# Building a Hunting D bow



## kegan

Go slowly. Now we will be getting into more delicate work. From here remove wood from the belly (the inside of the split) until the bow is 5/8" thick OVER THE ENTIRE LENGTH (if your bow is longer than 66" though, you may make it thicker to add weight). Avoid thin spots like the plague. High spots can be removed though. Remember- wood can be removed, but it can't be put back. If you get a thin spot, remove wood from every where else until it is even throughout.

When thinning the bow, make sure the belly is flat, and that you NEVER remove wood from the back of the bow (the part right under the bark). whn you come to knots, maintain a flat surface, despite being a little bit thicker. This adds strength to an otherwise week part of the limb and will allow you to build without further trouble.

Once it is about 5/8" or so, gently scrap away uneven wood until the belly is smooth enough to esily right on, and correct gouges or low spots so that you wind up with a bow about 1/2" thick. Now, mark the center of the bow. From here measure 2 1/4" in both directions for the handle section. Form there, make straight lines to 1/2" nocks at the end on the bow (these whould be centered on the wood, not on the straight edge). 

If you encounter a bend where it would cause the section of limb to be narrow, simply mark the outline on the opposite side farther over (mark it over farther than necessary by 1/16-1/8"- remember, you can take more wood off, not put it back).

Up till now, if you began working once the tree is cut, the wood should be dry enough to season it directly in the sun. Tie it to a log or clamp it to a board and lay it in the sun to dry. Most woods take about a week in the sun, but check it freqently and it might be one sooner- the romoval of the bark and wood allowing it to cook trhough faster than if it was left as a whole tree or even as a stave.


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## CA_Rcher12

Subscribed. :darkbeer:


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## tylerolsen12

sweet thx kegan for the directions i might have to go find a tree to make 1 with


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## mbuemi

Thats really cool Kegan.

You should mention though that some osage is hard as rock and will result in sparks from a chain saw.  <=== Dad did that once cutting one down in the back yard.


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## kegan

Once the stave has dried, I will give the final little bits of instructions on tilering, heat treating, and caring for a selfbow. It's fun stuff- especially if you manage to get some arrows flinging outta it!


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## kegan

Now you have a seasoned, roughed out bow. It should be about 1/2" thick, 1 1/2" wide, and somewhere around 66" long. Almost done. Now to tiller it. Put one tip of the bow on the floor and hold the other in your right hand- and gently push the handle section outward to slightly bend the bow. Check for stiff or weak spots. Slowly scrape these or the area around them down until the entire bow seems to bend uniformly. Now gently string it. The string should be 2 1/2"- 3" shorter than the bow (here you can use a store bought string of dacron, paracord, rawhide, sinew, or any material that is thich enough to hold with your fingers and doesn't stretch). Once braced check again for stiff or weak spots. Mark thses with a pencil and scrape them down- GENTLY. Once the entire bow is bending is a gentle curve similiar to a single parenthesis (, leave it strung for a few hours (to help break in the fibers and prevent breaking). Once this is done, gently pull it a few inches back in front of mirror or someone else to check again for stiff spots or hinges, continueing slowly unitl you reach the draw weight or draw length you desire. If you reach the weight before the draw length, scrape the entire bow down slightly until it is the preoper weight at your draw- MAKING SUR THE TILLER IS STILL EVEN. If you reach your draw length before you get the desired weight you can take a few streps to increase the weight. 1. If it is only slightly under, take an inch off each limb until you hit the weight(no more than three inches off each limb though) 2. heat treat a reflex into it (string it backwards for a few inches and apply heat with a hot plate, heat gun, or fire) 3. back it with sinew or taught silk. If it is too far under however, give it to a young friend and make another, this time slgithly thicker and wider(1 3/4" and 3/4")at same length out of the rest of your tree. 

For white woods, if you want to help cast and fight set you can ehat treat the belly (not the back). Usually a good heat treating will increase the weight and reduce string follow about 1". Simply apply even heat along the belly until it is a golden brown the entire length.

For your second or third bow you may want some little recurves. Here you simply put it in an open vise and apply heat to a spot to bend it. hold it down with a weight and let it sit for an hour or so. Repeat this on the other limb and make sure: a. they are bent evenly over the ame length, and b. they do NOT twist to either side.


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## kegan

Here's the final bow.


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## kegan

Some extra notes I forgot to metnion earlier. 

1. Handshock is cause by the momentum of the limbs. How to fix this? Make them narrower. If already narrow (about 1/4"), then use heavier arrows.

2. Straight bows will always be more forgiving than a recurve or reflexed bow. If you are going to heat treat your first bow, then try heating it straight- this will add performance

3. Usually, if you use the outside of the log/branch for the back, it will not need a backing if the stress is not too high. Flatspots can sometimes be overlooked, but hinges will break your bow.

4. The bow should have a brace height of 6"- avoid too much more or less than this.

5.It is easier to reduce wood for weight then heating and piking to increase. Test the power by gently bending it over your knee- this can also help you watch for weak spots or hinges.

6. Hickory is a very durable and strong wood- I would suggest you use it for your bows. My first "big boy" bows were of hickory and poorly tillered- but held together.

7.Wrapping some rope around the handle and some cork will help give you a better grip and less bend if you aren't used to the wide thin bow handles.

8. The bow is never as important as the arrows for accuracy. Choose a good spined shaft with proper fletchings (avoid short stiff vanes, plastic vanes can be used, but they should be flexible)

9. If your bow is sluggish, reduce the tip width and heat treat the bow a little more (avoid scorching). If it is still shooting very sluggishly (it won't shoot as well as a compound though), try cutting a few inches off or maybe recurving the tips.


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## No.1 Hoyt

wow kegan thats awesome. the recurve is awesome. i might have to try that


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## kegan

Great- but I just finsihed another D recurve and learned something- for heavier hunting bows or more extreme recurves, taper the thickness from 5/8" at the handle to 5/16" at the tips along with a taper in width. This will also increase perfromance in straight bows.


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## Darton01

Nice work Kegan.:thumbs_up


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## Blankenship

awesome bow! Thanx for the directions!


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## Irishrobin

nice bow


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## kegan

I just built another D bow. It's made of hickory and has the following dimensions:61 1/2" long, 1 1/4" wide at the center 4", tapering to 5/8" half pin-nocks. It is 5/8" at the handle tapering to 3/8" at the tips. I heated the belly while strung backwards. It was 55-60# at 26", and an excellent shooter.


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## Irishrobin

how do you split the branch


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## Irishrobin

i have a perfect branch pick out and dried . are evergreen trees hard or soft wood


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## kegan

There are a few ways you can split a branch, I usually just pound my hatchet down from one end to the other. 

Denser the wood, better the bow. Evergreens are usually too soft, but you can use compression wood (when a tree leans over, it conpresses the wood making it stronger, use the inside of the bent tree). Spruce might work. Yew is one of the best bow woods.


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## ESMO-Joe

Very cool. I have a new property that has a lot of young hickory on it, I'll have to give this a try.

Thanks Kegan

Joe


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## kegan

ESMO-Joe said:


> Very cool. I have a new property that has a lot of young hickory on it, I'll have to give this a try.
> 
> Thanks Kegan
> 
> Joe


Excellent! Everyone can build a great bow if they just remember 3 rules:

1. Go slowly at all times

2. Just concetrate on getting it to bend evenly, which is way more important than the wood's dimensions

3. Listen to the wood. If it feels like it doesn't wanna bend, then remove some wood from the belly, or leave it strung for a whike to beak it in.

It's easy, and alot of fun


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