Making your own Recurve Bows is an effective way to enter archery as an activity, though it requires time and dedication. But the rewards can be great!
Recurve bows are among the many types of bows available today, each offering different levels of power for shooting an arrow. Their name comes from their distinctively curved bow limbs which generate energy when shooting.
Materials
Recurve bows are highly powerful weapons that require years of practice to master. But making your own can be an immensely satisfying experience if you take the time and dedication. To begin crafting one yourself, all that's required is a wooden stave and appropriate tools to shape it into a functional bow. Recurve bows can be purchased premade at most archery stores, but you may also choose to build one yourself from scratch. To do this, a wooden stave that measures the same length as your bow will need to be constructed from strong and flexible wood for optimal results. Maple, hickory, lemonwood, and yew are popular wood options to use when crafting bows and staves. A bow shaping frame, hatchet, vice grips, tillering stick, large file, heat gun and screw clamps will also be needed to finish your projects successfully. When leveling back your stave removing any bad wood outside its growth rings - known as "chasing the ring" - is essential.
Once you have your stave, use a pen or pencil to trace it out. This will allow you to plan out its general structure - which includes marking out its limbs and handle with pen - with pen or pencil. Your limbs provide power for shooting arrows, so they must meet certain dimensions. In addition, each end must feature a string groove.
Next, it is necessary to sand down the wood to remove rough spots and splinters, which will allow you to finish and protect your bow against moisture damage. After this step is complete, a protective coat such as wax or bow sealer must be applied over it to preserve it for years of service.
Many of the materials necessary for creating a recurve bow can be purchased at local hardware stores; while specialist carpentry equipment such as bow shaping frames and tillering sticks are best purchased online or from archery shops. You should explore woodyards to source quality wood, perhaps cutting one down from one of your own trees if possible. You might even come across take-down models which can be separated into several components for easy transport and storage when not in use.
Measurements
Bows must withstand sudden, powerful forces and tension while shooting, necessitating strong yet flexible wood for this reason alone. Recurve bows have become immensely popular with archers over the past decades and can be made using various wood species like maple and hickory; more rarely used are osage orange, bamboo, red oak, and ipe. While making your own recurve bow from scratch can be a daunting task, its result makes the effort worthwhile.
Step one of building your bow involves selecting an ideal wooden stave for its foundation. This should be made from strong yet flexible wood that will withstand tension from stringed bows; some types such as yew, osage orange, or hickory are commonly seen as ideal candidates.
Once you have chosen an ideal stave, the next step in shaping is reducing it with a hatchet or bow shaping frame to your desired outline. Care must be taken not to cut into any growth rings that are located on the back of the bow during this step, while any sharp corners where bowstring contact occurs with its limbs must also be rounded off to prevent splinters.
Next, it is necessary to determine your bow length - an integral component in its performance. To do so, measure from your elbow to the tip of your middle finger and divide by 2.5. This will yield your draw length which should equal double arm length (Reilly).
Once you've established the draw weight and bow length of your recurve bow, the next step should be tillering. Tillering refers to a process in which wood is removed evenly from the belly side (string side) to achieve ideal thickness and bendability; typically this will involve shaving down to approximately 5/8 of an inch thickness for each limb of the bow - though more may need to be added if necessary. Once complete, test their tiller by holding up-right your bow while pressing firmly on its handle with one hand while pressing with another on its handle with the other.
Layout
Bow-making can be an intimidating and intricate undertaking for beginners. While it might be easy to craft an acceptable bow from lemonwood slats, creating laminated recurve bows requires much more skill as well as special tools and materials.
Recurve bows consist of two main parts, the riser and the limbs. The riser serves as the central part of the bow with pockets to hold its attached limbs in place; its two sections, which connect directly to its handle, serve as upper and lower sections. They're typically sold as pairs but may also be used individually depending on your needs.
Bow limbs are usually constructed out of wood, although some models utilize fiberglass and laminated wood for maximum strength. Furthermore, selecting an appropriate material and length/shape combination for your bow can be crucial - too long will make drawing and shooting difficult while too short won't deliver enough power at full draw.
Once the limbs have been cut to their correct sizes, they must be bent into their final form to form the bow. This process typically involves using a bow shaping frame which allows users to connect various clamps to their limbs and gradually bend them until reaching the desired shape - both sides should have exactly equal bending angle for optimal performance.
Recurve bows can be used for target shooting or hunting once their user has become skilled and capable of managing higher draw weights. Recurves tend to be much lighter than compound bows, making them easier to transport into the field while offering more versatility than their counterparts. Furthermore, takedown models allow archers to adjust their draw weight as their skills and strength develop over time.
Finishing
As part of a complete and functional recurve bow build process, certain final steps must be completed for testing and shooting. First and foremost, the bow should be strung and tested by holding it and pulling its string to its peak length; at this stage, an archer should be able to shoot an arrow far enough away with plenty of power from their bow.
Another finishing touch to consider when purchasing an archery bow is to add an archery bow finish. This will protect it against moisture damage that may compromise its performance, including waxes and polyurethanes; your choice will depend on both personal preferences and where your bow will be used.
Building your own recurve bow from scratch is both time-consuming and highly satisfying, yielding a one-of-a-kind piece of woodwork that can be used to shoot arrows with great accuracy. However, taking care to prepare it correctly requires taking enough time, with the proper tools necessary for the task at hand.
As the first step in crafting a recurve bow, the initial step should be obtaining a wooden stave for its base. It should be constructed out of strong yet flexible wood such as maple, hickory, lemonwood, or yew - these options should withstand powerful forces when shooting.
Once the stave is acquired, it should be cut to its desired length. A good guideline would be cutting it to a length equal to your bow's draw length - so for example, if you wish to make a recurve bow with 28 inch draw length then cut your stave accordingly.
Finally, to achieve the ideal thickness for bow limbs, they should be reduced in thickness in order to achieve 5/8-inch thickness limbs. However, this can be challenging due to wood's natural tendency to resist being bent into shape.
After this step is completed, the bow limbs should be tillered - this means bending them back toward the handle - in an orderly fashion and allowed to set overnight.