Yesterday was the second day of my bow making class. I already had my bow design drawn out on my stave and so I began to shape the bow itself. I am making a flat bow, which has a more defined handle after which the bow flares out before tapering down to the ends.
I began by using a band saw to cut away the excess width of the stave. (It’s funny, when making a bow, you begin with what must be at least a twelve pound length of wood and by scraping and shaving and cutting away, you end up with a stick weighing in and around a pound.) I then used the draw knife to further thin the thickness of the bow.
I also used the draw knife, and later a hand plane to taper the side of the bow. Then I took a rasp – which is basically the biggest, baddest file – and cut out the handle. After hours and hours of rasping, I was able to even further thin the thickness of the bow using a draw knife.
I want the bow to be as thin as possible so that I’ll be able to draw it myself. Some of the bows that my classmates are making will have ridiculous draw weights, but then again they’ll be using their bows for hunting, which I won’t be doing.
Once my bow was made even thinner, I again used the rasp to further shape the handle to my hand and to create the curved area between the handle and the arms of the bow.
Once the bow handle was rounded out, I took a break from rasping and draw knifing to make my bow string. I used a waxed acrylic thread for the string. First I cut two bundles of seven strands each to about seventy inches in length. Then I twisted the string by first twisting the individual strands of one bundle together in one direction, then twisting the two bundles together in another direction and so on, so that the two bundles of thread were twisting in one direction while twisting around each other in the opposite direction. I know that’s confusing. I was confused at first too. You really have to see it and then try it before you really understand how to make a bow string.
Next I will round out the edges of the bow and cut notches into the ends so that I can begin tillering the bow – which is the process of making sure the bow bends evenly all through its length when drawn.
Thank you for reading.
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