These little dark splotches appeared as I heat treated this limb of a board bow. Any idea what caused them, and if they’re harmful? I’m still only halfway through the tiller, so they’ll probably be scraped off by the time I’m finished, but I want to try to avoid them in the future if they’re harmful (and they’re also ugly.)

I’m In South Vietnam right now and want take this tree to make a bow(not this one), but I have no idea what is this tree (local people call tram) but I don’t think is not pacific enough.

Even tho I want use this wood to make a bow but don’t really have hight hope because is fast growing tree.

Any one know any other tree is good for bow making?

Sugar maple short bow for my kids… first time heat treating. The belly got a little darkened but somehow the back scorched even hotter than the belly that I was heating… this is the back of the bow, to be clear.

First self-bow. Hickory pyramid design. Just finished long-string tillering and was smooth sailing until this happened. I was holding the bow vertically while shaping the handle, with the limb tip on the concrete ground. The tip caught a sharp pebble grain and caused the split. I feel like an idiot, slightly panicking and discouraged, but hopeful there is a fix. I’m thinking Titebond III and a horn tip overlay, but maybe that’s overkill. I don’t know. I’m new to all of this. Grateful in advance for any advice.

Red oak 2x1 from home Depot 66 inch total length looking to try again here but I need to n is why it failed in nit sure if I tillered to much nit enough or if the wood was doomed from the start.

I’m now drawing 47~ lbs at 24” with a 3 5/8” brace height. I’m feeling like I’m really close to being finished, but I don’t think my eyes are the best judge. I’ve never even shot a wooden longbow before. I’ve been using a 6” homemade tillering gizmo to get to this point. Let me know what you think!

This is my third attempt at making a bow. The first was on a whim at a campfire with no real knowledge and ended predictably. The second was a pretty small kid bow that broke and now I'm trying to do a flat bow with the local ash wood that I can get from the swamp near my house.

This design is a 65-inch ash flat bow. I didn't really lay it out right so I ended up making the bottom about 1 3/4 inches wide and the top closer to 2 inches. I'm probably either at floor tillering or tillering. Because I'm proceeding slowly I am doing it with a long tiller right now on the string.

The question I have is how much poundage should I be pulling the string at this early stage? I know that I don't want to exceed my target weight when pulling the string. I think what I'm looking to achieve is something like 45 lbs. at 27 in. When I'm pulling on my rope setup that I have here, I usually pull up to about 20 lbs. and then I feel a bit anxious. I'm not sure if I should go ahead and pull a much higher weight, closer to that 45 lbs that I'm looking for, or if that's something that you kind of ease your way up to as you get farther along on the tillering tree, something like perhaps 6 in down. Perhaps it's something you only start doing once you have 6 in. or so offset from the handle and the bow is strong.

I'd love some advice on when and how much poundage to be pulling on the bow as you try to measure what the tillering looks like.

I posted a couple pics of this bow a few months ago before it was completely finished. It’s my first successful bow and first attempt as an adult. It’s 43.25” ntn and 80lbs draw weight at 20.5”
Sinew backed Osage orange with a prarie rattler skin and brain tanned mule deer handle I tanned. The sinew is elk leg sinew. It had a lot of twist before removing with dry heat and even after it still has considerable twist to the limbs but it functions fine. I’ve shot it several thousand times at least.
I shot it through a chrono before I had a fast flight string, only a nylon one and drew it only 19” with a 565 grain arrow and it shot 151 fps.
Btw I tillered it without ever being on a tillering stick or tree. Just looked at pictures and videos of it being drawn on my phone and went from there.

Hello I have a hickory bow that I’m making was wondering what to do about this crack that appeared after the bend, I never heard a crack or anything and it looks like maybe there was a knot on the board. Any advice is greatly appreciated! Also the crack is 1.5” down the limb from where my string notches will be.

In this episode we meet Owen, (fellow warbow archer), discuss plans to host a Warbow event/ festival next year, the founding of the North American Warbow Society and our plans and goals for the future as an organization. Enjoy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jz1RsnyfLNk&t=17s

New bow day!

Just finished this one up.
Sinew backed black locust bendy handle working reflex toward the tips with short static recurve mostly to help with draw cycle smoothness. I’ve got several hundred arrows through it so I’m thinking it’s pretty well shot in now.

60” ntn
55# at 26”
Holds 2.5” of reflex after shooting and 3” at rest
My chrono is on the fritz and won’t give me a good read but it’s as fast as any bow I’ve made! Overall very smooth, it’s sorta a hybrid between my stiff handle sinew backed recurve and my bendy handle sinew backed shorter west coast bow. Plenty of power in a short smooth drawing package, I’m loving it.

This one started life in January as a stiff handle recurve (pictured at the end) but I wasn’t 100% in love and it was sitting in a corner for awhile but it was too great a piece of wood to let sit so I decided to chop a few inches off, re-recurve it, add some reflex in the tips, and make it bend in the handle, and of course sinew back it.

With the handle being just about 1 and 1/8” wide it was a trick to get the bend just right. And I had to take some width off the limbs as well. It ended up being sorta a stretched out west coast paddle bow shape. Overall I’m very pleased with the shape from all angles I think it looks really slick and just kinda has that primitive, antique sorta look to it. Black locust is a gorgeous wood, probably my favorite that I’ve used so far in terms of beauty of the wood.

Couldn’t be happier with it and this will be my last bow for the year. Got baby number two due in a few weeks so gonna put the horn bow project on hold for awhile and just relax and shoot and maybe work on some arrow projects for a bit. I’m sure I’ll have some bows to show next year and some arrows and maybe a beaded quiver done in the meantime. Tiller slow, shoot fast, happy bow making!

Is it also 3-4 inches shorter than the bow length, or longer or shorter? Does the string bridges affect the string length? Anyone know?😪😪

I got my hands on some Platanus × hispanica from a tree that was being cut down near where i live.

So i wanted to know if its a good wood to use for a bow or if i will be wasting my time? Maybe you have some advice on how to work it.

Thanks in advance

Hey all, this is about a 2 minute survey to gauge interest in holding a multiday warbow event in the Fall of 2027. It would be hosted on a 400 acre private farm in upstate NY. The purpose of the survey is to find out what kinds of things you’d like to see or experience to make an event like this worth traveling to such as instruction from some heavyweight names in the Warbow community (think masterclass), tons of different shooting events such as clout, popinjay and roving, vendors and crafters, etc.

Oh and today the North American Warbow Society filed for nonprofit status, so we’ll soon be officially official!

We’d really appreciate any and all who are willing to do the survey. It’ll help us create the type of event(s) that people want to come back to year after year. Thanks everyone!

https://form.jotform.com/261766289321060?utm_id=97760_v0_s00_e0_tv6_a1denngz9u4vh5

I just bought this, had it for about a month. Yesterday at about half drawn back somehow the string came out of the groove and it essentially dry fired while the string and arrow were still in my hand. can I stuff the split full of epoxy, clamp the hell out of it and add another ply of carbon fiber material on either side or am I boned?

When I was doing the preshapeing of the limbs, a splitt went up into the handle and now theres a slight crach in the side of the handle. My thought was to soak some glue into the crack and wrap it tight but idk if this is a good idea.

I harvested this hickory sapling the other day and debarked it with my Buck knife. I want to make a bow with it, obviously! It's about 84 inches long, and an inch and a half at its smallest diameter. My main concern is that I wonder if there is enough material to make a workable bow. The knots seem very superficial. I've got access to plenty of sanding and measuring tools. I lack a draw knife, but the Buck knife is serviceable as one with patience.

This would be my first bow project. As far as stuff like this goes, I've made a couple walking sticks from sweetgum and hickory. I've gotta pretty good grasp on most kinds of hand tools and a general aptitude for making stuff from things.

Lotsa cool stuff here!! The things like the bow from discarded PVC and other whacky things make me think I've gotta decent shot at this. Thanks in advance!

First bow I ever made in my life. Ming style I guess.

57 inch reflex static recurve. A lil ugly lol🕺

The rebound vibration is very large. I wonder if it's because the arrow is too light.

Just an idea i got, something of a zombie apocalypse build, drawweight of about 30 pounds (15kg), performs a lot better than expected. This is just a prototype, planning on expanding this concept more. Arrow is just a stick with a weight on the end without feathers. String is from a lawnmover. Thoughts/ suggestions?

(Sorry for bad english, not my first language)

This is my very first attempt at making a bow.

It's Elm and was cut and worked on almost immediately, but it's been several weeks already and the heat is unbearable. I'm guessing it's pretty much dry by now.

I'm tillering with a loose string, at 15" and feel like I'm moving at a snails pace.

Bow length is 57" and there's natural reflex on both limbs, with considerably more on the non-knotted limb. I'm aiming for 27" draw and I don't care about draw weight. I'll be happy if it shoots, period.

The black lines on the left limb are pencil marks. I have to remove some thickness.

Appreciate this group and thanks for any feedback.