Adventures in Bow Making – Day 5

Yesterday was the last day of my bow making class. I began by adding more varnish to my bow and then my bow was done.

Since I finished my bow, I was able to start a second bow. This time I decided to make a flat bow for my brother. Once again, I started with an aged stave of Osage Orange and marked out the center line.

No doubt you’ll notice how crooked the end of the stave is. I had to straighten it out by applying heat using a heat gun, but first I had to get rid of all the excess material using a draw knife.

Once the stave was reduced in mass I was able to heat it up and straighten it out and then I began to shape the bow by rounding the edges and tapering the ends. I didn’t get much further than that because then we had to clean up the shop and had our archery competition.

I haven’t fired a bow since high school gym class when I lived in Pennsylvania. Some of my classmate are bow hunter or have done archery competitively. Needless to say, I came in last place. I’m not upset about this. I came out of my class with a beautiful bow that I made myself  and a new-found passion. I fully intend to keep making bows and to set up an archery target in the back yard.

 

Thank you for Reading.