All natural material long bows

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Rick P

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Joined
Apr 30, 2011
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1,686
Location
Palmer Alaska
This one is Ipe with purple heart and ash accents, the bow is backed with goat rawhide. There is some walnut in there too.
 

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I alos Quilt........yes its OK to sew I'm 6'4" and weigh 220, I use a bow to hunt 1,000 pound brown bears, if anyone gives you snot about sewing and it being a girly thing show them this post.
 

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The bow looks great. Do you laminate long pieces then bend them? How do you shape it?

That second post was so random lol. The quilt is great. Do what you enjoy man and don't worry what others think.


Manny
 
Manny

I don't worry in the slightest about what others think, just encouraging others to explore without worry.

The bow was laminated on a form by clamping the wood in place. By not pre bending the lamination's you put more tension in the limbs producing a faster bow. The limbs are shaped using a template and my eye the riser is all by eye. Once the bow is roughed out I use a tillering tree and cabinet scraper to tiller or balance the limbs. The goal of course is a nice even D shaped bow that bends evenly throughout the draw. You want most of the flex in the limb in the middle no flex at the riser and very little at the tip.
 
Nice Bow Rick, whats the draw weight?

I used to make my own fiberglass recurves before I got into Pens. Now my "oven" is in storage and my press hasnt seen any fiberglass in a while.

Wisk I knoew how to sew. Isnt that one of the industrial arts? My Dad can sew really nice and my grandfather was pretty handy as well.
 
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Pic of the form and tillering tree.
 

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El d that one is right at 45 pounds I made it for a young archer who wanted enough to hunt Caribou, Deer and Black bear but wasn't yet able to draw his dads 55#.


I have my mother to thank for the sewing skills, she insisted that me and my brother be able to take care of ourselves so cooking and sewing were forced on us at an early age. I'm rather thankful now it gives me something to do while I chat with the wife during our long winters and it saves us a ton of money! I have also earned a reputation as a damn good cook.
 
I sew also. When I lived in Hawaii, decades ago, I sold sewing machines part time. To kill time I took up sewing. I was in the front of a large fabric store just off Hotel Street. Anybody who lives on Oahu knows about Hotel street. lol
 
sgimbel said:
I sew also. When I lived in Hawaii, decades ago, I sold sewing machines part time. To kill time I took up sewing. I was in the front of a large fabric store just off Hotel Street. Anybody who lives on Oahu knows about Hotel street. lol
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I remember those days, spent 59 thru 61 in Waikiki.
 
Nice bow.
R/d? whats the n2n length? drawlength at that 45#s?
I've made quite a few bows myself, been working lately on an osage longbow and a redoak holmgaard. I dont do much laminating besides risers tip overlays and backings, but have several bows made by others resembling yours.
do you use bamboo? I love that stuff! perfect backing in my opinion
 
60 inches nock to nock, 26 inch draw, like I say it's a youth bow. Love the holmgaard design! A very fast bow with little handshock if done correctly. I have built both self bow and laminated holmgaards. Thinking a Penobscot might be my next archery project, really currious to see theose double limbs in action for myself! A pic for those who dont know the Penobscot.
 

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I have gotten bamboo through bingham but there is a hardwood supplier in anchorage that has all the Ipe and other exotics I could need. This bow actually started life as deck planking. I get the raw hide for the backing at a leather and craft shop.
 
and yes the holmgaard i first made had very little handshock the few shots it fired before lifting a splinter under the otton baking, I determined that it wasnt quite wide enough to accomodate such a short bending area and also that i needed a stronger baking that could take the tension.
 
I am not messing with anyone who can move a 1,000 pound bear out of the woods after killing it with his bow. :biggrin:

Nice bow and quilt. Bet you know how to whip up a mean bear steak or stew too.
 
sgimbel said:
I sew also. When I lived in Hawaii, decades ago, I sold sewing machines part time. To kill time I took up sewing. I was in the front of a large fabric store just off Hotel Street. Anybody who lives on Oahu knows about Hotel street. lol
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Actually, anybody who had family in the Navy in the last 50 years or so knows about Hotel Street. I hear now the yuppies are converting it all into loft apartments.
 
Rick P said:
I alos Quilt........yes its OK to sew I'm 6'4" and weigh 220, I use a bow to hunt 1,000 pound brown bears, if anyone gives you snot about sewing and it being a girly thing show them this post.
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Rosie Greer did needlepoint... not many gave him any grief over his "girly" thing.... I like the quilt... my wife does quilting also and there are a lot of truly gifted men out there who do quilting....
 
Sorry it took me awhile Terry I fletch my own carbon shafts. I really like the "hammerhead" by "Arrow Dynamics". I repeated Dr Ashbey's penetration studies and found the hammer head out preformed not only strait carbons but tapered carbons like the grizzly sticks from Alaska bow hunters supply. Most of the game I hunt is either very big, Moose and bear or really difficult to get to, Dall sheep and mountain goat. Having a tougher than nails arrow is a major plus for me. The arrow dynamics taper also allows me to shoot the same shaft from all my bows! From the long bows to my Bears, they even fyl strait out of the wife's 1955 Kodiak special that only draws 30#, slow as hell but strait! I'm right at 650 for total weight which is perfect since the majority of my bows are at 65#. I shoot the single bevel "samurai" for anything over 1000 pounds, stamped steel is fine for caribou to ducks but griz and moose require a bit more.
 
Rick P said:
Sorry it took me awhile Terry I fletch my own carbon shafts. I really like the "hammerhead" by "Arrow Dynamics". I repeated Dr Ashbey's penetration studies and found the hammer head out preformed not only strait carbons but tapered carbons like the grizzly sticks from Alaska bow hunters supply. Most of the game I hunt is either very big, Moose and bear or really difficult to get to, Dall sheep and mountain goat. Having a tougher than nails arrow is a major plus for me. The arrow dynamics taper also allows me to shoot the same shaft from all my bows! From the long bows to my Bears, they even fyl strait out of the wife's 1955 Kodiak special that only draws 30#, slow as hell but strait! I'm right at 650 for total weight which is perfect since the majority of my bows are at 65#. I shoot the single bevel "samurai" for anything over 1000 pounds, stamped steel is fine for caribou to ducks but griz and moose require a bit more.
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Yip, I fletch my own as well. I shoot a synthetic recurve at 50 pounds and a Bowtech Guardian with all the bells and whistles - I must say I enjoy the clean recurve more than the loaded Bowtech as its a lot more challenging.

I would like to give making my own riser and limbs in due course but need a bit of literature first - Ive heard it all goes pear shaped the first few attempts :confused:
 
Get the "traditional bowyer's bible" series! By far the best work on the history and how to of traditional bows and bowyering! Wanna build a sheep eater replica? Its in there. A copy of an African long bow? Yep. Historical bows are more your bag, the books have them too. Yes your first few bows will blow up......some sources say expect the first 12 to have some terminal issue, bowyering especially all natural bows is as much about feel as it is learning a technique. This is how I test fire bows. Over 40# I add bibs and welding gloves! Got slammed in the top of the head by an 80# war bow replica.......developed a bit of a flinch. Yes I know my form sucks!
 

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