Hi ! I'm Mark from Southwest germany.. I'm living right next to the forest and thought about making a bow. Last year around this time i saw a man in his 40s from my village preparing wood for bows in the little ruin just outside our village. he must be an expert bowyer. all the takedown and compound bows on ebay start at around 100 € here, and its kinda disheartening but well, I can build my own stuff.. so yesterday i went out into the woods and cut me two saplings of something that looks like maple ("Feldahorn" or field maple to be precise, with smaller leeaves.. they grew right off an old tree stump close to the ground. I'm wondering if i can turn them into some bows after drying sometime in my bathroom (the hottest room in my apartment).. yesterday after returning from the woods i saw on the internet that ideal bow wood is normally aged at least a year or 3, and is from split beams around 15 to 20 cm in diameter. Well but thats not too bad. I can look for better wood, there's more than plenty of it ! ok before I write an entire novel, I'll just post pictures and let's go from there... St.Mark
I guess it all depends on what you want to do with the bow when you are done building it. For messing around shooting at targets it should be ok would not think it would be so good for hunting.
How about visiting your neighbor and obtain some wood from him or ask what is the best in your woods. Here in the eastern US there are lots of native woods that make good bow woods . ie. Osage Orange / Mock Orange is terrific bow wood , hickory, ash and others.
don't know who he is. cant find nothing on the internet either... I'm just playing cabela's big game hunt 2014, axing all sort of big game with 600grain broadheads and a takedown bow terrific game... probably i'm gonna meet the bowyer again, who knows..
Maple is a soft wood and is not ideal. Yes it will sling an arrow but there are other varieties that are better such as Yew, Wych Elm, Ash or Hawthorn. Fruit trees like apple or pear would also work but Yew would be more ideal.
just bought me an old "bear whitetail hunter I". it runs from 40 to 65 lbs and draw length is 28-30 inches. wanted to ask what arrows i should get for this bow ? what spine, length and what material ? i think it should not be shot with arrows below 380 grain. here is a video of the bow in action:
Need to know your draw length and what poundage you will be shooting in order to make a recommendation.
Guess the fooling around is pretty much over with making a bow, buy the recommended arrows and inspect the string and shoot away.
AT 65 lbs and a 30-31 inch arrow with a 100/125 grain head you need a 300 spine. I would suggest a carbon arrow as they are more durable than wood and less prone to bend like aluminum You can check the charts here of you want a shorter arrow: https://www.goldtip.com/Resources/Spine-Chart.aspx
