A few bows I have made.
Here’s a link to an older post on making a bow. Its always difficult to stop long enough to actually take a photo while working.
http://paleotool.wordpress.com/2008/07/31/making-a-bow/
Osage orange shallow-D longbow. Finished Christmas 2009.
I loved this bow very much. Sold it for gas money a few years ago!
A kid’s bow made from heartwood of Juniperus virginiana (Eastern Red Cedar) backed with Carya ovata (Shagbark Hickory). A fast little shooter.
A satisfying moment of eying the tiller and knowing it is “perfect”.
A nice, moderate strength hickory bow. Sold immediately.
Over about 5 years of shooting, this Osage orange bow settled into this somewhat ugly tiller, bending too much low in the limbs. I think it was a very good arc initially and became a little concerned when this happened. As this bow turns 10 years old this year and I still regularly shoot it, I guess it is fine.
George,
This is josh from your bow making class at winter count. I’m having a hard time finding the barbours shomaker flax. i went to panhandle leather’s website and they don’t seem to have it on their site. I think I’ll have to call them. but it seems to come in various plies and weights (like no. 18/3 etc.) what size is the stuff you recommend?
Thanks, Josh
Hey Josh,
Here’s what I’ve been using for a while. It is “Barbour’s Pure Flax Sinew, 5 cord left for lock stitch machines” for what it’s worth.
Looking into it just now makes me think I need to research this more. Looking through some old articles this morning shows that (I think) 5 cord linen should have a little over 30# of breaking strength. Nine strands (the minimum I use for myself) should be a little over 270# in strength and twelve strands will be about 360#. The twelves are great hunting strings but you make me realize that I haven’t been very scientific about this. Hope this helps and I promise to look into strings more now that I’m curious. If you want to contact me off the comment list my general email is: “zcoyotez (at) yahoo (dot) com”.
Good luck. It was a lot of fun working with you over the week.
George
UPDATE: Maurice Taylor in the 1940 Bowman Review notes Linen 40/3, 30/3, 10 cord, and 12 cord being used for bowstrings. He noted 40/3 linen apparently common as it is a tightly spun thread used for button thread. The tighter spun thread was believed to prevent fraying. Cool factoid.
A LINK: http://www.campbell-bosworth.com/catalog/advanced_search_result.php?keywords=linen+thread&x=0&y=0