Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: Badger on December 21, 2017, 10:46:53 am
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In my case I had a wood bow as a kid. My brother broke it in anger when he screwed up a paint job on his motorcycle and I never got another one as a kid. When I was in my late 20's on a camping fishing trip I wasn't catching any fish but I was seeing tons of them swim right by me. While my pole was sitting in the water I grabbed a branch and flexed it to see if it would make a bow, I took out my pocket knife and carved it up a little bit so I could bend it more and used some heavy fishing line for a string. I am guessing it pulled about 25# or so. I found some straight sticks with no fletches and started shooting them at the fish. I didn't get any fish but it planted the seed for me and it was always in the back of my mind to build a proper bow. About 15 years and a divorce went by before I decided to try to make another one. From that moment on I was hooked even though I did nothing but break bows for about 2 years.
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I'm a bowaholic and always have been. I couldn't afford 50 glass bows and didn't have the money or resources to build glass bows. So I started make wooden bows and the rest has all been uphill :)
I don't have a burning passion for pure primitive archery, just bows in general. That's why I use plastic nocks, factory steel heads and parallel turned shafts.
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I'm a bowaholic and always have been. I couldn't afford 50 glass bows and didn't have the money or resources to build glass bows. So I started make wooden bows and the rest has all been uphill :)
I don't have a burning passion for pure primitive archery, just bows in general. That's why I use plastic nocks, factory steel heads and parallel turned shafts.
Most people I know including myself are in your camp. I like wood bows but primitive isn't my main thing
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I was walking down a dirt road at my hunting club and ran into a guy I didn't know who was carrying what looked like a tree branch with a string on it. I shot a Bighorn recurve at the time so his "bow" peaked my interest.
I asked him; "do you hunt with that", he said "yes". I asked him; "ever kill anything with it" again he said yes and said he killed a deer with it a week or so earlier.
He saw I was interested, introduced himself as Joe Bogle and invited me to his house to show me how he made bows.
After Joe showed me the basics I bought ever book and video on the subject, collected some wood and gave bow making a try. My first was a sinew backed osage bow made from a board, I went from floor tillering to full draw in a matter of minutes, my bow exploded. My next was an osage working recurve that may still be shooting out there somewhere.
I didn't break many bows but made a bunch of poorly tillered ones until I got the tillering process down.
20 years after I met Joe we are still best friends and still crank out a bow every now and then.
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I whittled stick bows out of random branches (I'd guess probably Hazel or Sweet Chestnut) as a kid aged about 10 and shot 'em out the back of the house. the arrows had nails bound to the tip so they'd stick in trees.
One day I tried to gain the attention of the prettiest girl in the village by shooting an arrow to stick in the telegraph pole in front of her as she walked down the street... Nah, didn't work. ::)
Kids don't have the patience to wait for wood to season.
Avidly read loads about bows, archery and Robin Hood :)
Made my first decent bow when I was about 20 or so.
Del
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My Dad used to cut a hazel stem from the hedge and put a string on it each summer vacation for each of us when I and my siblings were small. His Dad used to do the same for him, and I, in turn, did the same for my kids. When my boy showed an interest in 'proper' archery I couldn't afford the equipment so I hit the internet, remembering those hedge-row bows, and found PA. Haven't shot my glass bow since as I much prefer my hazel longbow; I would shoot commercial arrows though, if I could afford them, but, I lose a lot of arrows so I'll stick to my shoot arrows
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In high school I read Saxton Pope's book, "Hunting with the Bow and Arrow." He was very clear that a true sportsman made most of his tackle. That wormed into my head and when the TBBs came out about 30 years later, I read them and finally gave it a try. I only make one or two a year but really enjoy it. As my wife says, "it keeps him out of trouble."
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I had been shooting Glass Traditional bows sense I was a kid in boy scouts and around 1996 saw a magazine in the drug store called Primitive Archer so I ordered a subscription and made a hickory bow still have it but between kids,family and other obligations I didn't make another bow for 20 plus years and then I bought a copy of the Bent Stick and its been a compulsion sense !
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As a kid I've always been fascinated by archery and constantly made weapons (catapults, blowpipes, spears, firecracker-powered rifles that shot marbles through large pumpkins ...), and also made a few branch bows that shot arrows maybe 30 m or so.
When my kids started to grow up, they asked me to make them a bow, so I started to look up how to make 'em decently. Found a french site that referred to this American guy who was capable of making bows without following growth rings on the back! That was my first introduction to Tim Baker.
I found an online pdf version of TBB1, got hooked, ordered the complete set of the traditional bowyer's bible.
Meanwhile, I was also curious about the PVC bows I read about, and started making some of these as well. Made a few dozen of these, but found out that wood bows were a lot more fun to make and much more gratifying as whole.
So basically, my kids are the reason I don't have time for them anymore >:D
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When I was in my pre-teens my parents bought me a Hickory bow and arrow set. From Simpson-Sears I would imagine. When that took permanent set from being left braced outside through a few days rain they bought me a fiberglass longbow that probably still around somewhere. 30 years later when we were out camping I would make a bow and arrow for the kids every time I found an eagle feather. Maybe 3 or 4 bows over the years. A few years ago we were out camping and I was relaxing after a steak dinner and needed a toothpick. I grabbed a dead standing twig from a bush I could reach and carved a toothpick. I started playing with the stick and it was really strong and bendy. I looked it up and it was Ocean Spray. When we got home I discovered that the area where I took my daily walk was loaded with large OS. I cut a few staves and stood them in the garage. A year later this obsession started. It took me almost an hour but I found my first recent bow.
http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php/topic,41218.0.html
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45 some odd years ago my father hunted with a Herters 50# recurve made of brazillian rosewood and fiberglass. It was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen and I lusted. I was too small to draw it and would never be allowed to do so alone, so I scrimped and saved and worked until I could buy a little blue fiberglass bow that drew 30#. It wasn’t the same as dads tho, but the archery bug had dug in deep and I spent every spare hour with that little blue bow.
A few years later I was chosen to work at a scout camp in the wind river mountains but it was against the rules to bring my bow... but my job was teaching on the archery range! At the end of each day we accounted for all equipment and locked it away in a shed. I couldn’t shot! The second night there my knife and I started making bows out of willows. Lol, of course they weren’t any good, but I couldn’t stand to not be shooting during my downtime... I made a lot of bad bows over those next few summers.
After my scouting career I didn’t build many bows, but found it more convenient to buy them and fell down the compound archery rabbit hole. After a few more years and a couple of kids I couldn’t afford the latest and greatest gizmo and, predictably, fell inactive for decades.
A couple years ago my daughters expressed a desire to go hunting with dad, but are afraid to shoot a rifle. I recalled my youth and the times I had with my father in the field. I looked at the price of today’s “space bows” and knowing I’d have to get 4 sets of whatever we did, rejected that lunacy.
YouTube’s copious mound of good/terrible info alerted me to the reemergence of primative bows and I recalled my efforts as a boy scout with knife. I was excited to learn that my problems of that time were due to my wood choice, so started looking around my area for “real” bow woods. I cut a few logs of juniper, a local birch I learned to be called red or river birch, and some chokecherry staves. I also bought a red oak board at Home Depot to play with while I waited for the staves to dry. A copy of the first 3 TBBs also joined my efforts...
A year in and I’m feeling the old obsession taking hold again. I completed 2 bows from that oak board, one still survives as my wife’s bow. The second suddenly exploded during final tiller in. I made the girls some quickie PVC bows to play with while I work on their wooden ones. I’m working now on the eldest’s a juniper pyramid style with some serious helical twist I’m struggling with... And I completed my first “real” stave bow - of red birch. It’s a pyramid shoot off the hand style with a satisfying character dog leg in the bottom limb. 70” OAL, 55# @ 30”. The handle is covered with red birch bark and it’s backed with some poly-cotton bdu pants impregnated with fiberglass resin. Tip overlays of pronghorn antelope horn. I recognize some tillering flaws, but I’m pretty stoked over my “first” stave bow of this era. 600 arrows and counting. I may post it later this winter when for you all to pick over, when I get some time - I love to learn.
Sorry for the long post, but you did ask for my story - Just another noob here! 😎😎😎
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I was shooting glass bows then Jay massey came out with his book,bowyers craft and being a wood carver it just seemed right to make all wood bows.it does turn into an obsession.
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Yorec, I enjoyed your post not too long at all.
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I like these origin threads. they pop up every once in a while.
My story has two parts. When I was 9 or so, I really wanted a BB gun like my friends. My parents got me a green fiberglass bow instead, with which I killed countless cardboard boxes (and one neighbor's shed) all one summer. When I was 11, my older brother and younger sister died in a car accident. It was obviously a rough time for me and I felt very alone, like no one had ever been through what I was going through. I was in a scout group at my church which had exactly one kid in it--me. The leader that was assigned to the 11-year-old-scouts wasn't much of a scouter, but he liked to shoot bows and hunt. He gave me a bunch of old flint chips, a deer antler, and a rubber stopper, and showed me some rudimentary knapping techniques. I made a number of points and he helped me make a new string for my old bow, and I proceeded to shoot them into his target, until I missed with my best point and broke it. I shot off and on again with that bow and then my dad's compound when I outgrew it, but gradually other interests (girls?) took over, and archery was forgotten.
Fast forward to a couple of years ago, and my own son is working on an archery merit badge. As I was also involved at the time with the youth in my church, I offered to help the scout master. One of the requirements was to build a bow. The scoutmaster bought a bunch of oak boards and watched I think a youtube video from Boarriorbows, and away we went. My first thought was cool! I wanna try one (wait, no--my actual first thought was "this will never work"). So I started looking on the web for how to's, bought a hickory board, and started carving. My first scraper was a paint scraper. That bow worked pretty well for a while, but I needed arrows. I looked into buying some, and went into shock about how much it cost, so I started looking again, and found the bamboo tutorial on this site. Finding this group was the nail in the coffin, and I am afraid I am hooked.
But I still have the old green bow and the arrows--they were hidden at my dad's house.
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Oh my... Your little green bow looks just like my little blue one did!
Wish I knew where it went.... :'(
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I spent nearly everyday of my life hunting rabbits for about 4 years before I finally scored. I got impatient and stole one of my moms chickens and took him out in the field to hunt him. Poor chicken we must have shot him about 10 times with field points that would hardly penetrate. I was feeling so bad for the chicken I just wanted it to end and ended up ringing his neck.
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In 1970 I got a Ben Pearson Colt and some cheap arrows. Shot recurves until Wing introduced the Impact compound. Got tired of cables and started to acquire some nice custom recurves.
Met an older gent at a 3-D shoot that had a stunning Osage longbow. I asked him where he bought it. He told me that he made it, and used pieces of broken light bulbs for final tiller.
I was so taken in by that few minute exchange that I decided I was going to make a bow.
I got a piece of ash from a local sawmill, and just started whacking away until I had the shape of a bow. I had Zero clue but it looked pretty much like a bow, so I went to the local archery shop and the owner gladly measured the length and sold me a string.
Got home and was really pumped to try my new creation. I actually got the string on it with a tremendous struggle - it was likely in the 80 -90# class but actually resembled a braced bow.
Stood in front of a mirror so proud and gave 'er a good yank.................SNAP!!!! The bottom limb came off just below the handle and whacked me in the belly and I had a bruise about 8" in diameter for a good long while. Great.
I had done some trading of older Bear bows with a Great guy and excellent bowyer named Val Sorrentino, and told him about my mishap. He told me to get the Trad Bowyers Bible.
That was it for me - the early bows were a bit rough but cast arrows, and the simple pleasure of being able to use my own hands to fashion wood into a viable weapon, keeps the fire burning. Since those early ones, I've made some fairly nice ones, and it makes you want to see how the next will turn out.
Making bows led me here to see and hear others experiences, and admire some amazing talent.
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I grew up with a compound bow in my hand. I watched my Dad and my Mom kill deer with them in the early 80's-90's. I kept shooting and hunting with a compound until around 10 years ago. I got bored with it and wanted to find a longbow to shoot in the yard. I looked at new bows and realized I couldn't afford one. I found a guy on craigslist who said he could make me a bow. After talking to him for a while he told me that you could make a bow out of osage. That was good news to me because our property was covered with it. That guy came and I cut him a load of osage logs in exchange for making me a bow. While I was waiting I started doing some research. I found Mickey Lotz's build-a-long online and followed it step by step on my first bow. When I got the bow finished I sent a few carbon arrows out of it and was hooked even though it was a mess of a bow. The next day I started on another one. I still have my first bow. I haven't shot it since that first evening when I finished it.
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Being a farm kid with 1 sister who leaves when 6 years old leaves a boy with few options to entertain himself with besides work/a dog/other critters/and the outdoors and shows on TV of the outdoors to dream about.So raising animals and the matter of life and death was just that.A part of life.A natural process.Being bit/bucked/stomped or butted by most every type of critter out there gave me a healthy respect for them.With those antics catching up with a person later on in life.
Hunting with a gun most my life and with partners that were dogs too gave me more of an appreciation of nature and the natural process too.Getting into muzzle loaders and rendezvousing as an adult swerved me to the more primitive aspects of hunting.
The fact that a person could go into the woods and retrieve materials for hunting with a bow and arrow and be successful just followed suit too,and the fact that I am just plain cheap....lol.
So in the spring of 2009 I decided to start making wooden bows.With the focus mostly being on useful function of everything.I wanted to see things work as they should.Whether it be for fun or more serious work.
The addiction of bow making is one like many hobbies that always leaves a person with more to prove to themselves.So I'd say it was the attraction of the outdoors that I find peaceful that brought me to the making of wooden bows.As just a part of the natural world.
I've never owned but 1 old old FG 40# bow and never owned or even shot a compound but can appreciate the sport of archerys' many aspects.Thanks to those who have I have more insight of the sport and the process of making bows and arrows.I still have my first self bow also.Made of osage and still shoots.
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I grew up on a farm in a small MA town. Circa 1957. Stringing small saplings with some string seemed natural enough. Arrows were smaller saplings fletched with chicken feathers with nails as points. To a small boy the arrows flew so well!
I shot a Bear Fox until the mid 60's andwent to college.
My brother of eternal memory and I bought recurves long about '75.
I always wanted to build an all wooden bow and finally did after 3 years of trying (14 tries) long about 1992.
That bow was magic! I still have it.
Jawge
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I spent nearly everyday of my life hunting rabbits for about 4 years before I finally scored. I got impatient and stole one of my moms chickens and took him out in the field to hunt him. Poor chicken we must have shot him about 10 times with field points that would hardly penetrate. I was feeling so bad for the chicken I just wanted it to end and ended up ringing his neck.
Badger .... I was laughing so hard! Then read it to Carol ... and she was laughing harder!! Made my day. >:D ;D >:D
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Made a bow out of a one inch sappling when six years old or so. Green and wet, arrows the same , would go maybe 15 feet. Was interested in hunting trapping, fishing all my life.
Saw a copy of TBB Vol. 1 in a used book store and wondered if it was one of those hippie/back-to-the-land Firefox type books. Next visit to the store' I bought the book. That was in 1997. I have been making bows ever since.
But my interest is much more in shooting than in bow building. I make a new bow when I want to try something or teach someone or make a gift. Quit counting when I made my 100th bow about 2005 or so. First attempt broke because of a hidden defect. Have only had 5or 6 others break--dry fire, over draw' a few handle glue joint failures.
let's build a bow! Nah.a let's go stumping!!!
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51 years ago my cousin found a arrow head when he was five years old picking stones with his dad. When his younger brother got older he became obsessed with looking for artifacts. He has a very nice collection. A couple years ago my uncle passed away and my cousin who found the arrow head when he was five decided he was going to make a arrowhead for his dad's funeral. He brought some stone home with him and we sat down and tried to knap some very crude points. I had no idea what I was doing but somehow I just felt drawn to it. When my cousin went back home he left some stone with me and I started watching YouTube videos. It took a lot of time and I made a lot of gravel but I actually started to make some crude but usable points. Next I decided to make some very crude arrows. Of course the next step was to make a bow. Again I turned to YouTube and armed with just enough information to be dangerous I made my first selfbow. As I notched my crudely made stone point arrow on my hand made flimsh twist string drew my bow back and let my arrow go watching it spiral its way to somehow amazingly hit the 4x4 foam target I'd constructed my life was forever changed. I just really enjoy everything about this addiction. Most people think it's interesting but they wouldn't have the patience. To me it is therapeutic.
Bjrogg
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In Ordered a hickory bow from a online seller, ringing rock bows I think, and it broke the first time I pulled it back. I couldn’t afford another one and they’d wouldn’t make me another one, so I said to my wife that I bet I ccould make a bow myself, and several broken bows later I was able to get them to bend right. You haven’t been able to build anything in a year or so, but I’ve been getting the itch to get back on the bow bench. It has been an interesting ride but it is a skill that you can carry with you always. I love it!
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When I was in my twenties my dad was helping to organize a primitive skills gathering on Lake Superior at the Bad River Reservation. My wife and I went up for a weekend. There was a man, Mark Lambert, who was teaching a bow building class. I knew that was what I wanted to do. I got a big fat hickory stave from him and went to town. The other people were already in the final tillering stages because we got there late. I hacked away at that thing till it was pitch dark and my hands were bleeding trying to catch up. I only got the bow to first brace and the tiller was off by the time the weekend was over. I sat on that bow for a while, too scared to work on it by myself. I read TBB vol. 1 which was information overload at that point. We moved out to Oregon a while later. I met Gordon Ferlitcsh here on PA and he invited me over. He helped me get further on my hickory bow and gave me a lot of good info. I knew from reading TBB that John Strunk lived in Tillamook. I booked a weekend with him, one on one, and I made a yew bow with him, start to finish in two days. We also got the hickory bow tillered and shooting. After that, nothing could stop me. I had the bug bad. My dad had cut several yew staves in Nor Cal about 30 years prior and never done anything with them. He gave them to me and I made a bow for him, a bow for my wife and a bow for me from those staves. I've been very fortunate to have so much hands on, expert help from the very beginning. PA has been a huge help too.
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I had been a Traditional Archer for a few Years, then I read a few Jay Massey books, and the seed was planted. Then I heard about a Guy in Flint by the name of Gary Davis, doing Selfbow classes in His Garage. Went to see what it was all about, made My first Bow and was hooked :BB. Very fortunate to be able call Gary a Friend after all these Years - Bob.
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Well, for me as my son was getting older I thought it was time to start doing projects together. Would've loved to put together a classic mustang or camaro, but I was to poor. My Dad was a professional furniture restorer and a craftsman, so woodcraft was deeply ingrained in me, and I am a toxophile at heart. Archery had also been a long interest of mine, like many others I had a fiberglass bow as a kid. I was shooting arrows straight up into the air long before it became a thing in an Adam Sandler movie. >:D Somehow the two interests came together in my internet searches for father/son projects and I stumbled upon this dark mysterious underground community of bowyers. What?!?!?! People still build wood bows the old way?!?!?! I was hooked before I even got started.
That was in November 2010. Found Mickey Lotz's board bow build-along, got my son (and myself) a "primo" red oak board from the depot for Christmas, and we proceeded to build. That board actually turned out to be the best board in the history of red-oak boards (density, ring orientation, etc) and I haven't found one as good since (also switched to staves, so I'm not looking anymore). Both bows made it, but his was a little big for him, so dangit if I didn't "have" to make him another one a little more fitting ::)
I now have all of TBB series, plus a few more books, as well as Asbell's instinctive shooting book. My son never took to the craft though, so I've been on my own, but loving every minute of it!!! Don't get to do it nearly as much as I would like though. I was starving for staves for a long time (until I realized it's ok to ask for free wood from those who have it growing), but now I have a literal "backlog" of wood in the garage my wife just loves to see ::)
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I started out when I was about 7 or 8 shooting those little $3 hickory bows with the two arrows with suction cups. It didn't take long for the rubber cups to come off and the sticks sharpened by rubbing them on the sidewalk. And then I was in the woods everyday hunting anything that moved. Never successful till in my early Teens with rabbits and squirrels with a 25# Pearson glass bow, still have it. Then owned a compound in the early eighties for a year and got the bug to build a wooden bow.
Made the first one out of a hickory sapling and it shot real good till my Compound shooting Buddy pulled it back too far. After that I found Paleo Planet when it first started up and then migrated to Primitive Archer's site when it was in the fighting and arguing days. After that it was game on.
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At some point in my childhood the seed was planted in my brain that there are people out there making wood bows on their own. I think my dad told me a story about meeting a guy who made a bow out of hedgeapple. Well that seed grew into an obsession and around 15 or 16 I started eating up everything I could find on making a bow for myself, eventually finding Sam Harper's website. Told my parents I wanted tools for my birthday and built a red oak board bow with a surform rasp, a couple of 4" clamps, and a set of files. I haven't made a lot of bows recently between other projects and remodeling the house but I'll swing back into it in the future. It's what got me started working with my hands and away from the computer and TV.
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I came late to archery and bowery at the age of 48 while building toy-bows for my two sons. This was so much fun, that I decided to make another one for me.
Well, I got the virus.
To make it short, I begun excessively to make more and more bows, meanwhile several hundreds.
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Great thread!
I started out about 4 years ago. I was really into trad archery and have been for 10 or so years. I was looking at some TG posts and the Leatherwall and saw some selfbows. It looked like something I could do. I searched around for suitable bow woods in Hawaii and that search brought me here to PA. I spent hours drooling over Manny's guava bows and then went into the mountains to cut down some of my own guava. While that seasoned I made a couple red oak board bows and got in contact with Manny. What a great guy! He invited me over to his place and showed me the basics. I still have the scraper he gave me. After that I was hooked. I have made a couple dozen bows from several different bow woods since then. But my favorite is the bow I worked on with him.
Msturm
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Msturm thats wild ,i have been thinking of Manny the last few days.the way he would pose on top of a stump and such ,his bows were candy to my eyes.i bought several staves from him (strawberry Guava) makes a good bow.do you know whats up with him now? I sure miss his posts.
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Really cool to read everybodies stories!
I never really knew about archery, did see some olympic stuff but that never interested me and I was totally unaware of the existence of traditional archery.
About three and a half years ago my wife and kids and I where on holiday and stumbled upon a medeival event. There where re-enactment groups and loads of crafstmen and also an archery range. We all shot some arrows and had a great time.
Then there was a guy scraping wooden selfbows. I talked to him for about an hour and he showed me how he did and at that moment I knew I had to try that as well! So two weeks later when we got home I searched the internet and found some buildalongs. Did not have any woodworking experience so I bought a pine board and a rasp and build a 27@28 lbs pine pyramid bow in that same weekend. My daughter and I immediately went to a neirby field to try it out and it worked! Now we did not have a clue about shooting but the feeling of letting some arrows fly from something you built from wood. Of course I tried to see how far it would go and I still remember the scream from my daughter when it flew way farther than we anticipated and landed only five feet away from a busy road next to the field!
After that I was hooked and will probably be for the rest of my life!
This is a pic of my duaghter with that bow right after I made it:
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4591/38517000294_46aa4105e5_b.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/21FBGgY)
I have a full draw picture somewhere but can't find it yet.
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My wife was giving me a hard time about buying a trad bow when I had a fine wheel bow. She didn't think i'd use it enough to justify the cost so I said to myself, fine I'll make my own. Built a hickory long bow 10 years ago and now I've built probably 75 and counting. Gave the wheel bow to my nephew after I built my second successful bow. I grew up shooting a bear takedown in junior high. We had an unbelievable teacher named Steve Louden from Fort Wayne, Indiana that taught us to shoot bows, deer hunt, trap and skin furbearers. I feel so lucky that he furthered my interest in the outdoors and introduced me to bows.
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Angie got me this book for Christmas in ‘08. There is a short little section a couple pages about making a stick bow...and so it began.
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I started making wooden bows in 2002. I had owned a business making fishing rods for a while, and wanted another hobby I could use to get food. I had never hunted before and no one in my family hunted, but I came across the idea of making laminated fiberglass bows on the internet. I bought a kit from Bingham Projects, but decided the adhesives were too toxic for my tastes. As I pondered how to remedy that, I found a listing for the Traditional Bowyers Bibles. I bought them, read them, returned the kit to Bingham Projects, bought and ruined several hickory staves, then bought a much cheeper red oak board from Home Depot and ended up with my first shooting bow. It was ugly and slow as sin, but it was my first success. Things progressed from there...
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I started out when I was about 7 or 8 shooting those little $3 hickory bows with the two arrows with suction cups. It didn't take long for the rubber cups to come off and the sticks sharpened by rubbing them on the sidewalk. And then I was in the woods everyday hunting anything that moved. Never successful till in my early Teens with rabbits and squirrels with a 25# Pearson glass bow, still have it. Then owned a compound in the early eighties for a year and got the bug to build a wooden bow.
Made the first one out of a hickory sapling and it shot real good till my Compound shooting Buddy pulled it back too far. After that I found Paleo Planet when it first started up and then migrated to Primitive Archer's site when it was in the fighting and arguing days. After that it was game on.
Ahhhh, the good ole days.... )P(
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When i was a kid i had one of those solid glass recurves with the stipes running the length of them, shot the crap out of that bow trying to get squirrels and what. Shot a compound for a long time, had a browning with the wood riser and had it split drawing it. Couldnt afford another and found an old poplar science magazine i think it was, article on how to build a long bow. Built a few from red oak with those plans, then found the ferrets board bow build plans, got on paleo planet and tradgang, Patb told me from there that i should check out primitive archer and i been here a while now
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Angie got me this book for Christmas in ‘08. There is a short little section a couple pages about making a stick bow...and so it began.
"Dangerous Book for Boys" ;D
Just gotta love that :)
Del
BTW... is there a section on girls? Just akin' 'cos they is dangerous ... ::)
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When i was a kid i had one of those solid glass recurves with the stipes running the length of them, shot the crap out of that bow trying to get squirrels and what. Shot a compound for a long time, had a browning with the wood riser and had it split drawing it. Couldnt afford another and found an old poplar science magazine i think it was, article on how to build a long bow. Built a few from red oak with those plans, then found the ferrets board bow build plans, got on paleo planet and tradgang, Patb told me from there that i should check out primitive archer and i been here a while now
I have a copy of that magazine.
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My first experience with a bow and arrow was when I was a young scout. I shot the bow and luckily got a bullseye (not because of any skill) and I thought it was the greatest thing ever and that feeling has always stuck with me, endearing me to archery. Also, I've always had an interest in medieval weaponry like bows, swords, and axes, and enjoy fantasy stories that involve them such as Lord of the Rings. So that's why I like traditional archery in general, but I got into bowmaking because of a survival book. When I was a young teenager, I would go on campouts every month. I enjoyed camping and the outdoors so much I bought the SAS Survival Handbook by John "Lofty" Wiseman at a bookstore. In it, it had a simple watered down explanation on how to build a bow. I was instantly intrigued, and went to the library and checked out two books: Making Indian Bows and Arrows by Douglass spotted Eagle, and Jim Hamm's Bows and Arrows of the Native Americans. I read them in like a month and went out and cut a branch off a tree and started working on my very first one.
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I was a late comer. I didn't start hunting until 1979 when I was in my late twenties. Never had any weapons growing up. My Dad was a police court judge and he wouldn't allow it. He did allow us to go out with a neighbor who's son was my friend and Bill (the Dad)taught us a guns and gun safety, boats and boat safety and other outdoor stuff.
I got Married in 1978 and we moved from Savannah about 30 miles north to Bluffton SC. and that Christmas my wife bought me a TC .50cal Hawkins. I killed my first 2 deer with this gun after I had met a guy, Richard, that loved to hunt and fish so he and I hit it off. Just outside of Bluffton is Victoria Bluff WMA and they only allowed archery hunting and had 3 week long archery seasons. I was a boat mechanic in those days and the marina I worked at was tearing down some old storage shads. In one of the sheds I found an old Shakespeare recurve. That fall I hunted with it at Victoria Bluff and shot right over an 8pts back...3 times in less than a minute and I was hooked. Deer were dumb in those days. ::)
My buddy Richard told me to go get a "real" bow and not long after I got a $50. Bear Blacktail Hunter compound bow, quiver, and unmatched aluminum arrows at a flea market. I killed 2 or 3 deer with that bow and sold it for $50 and bought a PSE Nova and killed a few deer with it. I started getting interested in instinctive shoot and replaced the cams for wheels and removed the arrow rest and replaced it with a rug on the riser.
One Christmas I asked for a book I had seen in Traditional Bowhunter Magazine, The Bowyers Craft by Jay Massey so I ordered it from Jay and it's all history from there. Jay signed that book and The Primitive Archer to me and that was the beginning of my primitive archery career and book collection. I started playing with selfbows about that time. I think my first was a sassafras bow that looked like it was braced without a string on it but I was pleased when I shot it.
I built quit a few bows with local woods and with locust fence rails I bought for $5 each when we'd visit the NC mountains. It wasn't until I first started pulling up Primitive Archer on my work computer because we didn't have a computer at home. That was in the late 1980's I think
When I saw an ad in Traditional Bowhunter Magazine about a new magazine that was coming out, Primitive Archer, I sent in my check for a subscription. That was maybe 6 months before the magazine came out but I knew I wanted it. I still have that first Primitive Archer alone with every one published since then. It wasn't until I came on the PA forum and saw what others were doing with selfbows and how generous they were with their info and help that my bent sticks became bows and I've been hooked ever since.
...and that's my story and I'm sticking to it!
bubby, my friend Richard had 3 of those wood riser Browning's blow up on him. Browning replaced it twice and on the 3 time Richard told them to stick it and returned his money. He got an aluminum riser PSE.
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Guess I may qualify as the oldest "newbie" on the site! I learned to shoot wooden bows at summer camp in the late '40s - early 50's, bought a fiberglass Actionglass long bow and a set of matched arrows for about $15 in '57. The arrows were a set that weren't picked up and the store owner just wanted his time and material cost back, still got that bow. Eventually got a Bear Kodiak Magnum LH, and about 2 dozen semi matched arrows, along with 2 Shim Bows in a trade with a buddy. Got started teaching Hunter Ed in 1980, and thought I should add a compound bow to the training aides, so I bought a used Jennings LH at a pawn shop. Shot that a lot when I had a big backyard and no local anti ordinance to deal with. Gave it to my son, and he found out they don't make parts for it anymore. Got a new wheelie as a gift and used it for a while, it is in the case in the garage. Still had an itch to shoot the recurve and the long bow, and finally decided to make my own wood bow after I got an atlatl, and found out about PA. May have done the bent stick route, like a lot of boys, and decided I could re-fletch damaged arrows my boys were shooting! So much for my original arrows!
First bow in many, many years is one the bow bench, awaiting my round tuit, and the installation of a second overhead work light. Got arrows in progress, as well. Got as self bow from Badger this year,
Posted a pic batch of the transdextramation, it shoots my arrows well!
Hawkdancer (Jerry Mc Connell)
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I've been a subscriber since the second issue. Those were the days when I could turn out one bow after the other. Thank God I can still turn out a few here and there.
Merry Christmas!
Jawge
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I received a copy of "Fly Rods and Fly Tackle" by a author by the name Wells from the late 1800's from my grandfather and it was literally the Traditional Bowyers Bible for wooden fly rods. I build a few rods of various sizes and then I figured lets try a bow. My first bow failed, so did the second, and third... but out of SPITE more than joy, and a lot of reading and research I taught myself to build a functional bow. First they were all hickory backed but now I do as many self bows as backed ones. I'm glad I stuck with it.
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I though to save me some typing I would just post an article I wrote for P.A a few years back, pretty much says it all except I do wished I had had a site like this when I started, it sure would have changed the learning curve. ;) Merry Christmas everyone.
How it began
I thought I would do an article on how I got started in selfbows and it is really hard to say. I know everyone’s story is different but this is mine. I started like a lot of folks with a compound in 1975 and almost from the beginning I shied Away from the technical stuff. I just wanted it plane and simple. I went to feathers right off and never wanted to use a release, I used one pin and a broad head I had to sharpen my self. In about 1980 I felt the urge to shoot a recurve so I got an old Person fiberglass recurve and started trying to learn to shoot. It wasn’t long until I ordered a Big Horn custom re curve and thought I was set. Some friends heard about Cloverdale Traditional nationals and we made the first one of their shoots. I fell in love with the Long Bows I seen there and had to have one. I ordered a Cohana Wind walker and loved it. I always had a desire to make my own even from the start so I began in 1990 to try. No one I knew was doing that so it was trial and error, mostly error. Then in 92 I meet Gary Davis and found out an old friend of mine Mike Conkle that I hadn’t seen in a while had been building bows. Between Mike and Gary I was off and running, Gary showed me a lot on the lay out and what to look for in the wood and Mike would look over my work and show me where I had went wrong, lots of wrongs to start. It wasn’t to long before I had a shooter and to me that was the greatest feeling in the world. It’s a frustrating thing to try and learn on you own but it ant rocket science if you have someone to help you a long ,it helps more than I can say. I have all the Bowyer bibles 1/2/3/4 and have read them several times, but there is nothing like hands on when it comes to building wood bows. I build several bows a year for hunting but am mostly involved in trying to pass it on to folks that want to learn. It is a great feeling for me to see a beginning bowyer get his/her first bow to brace and then get it shooting. How it began it is hard to say but I tell people that ask that it seems from the start I have been going backwards in time instead of chasing all the high teck stuff. We all have a place in archery but for me it is the simple self bow. ;) :) :)
Mark Baggett [ Pappy ]
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Pappy, I learned a lot when I went to Twin oaks. The first thing I did when I got home was build myself a caul per Gary Davis instruction. I had all these short pices of wood cut to different shapes laying around and had never gotten around to making a caul. Worth its weight in gold. I have several now.
One thing I had forgotten about in my beginning was that to keep my early bows from breaking I started using fiberglass cloth backings on them. I hated everything about fiberglass. When I was a kid all the rich kids had fiberglass bows and they would outshoot my $3.00 hickory bow. All I ever wanted to do was to beat them with a wood bow. I had no concept of arrow weight or spine and some of my old arrows I made back then weighed about 1200 grains and would drop like rocks past 20 yards.
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I've shot bows all of my life but never thought about a wood bow until my grandad gave me one he had as a kid. Someone had found it before I could get it, and they had probably bent it backwards, as many do, and it was broken. I fixed it for a wall hanger but wanted a shooter BAD after that. I saw an ad online by a man in Texas named Joe Mattingly looking to trade his selfbows for glass bows. I traded an old Bear for a sweet osage bow that I shoot to this day. He coached me online and convinced me to attend MoJam, where I learned enough to make my own. Gregg Coffey was also a huge help when he helped me learn to make bamboo backed bows. Gary Davis has been mentioned by some and deserves praise as one that has helped hundreds make their first bow. I miss him at MoJam....and Badger, Mickey the Ferret, Will, Cliff, JD Jones, John S., Rich, and many many others... Maybe some of them/you will make it to this years 20th anniversary MoJam in July! :BB
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Oldest son, at about age ten, said “Dad, I can go deer hunting with a bow at 12, right? I don’t have to wait until 14, like with a gun, do I?” This old man figured he’d better blow the dust off the old recurve I had lying around. Tried that for a couple of years, then bought a modern made longbow (still have it), tried wheel bow for a short time, then wanted a takedown recurve. “Kit bows” were just sanding and finishing the riser on a factory made bow. Not good enough. Decided that if people had made their own archery tackle for thousands of years, I could, too. Started looking around, reading, attending archery rendezvous (Marshall Mi is an easy drive from here) and haven’t bought a bow since. Made a few marginal ones. Never broke one, though. Not yet. Still lots of time for that. 😉
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Always had bows around and would practice now and again. When my daughter was 4, we went to a lumber store to look for material for knife handle scales. I saw a board of osage, I'd heard it makes a good bow wood. So I picked it up, cut into billets and made my kid a little bow with drywall tape backing. It was fun and she enjoyed it. I thought to myself, I bet I could scale it up and make one for me. From there it's been a debilitating OCD that is for sure going to send me to an earlier grave.
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Some of the elders from my tribe still make bows and other wood crafts. My real interest peaked after i started to hunt with my bear grizzly back when i was twelve. as i progressed in using and becoming successful with the Grizzly i felt the need to start making my own bows and all of my other equipment. It was at that time i started to ask the elders how they made their bows. I also purchased several books on bow making. What really helped me out the most was taking lessons from Jim Hamm. This is when my passion took ahold of me and never let go. I also met and became friend with other bowyers here in Pa. such as Denny Mears,and Leon Stewart. their knowledge helped me out so much also. I wish i belonged to this index years ago. This is a great place to keep the fire burning in you to keep making them and learn other peoples input and ideas.
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Because,in my mind,as a kid,i thought that any self respecting NDN knew how to make a bow,so i got started...I made typical bows,that a kid would make,and was quite happy with them..After one of many of my bows broke,i was starting on another from a juniper branch,like Ishi did...My old Grandad walked by and asked,what i was doing..Makin a bow i said...He looked at me kinda strange and walked off.I thought he was thinkin i was crazy,,but he came back a few minutes later,,carrying a bow and some arrows he made,long before i was born....Like this,he said....It got a bit more serious after that..That was back in 74 or 75 if i remember correctly...
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I started with a compound, but was drawn to recurves, probably after receiving my uncle's old Bear Alaskan recurve and bowhunting gear. A lot of the stories I remember reading and enjoying involved recurves and longbows (Asbell, Jay Massey, even "Maggie" McGee if anyone remembers him). I got away from hunting and shooting regularly in college, but seemed to be on the fringes of it a lot...I remember ALMOST buying the three volume TBB set at my favorite used bookstore in college, but for some reason I didn't. The Traditional Bowhunter magazine with Jay Massey on the cover (right after his death) came out during my honeymoon; I bought it, read it, and still have it. But I didn't get the wood bow bug until taking a bowmaking class near my home several years ago. Then it really hit me hard!
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My uncle, who is about 8 years older, came to visit us from California when I was 7 years old. He made me a bow and arrow from our ornamental yew bush. It took him about 15 minutes.
Something about that experience must have struck a chord cause I always wanted to make a bow from then on. I never did get around to trying until about 25 years later.
I think I broke something like 80 bows until I finally made a shooter. :BB It's been an obsession ever since!
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My uncle, who is about 8 years older, came to visit us from California when I was 7 years old. He made me a bow and arrow from our ornamental yew bush. It took him about 15 minutes.
Something about that experience must have struck a chord cause I always wanted to make a bow from then on. I never did get around to trying until about 25 years later.
I think I broke something like 80 bows until I finally made a shooter. :BB It's been an obsession ever since!
Who is your uncle? Is he from the Los Angeles area?
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His name is Robbie Vorhouse. I think he lives a bit further north.
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HI, really nice to read how people get into it.
I joined my local archery club in Sweden in 2004 and after a few weeks of shooting recurve soon joined the "longbow" gang. When I soon found out every longbow in the club was fiberglass I felt a bit disappointed. Asked why no one was shooting wooden bows and got the answer - " its impossible to make a good bow from wood" - really got me confused. Went to the local library and looked all over the place - nothing. There was a computer in the library where I could use internet (early days- not much there) and found TBB! Ordered it and few month later showed up with a birch self bow, 69 iches long of about 35lb draw weight, 3 inches of set but it shot as accurate as the fibre glass bows! All jaws dropped to the floor and all the old guys couldn't believe their eyes! Everybody wanted to have a look at it and I was hooked.
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Because I refuse to be totally dependent on modern technology! Nothing against it mind ya (within reason). When the other kids wanted to be a cop, firefighter or astronaut when they grew up, I wanted to be a mountain man like the Sacketts in a louis l'amour novel. Now that's true freedom! That's why I've set out to learn every primitive or preindustrial revolution skill I can in my life time.
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HI, really nice to read how people get into it.
... " its impossible to make a good bow from wood" - ...
Yup, I can see how that got you hooked :)
Great story.
Del
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I was 8-10 yr old, at granddads house and found 2 fiberglass bows in the corner. A red one which i could easily draw, and a yellow one which i wouldn't be able to draw for a few more years. That red bow was fun but why stop there? Unable to resist the urge to make a Ballista out of the red one, with no adult supervision and knowing no better way to fasten the prod to the stock(a square fence post) decided that hammering nails through it was completely acceptable. Mounted it on the ground at a 45 degree angle and was good to go. It had no trigger, you just pulled it back far as you could with both hands then let go. It was a hit with all the neighborhood kids and i got some pretty impressive flight distances, to a kid anyways. It finally shattered. I still cant recall what happened to that yellow one, but if i had to wager a bet id say it had something to do with the Indian behind the bow getting another "creative idea". One thing was certain, those 2 bows started the fever.
I would go onto build bows out of saplings for the next few years, because i thought that's how it was done. Most of them didn't shoot very far and would eventually break. None of the kids at school shot bows, they were gun hunters and thought guns were better, after all its what their dads used and they came to school with pictures of their kills and venison, it was .270 this, .243 that. I realized real quick that for me this would be a lonely journey. I had a huge archery and hunting interest, but no guidance as no one in my family shot(anything) or hunted. At age 15 i got a job at a outdoor and pawn shop and bought a Browning compound. I practiced with it till a guy in the neighborhood agreed to take me deer hunting. I soon realized deer hunting was a lot of waiting, and when i finally ended up getting a shot at a deer from a stand, i shot over its back. I took a lot of heat from the guy for it supposedly being a bad shot. That and other distractions led to a 15 yr lull. Ages 15-30 was a time of chasing things in life that would prove unfulfilling, largely revolving around jobs, women, urban life and disappointment from things that should've worked out but didn't. Early mid life crisis you might say. Started taking a long look at life and where i wanted to be...and i found myself getting back to my roots.
I started escaping the city and hanging out in the country every chance i had, like when i was younger. I was on my friends land one day and got his permission to cut a few trees down, spent that whole day and the next few weeks making bows. What fun i had been missing all these years! When i finally made one with enough power to kill small game it was an awesome feeling, for the first time i thought to myself "yea this thing could actually work on a hunt!" Taking it to the next level proved to be more challenging. I was using random pieces of who knows what kind of wood, usually from saplings. I remember finally i got fed up and set my last piece of wood in the garage for a whole year. One day i walked by, glanced down at it and committed 100% to getting the help necessary to learn to build a good bow. I took a class from a local bowyer in TX, learned to chase a ring and heat bend, got some Osage and went to work. 2015 i killed my first 2 deer with a primitive bow that i built, and its been where the bar is set ever since.
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Great story 240, I could relate to a lot of it.
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I started around 1978-9, always had archery close by, as my father was for the most part a archery hunter, and my brother and I of course followed in his foot steps.
My first bow, I got my arse whipped for that bow. It was "surprise" a Vine maple bow, bet I was 10-11 at the time. Since we lived in a residential neighborhood my father would not allow any "real" bows to be used, so I decided to make my own. I remember to this day picking out that piece of vine maple, and remember thinking, darn this stuff does not grow very straight. I used a old butcher knife to scrape the belly, until I could get it to bend, my dad even helped me put the knocks in, boy would he come to regret that. I remember wanting a rest, so I took a "I" bolt I think they are called (loope on the end with a threaded screw area) screwed it into my new boy, and away I went.... a bowyer, and hell on anything that moved in the neighborhood.
Well one day a group of us boys got together for cowboys and indians, sounds like great fun and it was.....at least for a while. My father had given me arrows that were not long enough for his recurve, and after some time I was a pretty good little shot at least in my mind as a kid. Well, back to Cowboys and Indians..... Think there was about six of us and loving my bow, you know what side I was on. My brother on the other hand was more inclined tward guns, so of course you know what side he had taken. Now from a young boy I have been very competitive and I always play to win, and family, well don't expect me to go easy on ya, I wanna win.
The object of the game was similar to to paint ball today, we each (per se) had a home, or fort and a sort of flag, when one side got your flag the game was over. The boys on the gun side had the spring loaded suction cup guns that could shoot maybe 10 yds, my bow, and the others that were fashioned after my "new" design were in the hands of other warriors, all with real arrows and most could shoot 15-20yds at best. I was back at the flag area, and I see my brother peak around the corner of the house we were at, I waited to see his next move, meanwhile reading my bow. Screaming for his friends to back him up, he went for the flag. Being in true native form, I figured it was a good day for him to die. I sent my arrow, and sure enough connected, right between his running lights, down he went. Being overwhelmed with excitement from my outstanding shot, I was happy as heck, until I seen the blood.......You know that moment, when you think something is great, and then you think about your dads hands around your throat, and your mom saying "how could you" Well I was there in a few seconds, and even though the thought of a scalp really intrigued me from my roll playing, I figured the only scalp would be mine, hanging from my dads lodgepole. Boy was I right about that, those were not warrior screams comming from my bedroom...more like white kid meeting his immidiate maker...my butt twitches just thinking about that day!
Well, you can amagine how this ended up I was rescricted from any archery for a year, butt shined for a good day, but hey looking at my butt in the mirror, I figured I was a little native now.
VMB
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Cool story vinemaple! Had some similar experiences myself. Being all grown up now i never do anything sketchy like that lol (AT) (B)
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I've always had a bow as far back as I can remember. In the 80's bow hunting in AZ was an opportunity to hunt by purchasing tags over the counter as it just wasn't all that popular. Step father bought me a compound, I shot the snot out of it but hated sights and did my best to train myself how to shoot instinctive with it. Eventually it ended up in the closet in favor of a glass backed recurve.
Anyway, fast forward to a couple of years ago and I'm in a lumber shop, they had a couple of osage slats and I had heard it makes a good bow. My daughter was going on 5 and I figured I could make her something shootable from these thin slats. Found the poor folks bows site and went tk work. Made her a little 36" flatbow backed with fiberglass drywall tape. It worked!
So the next progression was "I bet I could scale this up and make one for me". That one didn'nt work but I've been hooked ever since.
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I took apart my mom's sewing basket handle and made a deflexed bow by tying yard through the handles when I was 4 years old. The thin handle slat had holes on both ends and one in the middle and I could shoot though the middle hole. The arrow was the dowel pole from a little flag I got at a parade or something.
I was always making tree branch bows ever since. Prince Valiant, Vikings, Dungeons and Dragons kept me thinking about it for a while. Eventually I made a "real" bow using my brother's machete and Larry Olsen's book "Outdoor Survival Skills". It was 25 lbs, tall as 13 year old me, and made decrowned back and belly from a tamarisk sapling from the river./
Then I got seriously into traditional archery and bowhunting from ages 18-present (46). Then 12+ years ago a coworker wondered if I knew how to make a bow for her son, and I assumed I could figure it out, so I started making bamboo-backed bamboo flooring bows. That lead to bamboo-backed everything else bows (osage, bamboo, gongalo alves, massaranduba, ipe, jatoba, etc.) and that lead to intense interest in just about any type of bow made from natural materials.
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Reading Vinemaple's story reminds me of when I nearly met my Maker. I was fifteen or sixteen, and one of my mates came over for the day, we shot my hedgerow hazel bow and shoot arrows till they were blunt and the bow was tired, then my mate shouted for me, I turned round and the arrow took me in the throat from under 10 yards. My angel was working really hard, it just bounced off, not even a bruise but I still go cold remembering, the bow had a good 60 yard range...
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Yikes! Happy for your good fortune, Stuckinthemud. Glad it was blunt.
People underestimate bows. When people wonder aloud to me how deadly a bow is, I have said in the past, "Remember those 20 lb fiberglass Cubscout bows? If one of those cheap little arrows had a razor sharp tip, would you let someone shoot you in the stomach with it? NO WAY! That could kill you."
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God is good, I never invited him round again and my parents still don't know, 35 years later