Cowiche Archery

Where to begin?

As I begin this little adventure into bow building I've thought a lot about the why do it part.  I guess there are a lot of reasons one could use to motivate hyimself, but for me it's simply about knowledge and the sharing of it.

Over the years I have searched high and low to uncover the secrets of bowbuilding. Things like what makes a bow shoot fast, be durable, and what woods to use.  I have spent untold hours exploring these things. Searching through the writings and histories of the heros of our sport, Howard Hill, the Thompson brothers, Pope and Young, Ishi, Fred Bear and many others.  I've read everything I could get my hands on, been all over the internet, listened to the opinions of other bowyers, and broke up a lot of wood in the effort to come up with the "perfect" bow. 

Three years ago I broke my back and neck and had most of my stomach removed due to an reaction to the drugs I was being given for pain.  Two years ago I was diagnosed with a syndrome, (resulting from the stomach surgery), that disallowed me to get any benefit from the food I was eating, and I was slowly starving to death.  I went from 210 pounds to 129 pounds.  After going broke seeing all the doctors and taking all the tests,  here I was on the verge of starvation, trying to build bows and archery equipment to make a living and everytime I got an inquiry from someone who wanted a primitive bow built I wanted to scream out at them "build it yourself, that's where the magic is"

Well, after much prayer and introspection I guess the Lord decided to let me live, and suddenly, as I asked Him to "bless my food" I began a little at a time to recover my health and to put on some weight. Of late I've been able to go fishing and do a little bear hunting.  Things I thought I would never be able to do again.

As you can imagine I have been given a new lease on life.  And along with that a desire to heip others sort out the mysteries of a stick and a string, and to share my love for all things wild.

Enough editorializing, but I just wanted to start with, the why of it.

I can't begin to tell you how many times I have heard in my 60 years: "A mans work is only as good as the tools he uses".

That being the truth I am going to share with you, first, the tools I have found to be most beneficial to me for my style of bowbuilding, and then we'll get into materials and actual building techniques.  There's a lot being said about using only primitive tools to build primitive weapons, and there are many who follow that path.  To them I say more power to you!  I really don't think "Primitive man" thought of himself as being primitive, and I am sure he sought out the tecnology of his day in his bowbuilding as well as his survival.  I think if there would have been an Ace Hardware store around he would have been one of their best customers.

These are the tools I use:

There are some other hand tools I use and I will mention them, but the tools in the photo are the bread and butter of my trade.  They are, from the left:

Sheers for trimming tape, sand paper etc., A two handed scraping tool, and a hand toothing scraper, sanding block, sanding plane, a #49 &  #50 Nicholson Rasps a pocket knife, a 4 way rasp, and four scrapers of different varieties, all used during shaping, tillering, and finishing the bowstave.

On the end, an heat gun used for heat tempering Bamboo and some other belly woods.

Above the long black thing is a pair of tapered sleds used to taper laminations. And above that, a German made toothing plane, (available from Three Rivers Archery), used in all elements of stave prep.  I will be covering detailed use of these tools as we move through the different elements of building a bow.  Keep in mind we will be building the Laminated Bamboo Bow shown in the photo on the Home page.

More tomorrow - Gotta go fishing now - remember all work and no play makes Darryl a dull boy. Well I'm back and if I told you about the one that got away you wouldn't believe me so let's get back to the subject at hand . . .

 Let me just say the #1 power tool on my list is the Bandsaw It gets used in many ways.  From cutting out templates, re-sawing 8/4 wood and turning split logs into laminations to cutting out the bow after laminating the stave. I began with a tabletop model I saved from the trash @ work, (I still have it and use it for some things). But after saving my pennies for awhile, (a long while), I bought a 17" production and re-saw model.  This is the one tool I find to be indespensable.  So if you can swing getting one or at least access to one by all means do so.  Mine has paid for it self many times over.

This is my #1 money saver! Probably not necessary for someone who is just going to build 1 or 2 bows, but for a professional Bowyer or someone addicted to building bows this little machine can cut costs and labor to the bone.

Mainly I use this tool to grind laminations.  I grind  .001, .002, and a .0015.  I also use it to dimension my parallel laminations to match the bow draw weight I am targeting.

This might be a good place to list for you approximate total lamination thicknes's for a given draw weight.

• Using a 68" mildly deflexed/reflexed bow as an example these are the approximate total thickness of all laminations used for a given draw length. (note: Draw weights will change some depending on the length and profile of the bow you may be building so I will give you the adjustment formula I use for different bow lengths.
•  
• 35# . . . . . . .  .344"      60# . . . . . .  .418"
• 40# . . . . . . .  .359"      65# . . . . . .  .427"
• 45# . . . . . . .  .374"      70# . . . . . .  .435"
• 50# . . . . . . .  .389"
• 55# . . . . . . .  .404

A mildly reflexed bow will decrease or increase 1 pound per .003" over all limb thickness.  A radically reflexed or recurved bow will increase or decrease 1-3 pounds per .001" overall limb thickness.

Just a photo Ithought you might enjoy!

That's all for today folks, Got to go to the doctor and I'd rather be out in the Spring woods chasing Spring Bears in the last remnant's of this years snow.

More later . . . .

This tool can be a God send or a nightmare if you aren't paying close attention to what you are doing.  They have an insatible appitie for eating bow wood, and once it's gone it's gone.  So if hand tillering is not your thing by all means give it a go.  Do some practice on scrap wood to get the hang of it and more importantly,get a feel for how much pressure to use.  Remember .001 to .003 removed means 1 to 3 pounds of draw weight have been forever lost.

Proceed with caution

Then you'll be able to join me in the woods with your dream bow.

 There are some other ways to square things up but a jointer sure is nice!

Planing the Bamboo. 

There are two basic types of moulds for laying up your laminated bow.  Pictured on left is the one piece mould.  It is the simplest to build.  It's major drawback is that it requires the purchase of at least 30 4" C- clamps.

I build this type mould for prototypes and then if I like the bow, I build the second type mould, I call it, the pressure mould.  It's a two piece mould having a top and a bottom. 

If you are planning to build just one or two bows the one piece mould will be quite sufficient. 

In the pressure mould you lay in your laminations and then a piece of firehose plugged on one end and an inflation valve on the other.  Bingham Archery can provide the necessary hardware for the Pressure mould.

We will get into their use in quite a bit more depth as we walk through an actual lay-up.

To build the mould on the left requires an 8 foot 2X6 divided and marked in the middle.

Spaced two inches from the centerline and 4 inches apart are the deflex blocks.  The hiegth of these blocks will determine the amount of deflex in the bow limbs.  I like 1.5 inches.  The two blocks on either end are the reflex blocks and are made to be moveable to accomodate different length bows.  These blocks are 4.5 inches high.  When the bow is complete it will have 4.5 inches of reflex but after it is shot in you will realize a net reflex of 2.5 inches give or take a little.  I find this design to be asthetically pleasing as well as fast and durable.

This is the air pressure type mould.  Originally designed for fiberglass backed bows it works well for all wood bows as well.  It is the simplest to use, (once it is built).

First wax the mould thouroughly (helps to keep the glue from sticking to the mould.  Next cover the entire lower mould with Saran wrap, then lay your back laminations in, then the handle, then the belly laminations. After this cover all laminations with another layer of Saran wrap, and lay in the fire hose.

The fire hose is plugged on one end and has an air valve installed on the other end. 

After placing the firehose in the mould, put the top half of the mould in place, tighten it down, and pump up the fire hose to no more than 60psi.

Again, contact Bingham Archery for plans and parts.  Their plans are for an 68 inch mildly reflexed/deflexed bow.  A good place to start for your first bow.

After getting your hands wet so to speak, you can move on to more complex designs.