I've been working on this hickory flatbow the last month or so. I think I've talked about it on here, but one of my goals is to build all my gear from scratch and kill a deer with it. In the meantime, I'm going to back to modern trad (to get comfortable/confident killing with trad) and building/testing some primitive stuff, so I have everything dialed when I hunt with it. Anyways, I built this from a hickory board from menards. It's 66" 51@28, 2.5" mid limb, 1/2" at the tips. Antler tip overlays and arrow rest with antler leftover from one of my last knife builds. I went full mountain man with silencers from beaver I trapped and sealed with bear grease from the bear I killed last fall. Even used my primitive mountain man band saw lol, in all reality that saw is ancient. I inherited it from my grandpa who was born in 1925, who inherited it from his dad. I tried to embed a link, but I've never been able to figure that out...so here's the link to my YouTube video of the build https://youtu.be/vJ3fdIUZBzs username Cash Scott Title "Building A Hickory Flatbow"

That's a strange camera angle. It looks huge.

Haha, yeah I'm 6'2". It's a low angle shot, I always have a hard time taking pictures of bows.

Yeah, it's like big noses in selfies, just what you get with wide angle lenses up close. If you have a zoom lens on the camera take the shot from father away and use the zoom to get in closer. I like that bow.

I like it. That bow looks like a broom stick launcher. Good luck with it. You did a real nice job. Keep us updated.

Good luck and a great looking bow. I wish you all the best on your quest. John

Haha thanks guys. I'll have to step up my selfie game. I lived under a rock until a year or so ago, so I'm behind the 8 ball on that stuff. The arrow I'm working on hafting the heads on is 23/64, my 400 spine recurve setup is way too stiff. Hoping the wood arrow is a little better to get a read on. The heads I'm gonna try out are approximately 275 grains.

Looks like a pretty nice bend from here.

I also wish you the best on your quest. I would like to give you a bit of encouragement to. It’s not easy, but it certainly isn’t impossible. It’s also very rewarding.

You can do it

Bjrogg

Cash, just a couple questions you may answer in time after your bow has some time on the range. First though one comment.... Love the U.P. Bennie, two thumbs up.

Your process of rasping and drilling your glue surface. I have always just sanded with 80 grit with TBIII. Because it has no gap filling properties. Please keep us posted on your glue joints?

I once built a flatbow/hybrid holmguard with short fades and it tattered my fletching. Let us know how your fletching holds up?

I am looking forward to your trade point and arrow build. Thanks again John

Good for you. Your bow looks great. Jawge

Monkeyball- thanks for embedding.

Bjorgg-thanks, it's been in the back of my mind, since I was a kid. I remember there was a guy that did it in our trad league, and I thought it was pretty cool.

John-I'm a transplant yooper. Good catch on the beanie. I'll let you know after I've shot it more but...I used to always do what you do. I had a couple maple board bows delam the handle, I don't know if it was that or something else that caused it. One of the last knives I built, (antler and wood handle video) I just used sandpaper to prep before I glued with that heavy duty devcon epoxy and it delaminated, so I had to reglue the scales, and I drilled that. I liked the result so I did it here. First time I've done that on a bow. I think it's overkill, and I wouldn't do it anywhere that bent. If your prep is working I wouldn't mess with it. I used to do some wood model making for a major company and my foreman was real big on "creating surface area" for glue. Usually by dragging a hacksaw blade. He was a really good craftsman, so I go by what he says alot. Now that I think about, most of my delam issues were with the cheap brittle 5 minute epoxy. So I think that was a big part of it. The little shooting I've done has torn up my strike plate. It's a stealth strip for tree stands. I'll have to swap it out with something else.

Jawge-thanks

Sweet !! Love it ! I’m on my 3 rd ( first 2 no bueno ) Hope this one works out . Thanks for the video .

Your band saw is a much better one than can be bought new today. I'm thinking there was a serious woodworker in your ancestry.

Nice to have that oscillating spindle sander too.

Good video, especially since you didn't waste half of it telling us what you were going to show us.

Thumbs up.

Jim

Chaz-Thanks. My best advice is take your time through tillering. There's no time limit. I've learned the most from bows when I really took my time tillering. Also if you have the space the plywood grid that I have makes it alot easier to spot inconsistencies than it is with just a tillering stick.

Jim- that band saw has built a ton of stuff, we did alot of stuff on it just in my lifetime and it's literally been around for generations. Yeah the spindle sander is handy, it's been pretty good on knives too. Thanks for the compliment, I tried to keep it interesting while showing what I needed to.

A tillering gizmo makes the tillering process much easier, google it.

looks nice from here also, congrats, nice quest you are on, nothing quite like hunting and taking game with you own hand made stuff. Pappy

Pretty cool, man, good luck!

Awesome! Congrats...

Thanks guys

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