Traditional Archery Discussions on the Leatherwall


a selfbow question

Messages posted to thread:
Dan Jones 16-Aug-23
Jeff Durnell 16-Aug-23
Don T. Lewis 16-Aug-23
Don T. Lewis 16-Aug-23
Don T. Lewis 16-Aug-23
paul craig 16-Aug-23
Eric Krewson 18-Aug-23
HRhodes 18-Aug-23
From: Dan Jones
Date: 16-Aug-23




I am trying to make a 67" longbow from a maple board. The limbs are 1 1/2" wide until the last 10" and then taper to 1/2" at the tip. Unfortunately, I've run into limb twist in the 10" tapered section near the tip on the lower limb. I've tried several times to remove the twist by scraping wood from the strong side of the limb, but the twist remains. At the tip the lower limb has also taken more set than the upper limb. Strangely, the bowstring sits in the center of the lower limb despite the twist.

I will welcome any ideas on how to remedy this situation. Thank you.

From: Jeff Durnell
Date: 16-Aug-23




Dan, first thing I'd do is lay a weighted strand of bowstring from end to end and make sure I had an accurate centerline and front profile, perfectly dividing the bow in half lengthwise. If not, fix it.

Then I'd check up and down both limbs, at a station every inch or two, with a dial or digital caliper, or mic, to be certain the limbs are the same exact thickness from one side to the other. Folks tend to lean their tools one way or the other as they work, which makes one edge of a limb thicker than the other, which is a common cause of limb twist. If not right, fix it.

I'd check those things before I ever entertained the commonly offered advice of "deepening the nock or removing material from the edge of the limb the tip was pointing toward".

Unfortunately too often we don't know where boards actually came from... quality of tree, twisted? crooked? leaning? tension side of the tree, compression, transition? Sometimes due to unknown circumstances, limbs are destined to twist, sometimes bad enough that we can't undo what nature has done. Sometimes.

Stave bows can suffer from irreversible twist conundrums too. I once made an osage selfbow that was dead straight unstrung, but whose front profile was S-shaped when braced and drawn. Its string bisected the handle though and it actually shot pretty decent.

From: Don T. Lewis
Date: 16-Aug-23

Don T. Lewis's embedded Photo



A guy with the handle the ferret had instructions on line. How to build a self bow. Does anyone know if they can still be pulled up? Mickey made some real nice board bows.

From: Don T. Lewis
Date: 16-Aug-23




Excuse me I meant to say build a board bow

From: Don T. Lewis
Date: 16-Aug-23




Jeff will give you good advice also.

From: paul craig
Date: 16-Aug-23




Ferret's Board Bow Building Method is available at peteward.com

From: Eric Krewson
Date: 18-Aug-23




I have better luck getting the twist out with a heat gun than reducing wood on one side or the other.

From: HRhodes
Date: 18-Aug-23




Maple boards aren’t as common in the Deep South as they are up north. I have made a couple of maple board bows though. Grain is generally pretty straight on board bows. I’m betting that it was the canted rasp/leaning on tool more on one side problem mentioned above. Jeff’s advice for using calipers is spot on. I found maple pretty stubborn to correct with dry heat.





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