## nmubowyer (Sep 11, 2007)

its definitely doable i taught myself how to do it when i was 13 and have been building em since then


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## minnesota_hunter (Jun 29, 2008)

so you can build them out of oak and other woods cuz all the sites i been to said that osage was the only one good enough


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## Thomas Dow (Aug 11, 2007)

Yes sir. You can build a bow from a wide range of wood. some kinds of wood aren't that great though. I tried making and "alaskan bow" out of birch when I was up there, but it didn't work for me. The main thing I think is to practice and have fun.

As far as osage, I've heard that is actually a hard wood type for beginning bowyers to start with. It looks pretty cool when done though.

With that being said, give it a whirl. I broke three seperate bows before I finally made one that would shoot.


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## minnesota_hunter (Jun 29, 2008)

thanks for the info i think i'm going to give it a try. but where should i buy the wood. should i get it from a big store or a lumber yard?


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## Thomas Dow (Aug 11, 2007)

I got maple board from Muus lumber and hardware in Minot. I've read you can find stuff at Lowes or Home Depot as well. also places that sell wood flooring can have stuff too. The main thing is finding a board with the grain you want.


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## minnesota_hunter (Jun 29, 2008)

thanks for all the info it really helps!


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## walkswithwhispers (Sep 18, 2007)

A good friend of mine built a self bow using a 6' oak 1x2 last year. Just find a piece with straight running grains that go from end to end. You can pick up a piece at Menards or Lowe's for 7 or 8 bucks and do all the work with innexpensive hand tools if you have the time. Remember, if you screw it up you only wasted a $7 piece of lumber and you learned from it. You can pick up a string at any local sporting goods shop for about $10 I think.


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## nmubowyer (Sep 11, 2007)

i would buy traditional bowyers bible volume two and thoroughly digest the chapter on bows from boards, then find a bow with a consistent grain and go to work


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## Colt (Oct 25, 2007)

Once you start, you won't stop. My favorite to make are the glass bows though.


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