This article is part of
Wilderness Way
VOLUME 8, ISSUE 1.
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For The
First Time Bowyer
Part I
by Steve Hulsey
This article was written for the first time bowyer; for those of you that want to reach back in time and know the feeling of harvesting an animal with a bow that you have made yourself. This article is straight forward and to the point. It has been solely and specifically written for anyone who has never made a bow, and deals with only the self-bow made from a single stave of wood. The explanation and construction of this one specific type of bow will allow the first-time bowyer to get his feet wet and end up with a lethal hunting bow. There are other books that have been written with a variety of other styles of bows and their construction, but I believe the bow explained here will best serve the first timer. One major difference between many Indian-style hunting bows and the one that you will be building is the arrow shelf. The illustrations will include this shelf. If you prefer, you may shoot off the knuckle by simply not cutting in the arrow shelf. I personally prefer the shelf. Though many first-time bowyers have worked with wood, many have not. If you fall into this latter category, do not let it bother you. Some of the finest, best shooting bows that I have ever seen were made by people who have never picked up a wood working tool in their lives. Do not be in any hurry, and treat this project as a work of art and you will do well. However, I should warn you, no one can make just one, it will get into your blood.
Good luck.
Now, let's get to work.
Definitions:
Belly:
When holding a strung bow with arrow drawn, it is the side of the bow facing you.
Back:
When holding a strung bow with arrow drawn, it is the side of the bow facing the target.
Boning:
A finishing technique that gives the bow a mirror-like finish. This is accomplished by rubbing something very smooth, such as a piece of glass or smooth stone, over every square inch of the bow.
Deflex:
An arch toward the belly of the bow.
Reflex:
An arch toward the back of the bow.
Stave:
A long piece of wood split out of a log from which a bow can be made.
Follow the string:
After a bow has been strung, the tendency for it to arch gently toward the belly after it has been unstrung.
Nock:
Tip of the bow that has been notched in order to hold the string.
Sinew:
Animal tendons dried and beaten into fibers that can be glued onto the back of the bow to keep it from breaking.
Tiller:
The slow, gradual and step-by-step bending of the bow, and scraping of wood off the belly in order to get an even arch and desirable draw weight.
Types of Wood
A bow can be made from almost any type of wood. I will be discussing just a few personal favorites that I know make fine hunting bows and are easily attainable in the states.
Elm is one of my favorites for making long bows. It is relatively easy to work, but extremely hard to split. When splitting any elm log, be sure to have five or six wedges and a hatchet. Take my word for it, you will need them. Elm makes a fast and tough bow.
Hickory is a dense, heavy wood, and relatively hard to split. It can be found growing straight for the first six or eight feet of trunk on an average sized tree. A bow made from hickory is generally a very durable bow.
Mulberry is a less dense wood than the others, but is much easier to work. It is easy to obtain extremely straight grained logs, and is easy to split. Mulberry makes a good bow, and with its whitish yellow color, it is an interesting looking bow.
Bois D'Arc or Osage Orange is a wood that, if rated on the availability of straight wood, knots, and difficulty to work on a scale of 1-10, it would get a zero in each category. It is not too hard to split if you can find a straight piece, but is prone to have many knots and twists. It can be found growing somewhat straight, but that is definitely the exception and not the rule. Osage is a beautiful wood ranging from yellow to red, but it is hard to work due to its density. Some bowyers suggest that this wood should not be used when making your first bow. They recommend instead an easier wood for the first time around. An Osage stave like most others will usually need to be heated and bent at some point, but the finished bow is generally fast and durable.
Ash makes a fair bow, but is not as tough as elm. Sassafras is possibly faster than any of them, but is very soft and brittle. A few other examples of good woods are black gum, black walnut and yew.
When you are trying to locate a certain type of wood, and know little about wood, go to your library. You will find more than just a few identification books there.
Splitting Out the Stave from the Log
Once a relatively straight, knot-free log has been found, the next step is to split an individual bow stave from it.
The degree of difficulty involved in this task will largely depend on the type of wood and the diameter of the log. The easiest wood that I have ever split was mulberry; the hardest was elm.
The usual method of splitting is to place a very thin wedge or hatchet head into the end of the log (preferably into a natural crack) and hammer in until a larger crack appears in the bark. Place a wedge in the split along the bark and hammer in. Knock it in about 3/4 of the way down, and then place the first wedge alongside it into an ever-widening crack. Take the first wedge out and continue to alternate the two wedges down the crack toward the other end until the log is well split open. Take an ax or hatchet and chop any splinters that may be holding the two halves together. With a larger log, the process will be repeated on the halves and maybe even the quarters
I like to keep the back of my staves at about four-inches wide, a little less is okay. The widest part of your bow will not be over two-inches, but a margin of error is always nice. A little trick in splitting out a straight stave is to start in the middle of the log and work to both ends. This gives you only half the chance of following wandering grain, but it is extremely hard to get the wedge started.
When splitting elm, you may want to run a circular saw down the length of the log and split along the cut. When using a circular saw in this way, the log must be perfectly straight or you will suffer grain damage. Though elm makes a fine hunting bow, it is a terror to get it into the stave stage.
Seasoning of Staves
The best time to cut a tree down in order to split out a stave is in the dead of winter when the sap is down. Cut the log as long as possible (up to 80 inches) so the ends can eventually be cut off to remove cracks. The log should be just as straight and knot free as possible. A straight stave may be obtained, but you should concede to the fact that the wood will usually have to be heated and bent at some point.
I have found that each bowyer differs on his technique of seasoning. What one man may call silly, another will call essential. What one man will call wasteful, another will call playing it safe.
I will tell you what I have found to be the best method, and along the way, interject what others do.
The first thing I do after cutting a log is seal the ends. Wax or paraffin is probably the best sealant. Heat it up and dip both ends, or paint it on (notice that I have not split the log yet). Most bowyers I have spoken to will split the log right away, then dip the ends of their staves into the wax. The reason I do not split the log right away is that I prefer to wait and see where the natural crack lines will occur. I let it sit in an open-air, dry area under a shed off the ground for about a month with all the bark on. After about a month, I inspect both ends for cracks that there will almost always be, and split down the cracks in the end. The reason I do this is that I feel I am more likely to get staves that will not have any major splits due to the natural drying out and cracking process. The result is fewer staves out of each log, but higher quality staves.
In leaving the bark on, there is a risk of bores getting into the wood and destroying a stave or two by tunneling. With the bark removed, there is little chance that this will happen. Staves will crack less along the back (bark side) with the bark left on. However, this method is risky and not for the commercial bowyer, but for that person in search of the perfect stave.
After allowing the wood to air-dry for a month, I split down the largest cracks at the end, moving alternating wedges down the log. It is possible to start wedges in the middle of the log length in order to get a straighter stave, but it is more work. Start this process with an extremely thin sharp wedge or hatchet head, you will be working from the middle out to both ends.
Cracks along the back of the stave usually do not destroy it and can be draw knifed out unless they are too deep.
Seasoning with the bark on will take two years, and with the bark off, it takes about a year.
Rapid Seasoning
I have heard of several methods of seasoning wood rapidly, but the one that I have had the most success with is the "put the stave in the old car method." Half of the staves that I have seasoned this way have had longitudinal cracks, and about 10% of them, suffered so badly that they could not be used.
When using this method, first split the stave out of the log. Let it sit someplace dry in the open air with the ends sealed for about a month. All of the bark must be removed from the stave, and the back sealed with Elmer's glue. Find a car with doors and windows that can be shut, and put the staves inside. Leave them in the car in warm weather for two or three months.
There is nothing like open air seasoning for a couple of years, but in my opinion, this is the closest thing to it.
Another method is to carve the stave down to a two by two-inch piece, and let it sit in a warm place for a couple of weeks. If you see any cracking on the ends, continue to seal them every couple of days. In a couple of weeks (depending on the wood), the stave should be dry enough to make a usable bow.
Buying a Stave
I have never run into a book that has dedicated a chapter to buying a stave, yet it is so important to know the right questions to ask when speaking to a stave dealer.
Most people do not want to go out, down a tree, split out a stave, and wait two years for it to season. This is understandable, so you can purchase one. Remember, if you do not start with a usable stave, you have wasted your time and money and will not have a usable bow.
There are many usable staves out there, a few very superior ones, and everything in between. Unfortunately, there is a lot of wood sold that should have been used for firewood.
Put yourself in the commercial bowyer's place. Would you sell your best staves or make bows from them? This puts the buyer at a disadvantage, but with a little knowledge of what questions to ask about your particular stave, you will, without a doubt, receive the stave that will make a fine hunting bow.
First of all, the straighter the stave the better, but do not expect to get an absolutely straight stave, as he is keeping those. Do not be afraid of a slightly crooked stave, and if it is bowed to the back (reflexed), you got lucky. It should make a faster bow. Remember, once you have carved your stave down a bit, you can always apply heat and straighten it. Very rarely will you not have to apply heat and do some bending before your bow is finished, no matter how straight your stave looks. As long as there are no radical bends or kinks, you should be all right, but straightness is a factor in buying a stave.
Another factor is knots and their location on the stave. The perfect stave has no knots, but get used to the idea of a few knots. You should not be afraid of knots if you take note of where they will end up on the bow. If you order a stave and it is two inches wide, there is little room for error. Look at the knots. If they are located at the edge of the two-inch width, they could cause the bow to break. But, if the stave is wide enough, you could draw your pattern to make them fall in the middle.
Consideration must be given to where along the length of the your stave the knot falls. We are mainly concerned with knots that fall on the thinner parts of the limbs. If you have a big knot right where the handle goes, it is of no concern. Even knots on the edge, a little above or below the handle where the wood is still relatively thick, or along the thicker portion of the limbs should not cause any problems. The farther out toward the tip, the more a knot needs to be in the center of the limb. If a knot is solid and hard (as many are), then its location on the edge of the limb may be satisfactory. Leave extra wood around the knot no matter where on the limb the knot is located. If it is on the edge, you may want to leave even more wood. (Of course, this could come back to haunt you during tillering stiff areas.)
Knots give a certain amount of character to a bow and should be taken in stride. You will encounter them; there is no way around it. Tiny pin knots are very tiny knots that pop up in wood. Unless there are several bunched up very close together, they should be ignored.
Bug holes are another consideration. Most staves have them, but to what extent is the question.
Woods that have a thin layer of sapwood such as Osage orange and mulberry usually only have bug holes that stop at the heartwood (depending on the type of bore, of course). The outer sapwood will be taken off anyway, so even a high concentration of bug holes may be okay, again depending on depth. On the other hand, wood such as ash or elm is nearly all sapwood, and could be rendered useless by bug holes.
If you feel that bug holes will be a problem, go ahead and rough your bow out to make sure. Many times the location of tiny bug holes turns out to be of little cause for concern and adds character to the bow. If after roughing the bow out, you see that there is just no way you can use it, then at that point, call the supplier up and explain the situation. Bug holes are a risk that every stave dealer has to contend with, and it probably will not be the first time he has had to send a replacement stave, although most have been screened well before being sent out.
It is a good idea to speak with whoever you are ordering your stave from in person instead of just filling out an order form by mail. Be sure and tell him that this is your first attempt (if in fact it is), and ask him to pick out a good one. He will probably keep this in mind when he selects your particular stave. Ask him to send as heavy a stave as possible. A nice heavy stave may turn out to be what stave dealers refer to as a "double." This is a stave that came out of a log with the width of two staves (about four or five-inches thick on the back), but the supplier did not want to risk both staves by trying to split it again. If the grain is good and straight, pop a line down the middle and run a circular saw two-inches deep along the line, and split it out with three wedges in the crack at one time (one on each end and one in the middle). Take turns hitting each of them evenly until the stave splits open pretty much all at the same time. You now have two staves for the price of one, and at the price a good stave sells for these days, it is worth borrowing a few wedges and a sledge. Caution must be taken, however, to only use this method if the grain is extremely straight; otherwise, you may lose the whole stave.
Expect to pay handsomely for a good stave. Anywhere between seventy and a hundred dollars is about right.
Green Bows
It has been said that you cannot make a bow from a green stave, but this is false. Not only can you make a bow from an unseasoned stave, but also there can be an advantage to it. A green bow usually picks up poundage over about a three month period, sometimes as much as ten pounds. Why is this an advantage? Because the number one mistake that the first time bowyer makes is that too much is usually taken off the belly at the tillering stage, resulting in an under built bow.
For instance, you may wish to build a 60 pound bow, but due to inexperience, you end up with a bow of 47 pounds or so. Unfortunately, with the first time bowyer, this is more the rule than the exception.
With seasoned wood, pretty much what is done is done, but with a green stave in three months time, the 47-pound bow may have a draw weight of close to 55-pounds depending on the type of wood used and the climate. On the other hand, if the bow is finished with the right draw weight, then later, more tillering may be done to reduce the poundage.
The only problem with a green bow is that they tend to follow the string. Unfortunately, this is a major problem. A bow that severely follows the string tends to cast a slow arrow, and we all know a deer is capable of jumping the string on a fast bow much less a slow one.
If you make a bow from a somewhat unseasoned stave, put a recurve in the limbs, or for that matter, the entire bow. This way, if the bow follows the string a little, you will still end up with a relatively straight bow and the results should be a faster bow.
I do not think it is a bad idea to put a slight recurve in any bow you make, seasoned or unseasoned. Of course, this is done by applying heat to the wood.
Though it is possible to make a green bow, overall it is not a good idea. Put the odds in your favor, not against you. If confronted with a green stave, rough it out to a two by two-inch. Let it sit in an open area for two months, and it should be dry enough to proceed.
Bending the Wood with Heat
Very rarely has a self-bow ever been made that at some point was not heated and bent. Chances are that no matter how straight the stave looks, it will have to be straightened before the bow is completely finished. Heat can also be used to put a recurve in the limbs if so desired.
One method used in bending the wood is to cap off a pipe, and bury that end a foot or so under the ground with the open end pointing straight up. Fill it up with water most of the way (or at least far enough to cover the portion to be bent) and place the roughed out bow or bow limb into it. Build a nice fire around the pipe and wait for the water to boil. Be careful, it boils quickly. Do not leave it for a second or you could end up with a scorched bow. After boiling it for a few minutes, take the stave out and bend it by wedging the end into something. Bend it just a little past the spot where you want it to end up. Hold it there or tie it off in some way for a few minutes until it cools. If it is bent just a little past the spot where you wanted the stave or limb to finish, then it should end up just about right. This method reduces the risk of scorching the wood and is fairly well controlled.
If you feel lucky, you may just hold the stave over a fire after greasing the wood-the same thing (a bendable stave), but this is risky.
I have seen a propane torch held close to a nearly finished bow, resulting in an easily bendable limb.
The problem in bending a stave with open flames is that it is not as controlled and risk free. Not enough heat and you have wasted too much of your time; too much heat and you have wasted your bow. I should mention that it might be necessary to work your stave way down before you can think about bending it.
You may want to use the pipe method when you are bending the rough stave, then if the nearly finished bow needs some fine tuning, you can use a method that to my knowledge was originated by bowyer Greg Rudd of Crazy Horse Primitive Weapons of Lufkin, Texas. Take a regular child's vaporizer and fashion a length of PVC pipe onto the steam spout. After plenty of steam is coming out, place the limb that you wish to bend down into the pipe. Wrap foil tightly around the base of the limb and pipe so that no steam will seep out and affect the rest of the bow. Keep the limb in for 10-15 minutes and bend it to suit you. Repeat the process on the other limb if needed. This is also an excellent way to put a reflex in the limbs of your bow.
You could try a hot pistol-style hair drier. Hickory dries slowly, so I grease and heat the stave rather than steam it in boiling water.
Growth Rings
Growth rings are the wider rings on the end of the stave.
A good hunting bow can be made regardless of the width or number of rings on a stave, but the best possible stave is one with wide growth rings.
The thin light rings indicate the change from dormancy to growth and represent the weakest part of the wood. This wood is the porous ring. You can see the pores in the end grain of the wood. The wider darker rings are strong wood. So, it only stands to reason that the wider the growth rings, the more solid the wood in the bow.
I have heard wide ring staves referred to as beginner staves, because they are easy to work, and a slip of the hand will not cause you to cut through a growth ring. When working down a very tight ringed stave, just switch to a rasp when you feel you are down to the ring that you want as your back.
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