# Board bow? Tell me more!



## brandoninaz (Aug 8, 2003)

You may have a little more luck posting this on TradGang.com


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## flatbow flinch (May 13, 2004)

Thanks Brandon, I'll check it out.


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## ghostdog (Nov 23, 2003)

Flatbow, instead of cutting a tree down and splitting out a stave and whittling the stave down to a board you can buy a board from a wood working store and build a self bow from that. you have to be careful when doing this that you get a bow with flat grain across the area of the bow. A bow from a stave uses an outside growth ring for it's back. Lots of guys use red oak for there first bow or a hickory board.

gd


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## strcpy (Dec 13, 2003)

Yep, pretty much said it all. Volume II talks of the board bows and tradgang is an *excellent* place to get bow building ideas.

Basically when you cut a stave down to a single growth ring you are ensuring that the grain does not run off the edges of the bow. With a board bow you have to select wood that has this feature, maybe one if 50 boards has this. Depending on the wood, growth rings aren't nearly as important as the grain and do not necessarily reflect each other. Some people think one shape of growth rings are better than another but I have some board bows made from wood they calim will not survive tiller - I've shot it quite a few times and little set and great cast (and the author of that chapter and many others have the same experience). You just have to adjust your design for different things (though, yes, one is easier to make a bow out of, my first board bow was one of the worst types and shoots well, just made it wide and long). The techniqes are the same, just you look for different things in the wood.

There are types of bows that are made from small trees where the back of the bow is the center of the tree and the back is planed flat (this would be the major method used before people learned to back with a single growth ring - this is also covered in the bowyers bibles) - this would be the same thing as a board bow. The only difference is that a saw mill has cut the wood instead of you.

For a hobby it is great fun. It is cheap so you can play with bow designs to your hearts content (say, want to see how a whip ended 62" bow performs? No big deal). At under 10 dollars a piece you can give them away. Since the backs are already planed true it is easy to play with backings also. The only labor invovled is actually making them, stave bows (well, without expensive power tools, such as a band saw, which I do not have) take A LOT of time to do. 

Not to mention a well made board bow from a good piece of wood is a beauty to behold - it is as pretty as any other self bow made and as durable. If you are lucky enough to get one with great grain and unusual growth rings they can be better looking.

One can even get recurves out of board bows but I havn't done that (yet).

this guy has a lot of really good info on them. On tradgang he is considered the local expert on board bows.


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## JimPic (Apr 8, 2003)

Here's a link to Ferret's instruction on making a board bow(he's a moderator at TradGang).This guy can build some bows and he really knows what he's talking about.

http://residents.bowhunting.net/sticknstring/brdbows.html


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## strcpy (Dec 13, 2003)

Same fella I linked to, the link I posted has more than just board bows though (the board bow link goes to that page).


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## flatbow flinch (May 13, 2004)

Thanks guys, good info from all of you. Im just starting to get the itch to try my hand at this. I have shaped gunstocks and my last project was an english fowler that turned out ok, but I've not yet tried to whittle down something that has life to it like a working bow. I'm going to split some Osage staves and put them up to season. I was looking at board bows as a way to jump in and start learning. I guess I shouldn't worry about ruining a stave or two, Bois de Arc can moonlight as a pretty decent smoking wood.


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## ghostdog (Nov 23, 2003)

And Jawge has some good info on building a board bow also. He gets into board selection etc.

http://mysite.verizon.net/georgeandjoni/archer.html

gd


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## strcpy (Dec 13, 2003)

Well, the board bows are also good ways to play with different designs. Tillering is probably the most difficult part and it is good experience. If you do not want to make a self bow you could play with different wood backing/belly combo's (for instance I'm making a hickory backed purpleheart bow right now).

In my opinion neither one really replaces the other. Each has it's high points and low points. I think I have learned quite a bit from each one, I would encourage you to do both.

If I had the money and work space I would also try my hand at horn and laminated bows. Maybe someday.


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## flatbow flinch (May 13, 2004)

You'll have to post a pic when you finish the bow. I'd like to see it. I have a friend who makes turkey call strikers out of purpleheart. I was amazed of how purple the wood is. I wonder if purple heart darkens with age like osage?


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## Threebows (Jun 10, 2003)

Purpleheart will gain a little brown tint to it when exposed to light . Still, a beautiful wood.... dense & heavy. I built a Purpleheart / Hickory recurve eight years ago and still kick myself for selling it. Great combination of colors and both woods share characteristics (specific gravity,grain ,density) so they work well together. Just be sure your Hickory is clear and clean all pieces well before laminating. Good Luck!


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## palmer (Sep 23, 2003)

Flatbow,

Here's some links to some of my projects. I would make a suggestion that you might want to consider a hickory backing depending on your skill level. It greatly reduces the need for the "perfect" board. I have made some without backing, but the board has got to be very good with the growth rings oriented properly. The 2nd link shows alot of the steps in detail just don't cut in the agressive shelf like I did trying to get a centershot bow. What a ******! Good luck.

http://www.geocities.com/clpalmer/Second_Chance.htm

http://www.geocities.com/clpalmer/boomerang_bow_3.htm


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## palmer (Sep 23, 2003)

By the way, Ferret's site is awesome. I modified the dimensions a little for the board bow but in general they are a really good starting point. The dimensions can be altered depending on your preferences.


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## flatbow flinch (May 13, 2004)

Appreciate the links. I don't know what my skill level is yet. I'm always piddeling with something then move on to something else before I get good at anything. I went into town and sorted through some boards and didn't find squat. I'm beginning to think it will be faster to split some staves and cure them out. Whatever direction I take off in, it's fun to see the diffferent methods and options available.


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## strcpy (Dec 13, 2003)

As long as you can find a piece with both the grain running from end to end and wide enough it will work - you will just have wasted wood.

You can take a 72" long 6" wide board that the grain runs from the lower right corner to the upper left corner (that is, diagonol across the board) and as long as you lay your bow at such that the tips each center the same grain you will be fine. Also note that the side grain will, most of the time, be straight up the side in this case after cutting. If you check out the bowyers bible volume II he shows some good examples of this.

As cheap as most boards are I will get one and cut it up, though usually not to the extreme that I listed above. For a 2 inch or less wide bow I start in the 1x2's and work up to the 1x4's. Plus it gives you plenty of scrap wood for handles, tip overlays, wierd crap you really want to put on the bow, etc. 

It is also beneficial to go to a local mill and purchase rough cut lumber. Easier to find a good board as thier selection is generally larger and MUCH cheaper usually. You going to cut and sand the crap out of the thing anyway. Many will also plane the board for a little extra per board foot. As they go through a lot of the more "exotic" (the general wood places consider anything other than pine exotic, though some mills will actually have exotic woods too) wood you can go search through the stuff more often.

Home depot/lowes isn't really the best place to purchase from, it is just usually the most convenient.


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