Things are shaping up!

Began shaping the bow today. Took me a while to find a good way of clamping it so I can work on it. One end is tapered to where it needs to be, but then I had to go run errands. The other end is going to happen tomorrow, and I'll get pictures of it then.

Got my string making stuff in the mail today, also got a 2x4 cut down to make the string jig and the tillering tree. I'll finish the string jig tomorrow, and maybe work on the string tomorrow evening. Still need a scale, but I likely won't get to the part where I need it for another weekend or so.

I think I have decided to glue a piece on to the bow to make a thicker riser. It should allow me to make a thinner area in the handle so the bow is ambidextrous. I'll have to investigate that a bit further though. I'll get some pictures of everything up tomorrow evening.

Tools

Here are the tools I plan on using for the majority of my wood shaping:

That's a 4-way file rasp, a shaping tool, and a cheapo block plane. The block plane was originally going to be for the bamboo backing of the bow, but I have since been assured that the backing is likely not necessary, and bamboo would be a difficult thing to add for my first backing. If I decide it is needed, I will use linen or silk. Gave the shaping tool and the plane a bit of a trial run on the stick and both seem to work well. Cannot wait for the weekend to begin shaping.

On layout- When finding the centerline of my bow, I discovered a very slight curve at one end of the board. Luckily sam at poorfolkbows.com has some tips for taking care of that. The curve is gone by the time you get 15" from the end of the board. I'm hoping this is a good sign, but not really sure. My other option is to cut the board and make a shorter bow, but I don't want to do that.

If all else fails, I can always start again. This is, after all, a learning experience.

Material Things

Welcome to my blog about building my first ever bow. I am doing a build-along that I found on poorfolkbows.com which I cannot recommend enough to someone who wants to build a bow. He's got a lot of great information.

Of course, me being me, I can't just make the same thing he is there, I need to modify it slightly to fit what I want. Keep checking here, and you'll see some of the changes I make.

The first step in all this getting material. I am using red oak, which I bought from Lowes. You can see pictures of it below. I'm still not 100% sure if the grain is going to be right for the bow, but I will find out quick enough. This stuff is cheap anyway, so I can always get another stick. It is 72" long, which is going to be about the length of the bow.

Ignore the dirty clothes

I have also ordered some string building material, which I will get pictures of when it comes in. I will still need to build a string jig, as well as a tillering jig(tree?).