What woods will work? I know soft pine will not, but I was wondering is oak would work.

Please keep laughing to a minimum.

Red Oak is the most common in big box lumber stores that will work. You have to search through them for a good straight grain board. There are good instructions on you tube and in history. Good luck. >>>----> Ken

I made one out of Red Oak and Maple that I found at home depot. You might call it a 2 board bow.

Any hickory, sugar/rock maple and then oak. White oak is much better than red oak. If you want to make a bow that wont break if you make a few errors, use hickory.

I'm the LAST guy to suggest oak for a bow. Same reason my boys didn't learn how to winter drive on bologna skin tires.

Oak works but I would suggest hickory. It is more forgiving than oak.

No laughing here. I respect anyone who gives it an honest effort.

Don't limit yourself to big box stores... or red oak. I've been there many times, looked through hundreds of oak boards over the years and found one piece worth messing with... one... and it's still sitting around somewhere, untouched.

Check local sawmills, lumber yards, hardwood suppliers, etc. I've gotten some beautiful wood from them. Look for osage, hickory, elm, white oak, ash, and you might even find some ipe. Regardless of what you find, growth ring orientation is critical. Try to find one with no runout on any side.

Also, THE absolute nicest Osage lumber I've ever seen came from a Missouri sawmill, your home state. I would call the sawmills within driving distance before I went to Lowes and looked at oak. Ask about osage... boards if you want, but ask about whole logs too if a conventional selfbow interests you at all. If so, and they don't have any, ask if they know of where you might be permitted to cut an osage, hickory, etc tree. It doesn't hurt to ask and I've done well that way.

Check my site for info. Jawge

http://traditionalarchery101.com

I have made a "Hedge" selfbow and I did get the board from a sawmill. I have thought about ripping laminations down on a table saw and try and glue them. I am just looking for a primitive style to shoot in the yard.

I have re-sawn a 3/16" thick backing off a 1 x 2 x 6 hickory board and then used the other portion as a core. It gives you a chance to glue some reflex in when you put it back together. And in my opinion, holds it shape better than a one-piece board bow.

I agree the other woods are better but most are not available in the big box stores. I believe George T. has made a bunch out of Red Oak and gives very good instructions.>>>----> Ken

Josey, you can rip laminations just fine on a table saw. Couple of pretty famous bowyers did it for years and years.

You can also grind them on a table saw just as accurately as you can any other way. You can also grind them with an orbital or belt sander.

You can then glue 'em p in nearly any shape you want. Use the same wood for backing, or bamboo, another wood, sinew, laminate it with glass.

It doesn't take alot of speacialty tools to make a bow. Only some time and patience.

Josey, I'm not a bowyer and I'm not suggesting you try it, but I'll bet even the pine would work if it was wide enough. Canoe paddle width limbs would probably be kind of slow though.

I want about a 75# bow around 68", just going to shoot off my knuckle.

fdp- I have a scraper and a tiller tree can a use that on the belly to tiller or should I just sand it. Wonder how thick my back piece should be.

Thanks 2Bears.

I've probably made 75-100 red oak board bows most bent in the handle and most were unbacked. I've never broken one where I actually chose my own straight grained board. Pine is not good for bows.

Jawge

If you can get air dried rather than kiln dried that's a good thing. Also hard to find!

Mike that is something published in the TBB series. Its not true and has since been recanted. Kiln dried and air dried is all the same. As helpful as the TBB series is/was, there is also a lot of false statements in there. Paul Comstocks flyer is even worse yet. He needed to build and learn a whole lot more before he grabbed a pen and paper.

Kiln vs air makes no difference. What matters is building bows from what every you have. I started using boards back '93 or '94 when I ran out of log staves. Jawge

Hard maple hickory white oak red oak all work great, the key is grain selection

George's instructions are the best.

I still have the red oak board bow that my son and I built (mostly him) about 10 years ago.

My osage bow is around 18-20 years old. No stress cracks just put some tung oil on it, and not very often.

Thanks, limb walker. Kind of you. Jawge

May I add ... make friends with the guys at your local timber yard.

I visited my local yard recently, (in the UK) the yard supervisor asked if I'd like to visit their new hardwood shed. They had planks of Tulipwood, White oak, Red oak, Sapele, Red and White Meranti, White Balau, Idigbo, Ipe and for arrow makers who like to dowel their own shafts, some of the best grained western red cedar I've ever seen.

It pays to visit your local timber yard every now and again you never know what you might pick up

Jawge backs all his bows, backs them with air lol

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