Materials
I've found design and construction details for flatbow/longbow/crossbow. This includes
details on making your own string and arrow making.
- Tools
- To work these, you will need a straight edge (or string-line), pencil, saw, hand rasp
and/or drawknife and/or spokes have, sandpaper. A vice is also very useful, as
long as the bowstave is gripped between blocks of wood etc. to reduce damage to
it. The professionals often speed the process up with a bandsaw, but these have a
tendency to waste a lot of bowstaves until you know what you're doing.
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- Wood
- Ideally, the wood should be split rather than sawed, preferably Bow staves should
be a radial split from a log/branch which is 4-6 inches diameter plus. This means
that it is more likely that the wood will follow the grain, whereas sawing is often
more likely to cut across grain. The more the bow-stave follows the grain of the
wood, the less likely it is to break, and the stronger it is likely to be. If the grain
runs across the bowstave at any sort of an angle, this will weaken the bow to a
certain extent, the amount of weakening depending on the degree of the angle of the
grain. Usually the sapwood becomes the back of the bow, particularly in the
traditional "D" section longbow. Grain alignment is not as critical when using
lemonwood/degame, which is recommended for the beginner.
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- The main criteria is that the wood has been seasoned (dried) fairly slowly. If you
are using commercial stuff (from a timber yard) it has probably been kiln-dried.
This is usually OK if done properly, although can sometimes weaken the wood
slightly if done too quickly or dried too much. The general opinion amongst
bowyers is that air-dried wood is far superior (Some timbers like Osage orange
don't like kiln drying.) however, it is often difficult to acquire suitable air-dried
timber without doing it yourself (over a long period). Also, if you have the
equipment to be picky about it, the wood should ideally have been dried to suit the
region it is being used in. This is sometimes relevant if the wood is imported,
kiln-dried in one place and used in a region with a higher or lower humidity. And if
kiln-dried too much, (below about 10% Moisture content) this is also likely to
weaken the wood. However, as most people don't have the equipment to test, the
moisture content is usually just assumed to be correct.
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- Wood Types
- Some of these are well suited to self-bows, some better suited to making
laminations for composite bows. (These are all supposed to be the preferences in
the Northern Hemisphere, USA, UK, Europe etc. Some or all of these may be
available, some may only be available in the USA.) These include Yew, Osage
Orange, Dagame (lemonwood), Elm, Ash (most of them), Hickory, Oak, Birch,
Black Locust, Walnut, Cedar, Juniper, Mulberry, Maple, etc. Of the Ash varieties in
the US: strong ash (white, red, green, Texas, & Oregon weaker ash), black or blue
(both may be adequate for a bow).
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- The main New Zealand and Australia options include, for New Zealand: Tawa,
Rewarewa (probably), Manuka/Kanuka (New Zealand Tea-Tree), and for
Australia: Osage Orange, Acaias (Wattles, e.g. Blackapple, Gidgee Myal/Boree,
etc.), Tasmanian Myrtle, Spotted Gum, Alpine Ash, Silver Ash. Pacific regions use
Bamboo, Lancewood (this is New Zealand Lancewood), and Black Palm.
Offered by Brian.