Finishing/Refinishing your bow

[hogslayer]

Have a friend who makes his own Hickory bows who told my buddy about a book 'traditional bowyers bible vol 1' that is the book if you want to build your own bow...and I have another friend that told me the best book he used was 'Making Indian Bows and Arrows' We ahve access to some hickory and Oak Stathes and am thinking about making a bow. From my understanding it takes about 100 hours to build your first Bow...any ideas from the forum?

[LostHawg]

I think, Hodslayer, it just depends on what you want. Some folks can start from a seasoned stave of osage (bodark aka horse apple) and have a bow finished in a day save the finish. Just depends on what you want.

I got this and another bow off eBay. Was looking for a bow for my boy. Well, these two bows stack too much for him to shoot. It reaches peak weight too soon for him to reach anchor. From my shooting the two bows, I question if the draw weights on them are accurate. One is 35, the other is 40. I'm thinking they're closer to 50. Of course when a bow stacks so quickly, it's really hard to tell (for me) the draw weight by feel.

These are also, pseudo selfbows. They are all wood, but, they're laminated. You can tell by looking at them that the bowyer spent some time putting them together. Not bad craftsmanship either. The tiller is fairly even. They shoot an arrow real well.

I've heard of and considered buying the Trad Bowyer's bible, vol. 1, 2, and 3. But, haven't yet. I usually like to just grab what I've got and learn the old fashioned way. "Trial and Error". :twisted:

[Frontloader]

LH

Who made your bows? Who put them together? Do you know?

[LostHawg]

Well, I got them off eBay. The seller used the handle "sportshouse". The bow is called a "Hawk". I'll attach the link to the eBay item if you'd like. Don't know the who the builder was.

[LostHawg]

The first bow, I stopped after two doses of the Spar Urethane. I think I got it on too thick. We'll see after it starts meeting up with the sun and rain.

Started the second bow today. This time I used a blue shop towel and smoothed it on thiiiin. I only did the back today. Belly tomorrow if the bows not too tacky.