Do any of you make self bows or board bows? I am wanting to learn how so I been researching it. I’d love it if there was a hands on class taught locally.

I'd be down if there was class as well.

You might can get some info on this site.

http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php

I have made a few. The two books below are not required reading on the subject before you attempt, but if you want to make one that will last, then I'd try to incorporate what you will learn from them into your bows. It's not hard to make wood bend, the trick is to make it bend evenly, powerfully, and to get it to last. If you could find a class locally, it would help, but it's my opinion that you just have to start trying to make one, and just assume that it's going to take two or three before you turn out a good one. The first one I made, I bought an already dry and roughed out osage bow blank and went to whittling. It actually came out OK, but broke after a few months of shooting. My second one turned out a little better, the one after that even better. With making selfbows, there is no substitute for experience. The books will help, but you just have to get to work, and learn something along the way.

https://www.3riversarchery.com/hunting-the-osage-bow-book.html

https://www.amazon.com/Art-Making-Selfbows-Stim-Wilcox/dp/1438991991

I've made a bunch. PM if you like.

Ya'll need to set up to go to the twinn Oaks bow shoot the first of may. It's in Clarksville TN,lasts about 3 days and they have helpers and lots of folks build bows all day and night if you want.

I've built prolly ten Osage self bows, still hunt with one of them. I'm real slow, but it ain't that hard.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLF4715AC49E1F13CE

i've been following Clay Hayes for a while; he's got some good videos/info on this

Thanks guys, i think I’ll get my feet wet with a board bow per clay Hayes videos and move on from there.

I want to try to go this year.

Don't do that. Boards are crap IMHO. I'll give you a stave of Osage,and a Elm to learn on.

I’d hate to ruin a good stave right out of the gate. I do appreciate the offer though.

Re-read my post above: You just can't think like that. Read books and watch vids all you want (and those resources can and do help a lot) but getting a stave and working it is exactly what it takes to learn. Odds are you are going to ruin a stave... but the progress and mistakes you make while working on that first one will teach you ten-fold what you'll need to do on the next one. And working a crappy stave is way harder than working a good one. So, it's really best to get a good one to start out on.

My suggestion: Search for and buy a dry Hickory stave (so you don't have to chase a ring like you do in locust and osage) and get to work. Be mindful of backset, stringfollow, perfect tiller, (and the rest of the buzz words that you'll likely to hear at Twin Oaks when you go) but the goal for the first one should simply be producing a piece of wood that bends without breaking and will shoot an arrow.

Dad gum man. PM me and I'll meet up with you and give you a stave or two. I should have some good dry Hickory about 10 years old up in the attic,if not I know I have some good hardwood staves you won't have to chase a ring on and Osage. I doubt I'll ever build another white wood bow anyway. I'm only a little over an hour from Athens.

I like hickory, especially if a bow made of it that has just a little backset, when its unstrung. Keeping the moisture out is the only thing... just need to be a little more diligent in sealing it when it's finished. The wood isn't quite a pretty as osage to me, but it's acceptable with a little light colored stain.

Osage is damn near bulletproof. It is really hard to screw up IF you pay attention to details and go slow. Get someone to show you how to "chase a ring" and work it on a wall with pull string to check "tiller'. It really isn't that hard.

The first Osage bow I got was made by Bill Metcalf with a machete in less than an hour from stave to strung and shot. I watched him do the whole thing.

Great info I appreciate it

Read the traditional bowyers bible vol. 1 tell you everything you need to know.

A lot easier to start with a white wood than osage imho. I made mine about 10 years ago out of hickory still going strong and I've had it in the heat and humidity of the south all the way to near zero degrees in northern Newyork.

your odds of making a workable, and lasting, bow go up dramatically with osage.

A friend of mine has a hickory bow I made nearly 10 years ago. It's still rocking and rolling. About every other year, he hits the whole thing with light steel wool and wipes on a thin layer of poly, just to keep the seal fresh. A neat trick I learned for white wood... just before you seal it, crush a piece of charcoal into dust and wipe it on the handle and belly wood (shooter side of limbs) and it will stick in the fibers of the springwood. When the excess is wiped off with a rag, the grain pops out great with the slightly darker springwood holding the dust. Then you can hit it with a light stain, let it dry, and then seal her up.

I didn’t realize so many guys was into making bows. I am really looking forward to It myself.

You can easily make a hickory bow of wide limb that will last about forever. It will kill any deer or about anything you want to hunt with the right arrow and head ,but it won't be as fast and high performance as an Osage done right.

I watched a video. The guy had built a Osage that was shooting 175fps , that’s up there with all the commercially bought bows I have shot over the years. However I don’t see the bow specs or arrow comb he was shooting.

175 would be very high for a self bow, even osage. 140-155 would be more in line with hunting weight arrows.

I was surprised that a guy on YouTube built a maple board bow bought at Home Depot a d when finished is was shooting 145fps through a Chronograph, bow was 55lbs at 29” draw shooting a 550gr arrow.

It's the shape of the bow,weight and weight of materials that make a bow shoot fast. An arrow doesn't care if it's shot from a compound or a selfbow. If you can construct a natural bow that has the right shape and weight it will shoot right with anything similar.