Ash longbow build - first build attempt!

[RichardH]

A little while ago I showed a couple of pics of an ash stave I bought, ready seasoned etc. Well I finally bit the bullet and started on the bow yesterday...

Here's the stave itself:









As you can see it has a bit of reflex, which hopefully will keep the string follow down.

It's nearly 78" long. I'm aiming for around 45# @ 28".

Circular saw being my only tool, I had to take a few goes to rip it down...



But finally I got to here



A lot of hand planing and floor tillering later, I am at this point






This is where I realised that I don't have an extra long bow string to allow me to start tillering, and I also took the string jig I made and left it at the archery club

So I'm now waiting to sort myself out a long string - in the meanwhile I've ordered a couple of pulley blocks so I can stand well back from the bow as it is flexed, so I can see how it looks.

[N.Vodden]

wow, nice work its looking good so far!

i just picked up 2 huge boards of ash and red oak from a hardwood stockists to make some new bows with. The boards were dead straight grain with no knots at all and i've gotten 4 staves out of the ash, and the end piece i had to cut off to fit it in the car i can splice to get another 2 staves from. I havent cut the oak yet but ill get 3 from that easy. Enough wood to make 9 bows for a tad under £40, not bad!

I got my grubby little mits on an ash log as well need to splice billets from mine though, not long enough to get a whole stave out of theres pictures of it in my blog as well as a 10 part buildalong for my osage/bamboo longbow.

I take it you are making a self bow with no backing? how easy was it to chase one growth ring down, as im tempted to make an unbacked flatbow for my next one.

Instead of pulleys i used a ratcheting strap for tillering. You can tension it to whatever draw length you want and then step back to take a look. When your done just hold onto the string for safety and release the ratchet, and let it down slowly then. works a treat!

http://www.archery-interchange.com/f...log.php?b=3290

best of luck with the bow, keep us posted how it goes, i'll be watching with interest!

[RichardH]

Reading the Bowyers Bible, it seems that you can skip chasing a ring with ash - just use the outer side of the bark-stripped surface - made things easier!

[jb.68]

Well done Richard, nice job. If I can help out with anything mate, give me a shout. You're welcome to use come round and stick it on the tillering tree if you want. I also have an overlong string you can use if you want. Though I suspect that you will just want to crack it on your own (there is something about having done it all by yourself)

Once again, nice job, look forward to seeing it finished.

All the best
jb

[RichardH]

Hi John, I did consider getting touch to get you to rip the stave down to a rough size, but in the end managed to persevere with the circular saw.

I have a tillering tree made up already, and I'm picking up a couple of old strings from the camp tonight hopefully, so I'll be able to get going again.

I'm concerned about "twist" ion the bow, but I think I'll just keep going and see how it ends up. Early on there seemed to be a slight hinge developing during the floor tillering I've done so far, but I'm hoping that the poundage is still too high and it will disappear as I continue to whittle away.

[jb.68]

Hi Richard, the twist can be countered by the way you work the belly of the bow, although on a first attempt, it will give you a lot to think about....
As for the hinge, just mark it and leave it. Just keep taking material from everywhere else until it is bending equally. One thing I found is that it can get to a point where you get tunnel vision with the bow and you can end up getting frustrated with it. At this point, walk away, make a cuppa and then come back or better still, put it away and come back to it another day.

Good luck with it.

Are you guys shooting at the camp on Saturdays at the moment or just Sundays?

[alanesq]

looks like you ar doing great so far :-)

I agree with JB; the most vital thing when tillering is to stop and have a break as soon as you feel yourself getting stressed

[RichardH]

Thanks chaps. Alan - your "Backstreet Bowyer" has been well (electronically) thumbed - it's been most useful.

John - yes, we're shooting on Saturdays as well now - 10:30 til around 1-1:30.