View Full Version : Australian Selfbow Timbers
There are many timbers in Australia that are suitable for making selfbows such as spotted gum, red and grey ironbark, mountain oak, lance wood, soapwood and many more will make good serviceable selfbows. Depending on what timbers you use sometimes you have to change the layout of the bow to get the most performance out of a particular species of timber. Many of our timbers are denser and harder that the American bow woods. Bow design and proper tillering are essential to extract the most performance out of any stave and Australian timbers are no different to any other timber as far as longevity is concerned. With some of the hardwoods like spotted gum you can just buy decking boards and just check that the grain is not running off at any sharp angles through the board and you can just make a good board bow that will be capable of taking game no worries. ItÌs a good way to start and you donÌt have any troubles sourcing bow timbers at very reasonable prices mostly under $10.00 per bow to get started and itÌs a good way to learn about tillering techniques before you start working on good staves from trees that you have invested a lot of time and energy into collecting.
It's just a matter of trial and error to find out what timbers work and what wont...Glenn...
Coach you need very little in the way of tools to make selfbows. If you make a bow out of decking all you need is a handsaw to rip the board into staves and cut it to shape, you will get three English longbows and two flatbows out of one board. You would need a rasp to true it up and a sharp knife to scrape the belly to tiller the bow, and that's it except for sandpaper and something to seal the bow with. Never use cutting tools such as hand planes and spoke shaves to make a selfbow as they gouge and rip the timber. If you have a stave out of a log you can rough the stave out with a small hatchet and a rasp to cleanthe stave up....Glenn....
I like this bow design a lot, the bow in the picture is one of the wattle species so it is a bit wider than what I would make it if I was using one of our hardwoods. The very fine tips lessen the handshock and the limbs are their widest where the bending needs to take place in the limb. The tips are so fine I couldn't string grooves in the side of the tip, so the tips were reinforced with buffalo horn and a string groove was filed into the horn only to take the string....Glenn...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v475/Glenn51/currawangpig.jpg
Gaday Glen...Would it be possible to see a pic of the bow side on??Specifically,the centre section..
Regards...Sparra
Sparra I will do more on this subject, that particular bow I gave to an American hunter out here afew years ago but I have another one I will take photos of...Glenn...
The bow comes to an almost feather edge on this limb, the limb is thickened where the limb narrows to the tip to reduce whipending and stack. A well made selfbow should bend the most down near the handle fade-out and the amount of bend should gradually reduce towards the tip....Glenn....
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v475/Glenn51/sideprofile1.jpg
Bow tip reinforced with buffalo horn, no side string grooves, only grooved in the horn on the back of the bow...Glenn...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v475/Glenn51/45b3a760.jpg
This is the belly of the bow. I have let some sapwood come around onto the belly of the bow as the sapwood of the grey ironbark is very tough but the heartwood is in the centre of the belly where it needs to be...Glenn...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v475/Glenn51/af320343.jpg
I loved that bow from the first time I saw it in archery Action mag a yr or so ago.
Hood 8)
raindog
27-05-05, 07:58 PM
Yep, that is one glorious looking bow, Glenn 8)
Erron
hellier
31-05-05, 03:09 PM
That is a truly fantastic bow...I was looking at getting a bamboo and osage made for me bya fella but that is fantastic...would you part with it ? would you make me one ??
have you ever tried using loquat for a bow. it is used a lot for practice weapons in Japan (wooden swords etc) and it is light, very hard when dry and does not splinter or crack easily.
glen ..whats a bow likw that worth?
Hard to put a price on a selfbow Morton. You can never get back what you have put into them, I haven't sold one for years now for that reason. I would much rather help someone to build one these days. Might be having some selfbow classes at a club north of Brisbane later in the year, the details have to be worked out.
Ed I haven't used loquat myself but most of the fruit trees will make servicable bows...Glenn...
glenn ..
did you ever send one of your ironbark bows to the gun shows in brisbane?
saw one there once .....loved it .it looked like your bow..had the buff tips
Yes I have had bows at the gun show, itwas a while ago though, could have been one of Cliff Turpins bows...Glenn...
thanks Glenn. I had heard most fruit trees make good bows and have a source for loquat - will check it out to see if I can find a decent sized stave. Also have some in my yard which I am training to as straight as possible :)
Will have to get up your way to learn from you one day. Really like that Holmegaard shape.
thanks Glenn. I had heard most fruit trees make good bows and have a source for loquat - will check it out to see if I can find a decent sized stave. Also have some in my yard which I am training to as straight as possible :)
Will have to get up your way to learn from you one day. Really like that Holmegaard shape.
You and I both Ed.
No worries, when my house is finished which seems to be taking forever, I will be able to have people up for bow building...Glenn...
sounds like an offer! 8)
got holidays in four months - hint hint. :wink: Will talk to you about this later when I am sure I can come up. Not expecting anything except to pick your brains. Checked your site and sounds like a good course.
Ed nothing like setting a guy a dead line to finish his house off hey. :lol:
hehe yeh just like me! I have a mate coming over in a month from Japan. Still got beautiful views of roof tiles in my lounge! :shock:
House will not be finished in four months, my wife would be very happy if it was, might be able to work something out at a club near Brisbane, see what happens. You wont find much to pick in my brain Ed, still learning myself but I am always keen to pass on what I know. There is a fella down at Caboolture Perry Jackson who can make a bow out of the biggest mongrel sticks you have ever seen. I gave him a beautiful straight bow stave once and he handed it back to me and said he would not know what to do with a stave that was so straight. Made me feel I was not worthy of his presence. I have some grey ironbark that would be ready for turning into bows or I could get some all wood composite bows glued up...Glenn...
my missus just as impressed with me at the moment - four months and not even moved into the main bedroom yet. :roll:
Just as happy to grab a bunk somewhere like a local motel etc. Spent four months doing just that last year so it feels more like home than home.
Ironbark would be great. Much more interested in the selfbow making. Kind of a primitive throwback myself :)
outback preditor
02-07-05, 05:20 PM
mally is pretty comon and i a good self bow timber.
Ironbark would be great. Much more interested in the selfbow making. Kind of a primitive throwback myself :)
Ed may have to introduce you to Doug here in SA he's into selfbows, he and I cut down some Spotted Gum earlier this year to make some selfbows. But as usual everything else has gotten in the way :x
Hood 8)
Hey this thread has given me an idea of what to make for my second semester tech project. Does anyone have a sight with a bit more info about making a self bow? I have talked to one of the teachers and sounds like its a goer :lol: Beautiful bows Glenn.
Macka
try this for a start. Looks pretty easy and not trying to create a war bow day 1
http://www.stickbow.com/features/index.cfm?feature=selfbows
figure the guys here will have plenty of sites they can add to help out
valhalla
04-07-05, 09:42 PM
Good link Ed,thats very easy to follow for a newbie..
as Coach said theres some very good ones on Oz
Bow as well. :D
Val..
yeh might get around to making one of my own sometime - after the damn house is liveable though :) Let us know how you go.
HOOD - will talk to you soon at the club and will have to haggle you down for some of your spotted gum.
yeh might get around to making one of my own sometime - after the damn house is liveable though :) Let us know how you go.
HOOD - will talk to you soon at the club and will have to haggle you down for some of your spotted gum.
Not a prob mate. We cut down 16 staves but unfortunatly as it goes we lost a few during the drying stages. Havn't seen the others yet so not sure how they turned out as they are at Dougs place.
I may be at the club this Sunday. The following Sunday is the 3D shoot, so unles the buba comes I'll be there for that.
Thanx guys will do. the teacher has made one before and he knows what he is talking about. so cant wait to get started.
Macka
hellier
06-07-05, 11:21 AM
Count me in for a workshop...I'll bloody hitch from Airlie Beach if I have to...though with jetstar...nah forget hitching, I'm too old... jetstar it is...when ya gunna do it Glenn???
I spoke to one of the club members last night and we will be looking at September at this stage. Don't want too many at first, start off slowly and see how the first one goes, there is a lot of intrest out there, don't want to be snowed under. I had thirty turn up at one of my work shops which wasn't advertized, only word of mouth, I just couldn't handle the work load.
We will be doing flemish string making as part of the course and will have string boards avaliable as well.
Hellier when I use to live at Airlie Beach we use to get a timber we used for wooded planks called pioson peach, it's probably a local name , when it was dry it was very light and strong, it would be worth while having an ask around for some of that...Glenn...
sounds good Glenn, let us know the dates and I will see about getting some time off to whip up there
No worries I will let you know what is happening when things have been finalized. The main aim of the work shop will be how to tiller a selfbow properly. We were discussing if we should have selfbows or glue up some backed or all wood composites just from the longevity side of these bows as against a selfbow, the tillering is still the same for all types of woodbows. Supplying a selfbow stave is a lot more work than backed or all wodd compostie staves...Glenn...
hellier
06-07-05, 09:32 PM
I'd be up for any bow ...self preferably but just to ....ahhh what ever...I'll be there...actually september is my birthday..hey I could make my own present!!!! Poison peach...I'll ask around...got a small stand of iron bark nearby..we talked about that I think on the phone. We did talk on the phone didn't we ?? Geez I'm a luddite when it comes to technology!! Have to get the missus to log me on.
I will be in either a selfbow or an all wood laminate. If doing a laminate I would be lookingt at 90-100 pounds at 32 inches though. :) I know it will annoy ya Glenn but I gotta do it.
There is nothing like being shown how to do something Coach. I had read all of the books I could on selfbow building but it wasn't until someone spent time with me over a few days building a self bow that it really clikced with me. There is a lot of information written on building selfbows that I would call iffy at best.
I'm starting to build a few bows now, I have just bought myself a u-beaut lamination grinder with an automatic feed, I am doing a couple of back orders at present and have enough glass to lay up 8 bows, but just taking it slowly for now...Glenn...
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