Homemade Recurve / Flatbow - 1st attempt

[JD1]

[Kenneth Eames]

JD1, Thank you for this, I shall certainly be following your posts. I will probably have a go some time in the future. Kenneth Eames.

[JD1]

As you can see from the 2 pics below my attempts at putting some bends in the bow to make it more into a recurve weren't a great success.

I was hoping that the wood had enough moisture in it to be able to clamp in place and let it dry out but obviously not there was not enough moisture in the wood.




My next step will be to add more moisture and then clamp again, and using a heat gun to speed up the drying process. In the wild you can do this over hot coals but I shall try the Black&Decker route first

I'm making plenty of mistakes but its better to get them out of the way now than when I really need to get it right

[NorthernRaider]

I thought the hungarian recurved hunting bows were shaped after steaming the wood for some hours first ???

[JD1]

I thought the hungarian recurved hunting bows were shaped after steaming the wood for some hours first ???

With green wood it can often have enough moisture in it so it is not always necessary, you can clamp it and dry it out. Although my bit wasn't green I thought it had enough moisture in it but was mistaken.

Using a steam bath the recommendation is to steam it for 20 minutes and then bend/clamp while drying it over a heat source. If sinew is added, like on a lot of primitive recurves, that can help the bow hold its shape as it dries as well as adding strength.

I'm not going down the sinew route this time as i'm having enough trouble as it is

[Nemesis]

A mistake today is a lesson tomorrow, interesting thread and one I welcome, I will join you on this after the New Year as I have been meaning to do this for far too long, keep posting the mistakes JD1 it will help us/me.