Thread: Wooden bows

Great pic Rick. As I said in the other thread, I rode my bike past a bunch of people at the North Adelaide Archery range - a club day.

I noticed that while everyone was shooting with carbon fibre bows with micrometer controls, counterbalances and sights .. that the best guys (standing furthest from the targets had a wooden bow in a rack beside their gear.

My camera battery took that moment to go flat.

MIK

Great pic Rick. As I said in the other thread, I rode my bike past a bunch of people at the North Adelaide Archery range - a club day.

I noticed that while everyone was shooting with carbon fibre bows with micrometer controls, counterbalances and sights .. that the best guys (standing furthest from the targets had a wooden bow in a rack beside their gear.

My camera battery took that moment to go flat.

MIK

That first one's a beauty

Ever do any Reflex Deflex?

Agree with FC on that first Bow. It's a beauty.

I would love to have a go at making a bow, I still have my little fibre glass 28lb bow I used at school. I get it out now and then and have a few shots and put it away again. Is that one rattle snake or two?

That's some nice looking gear you have put together.

I am privileged in that I am one of the few people who have been trained in Archery by Australia's only Grand Master Bowman.

Thanks for the kind words guys. FC, making a wooden bow with a R/D profile similar to a modern fiberglass bow requires it to be laminated from two or more slats of wood. In pure wood, the performance generally isn't any better than a simple straight single stave longbow and the net result is alot of extra work for really no gain save the satisfaction of doing it. I've done it, but I much prefer the simple "primitive" bow. The last two bows pictured are , except for the nock overlays which is a rather modern trick, perhaps the oldest design of bow in existence, a simple straight stave design dating back 10,000 years or more.

MIK, yup, real archers shoot wooden bows

Claw Hama, that is a pair of snakeskins, one for each limb.

Great Rick, any special things you look for in your wood that are the tricks of the trade? I might look up which Australian woods are good bow stock and have a go. What sort of strings do you use and do you make them yourself?

G,day just wonder if you have talked to texas river rat over in sparkeys forum .

Originally Posted by Claw Hama

Great Rick, any special things you look for in your wood that are the tricks of the trade? I might look up which Australian woods are good bow stock and have a go. What sort of strings do you use and do you make them yourself?

First off, I'll state that darn near any type of wood with suitable density (.50 or greater) has the potential to be a good bow wood. There are exceptions of course. With broadleaf hard woods, I look for thick annual growth rings as they are generally the denser pieces of wood. Even more importantly WRT growth rings, I look for a high ratio of late growth as compared to the early growth within those rings. With the few softwood conifers that have the density to make a good bow, the thinner, tighter the rings, the better as these are generally the denser pieces. Straight knot free wood is always a bonus, but you can make a fine bow from twisty knotty wood if you know how to work with it. Here is an Oregon vine maple bow I made some years back that was really knot filled. Made a darn good shooting bow.





As for Australian timber that suitable for bows, the only ones that I can identify by name and that I have actually worked with are Spotted gum and Black ironbark, though I do know for sure that there are others, I just couldn't tell you what they are. There are a number of eucalyptus species that are exotic imports growing here in California, and most are poor bow woods save for the two I previously named. I make my own strings, for day in day out shooting I generally use B-50 dacron bowstring material and also good quality linen thread. If I want a real authentic oogabooga cave man string for a neolithic style bow I have made them up from thin rawhide, sinew (tendon) and twisted gut.

Texx, if it's the Sparkey from Texas I'm thinking of, yes, I know him from a couple of archery forums. He has a bow I made him some time back

Oops, I see that you were asking if I knew a fellow with the handle "river rat". I know of a guy who used that handle, given name Tony, though I recall he was from somewhere other than Texas, but I could be wrong. Don't know if it is the same fellow or not, and I haven't seen him online for quite some time.

Originally Posted by Rick_Tatum

Oops, I see that you were asking if I knew a fellow with the handle "river rat". I know of a guy who used that handle, given name Tony, though I recall he was from somewhere other than Texas, but I could be wrong. Don't know if it is the same fellow or not, and I haven't seen him online for quite some time.

he uses the name "texas river rat " in the forum real name is ron . he is a real nice guy .
into bow hunting and kayak building ,long kayak and camping trips , he did own a archery store a few years back and i have a feeling he built quite a few bows too

Thanks for for the tips Rick, now I just need to slot a bit of time aside.

Nice bows there Rick.
Every so often someone posts about bows on here and they are woodwork and we all like to see wood put to a good use. I have posted bows on here too over the years. I think the last thread here was in June when someone asked about building one. I guess what I am saying is archery only raises a passing interest on here. Most of the bowyers in Oz will be hanging hereOzbow - Australian Traditional Bowhunting Forums.
I am not saying dont post bows on here as we still like to have a look but the Ozbow mob will give you real honest bow making feedback.
Regards
John