New Kids Bow: Short Plains Style Bow

This is a plains style short bow that I made for my daughter Lilly for Christmas. She really likes Brave and I wanted to make something she could bang around and have fun with. It is made out of silver maple which was generously donated by a friend of the family. He had a standing deadwood tree and had it taken down. The arborist cut a 7 foot section of the tree and left it for me to split. My dad, our friend Greg and I, set about making staves which are still in my basement waiting to be made into bows.

This bow comes from one of the tree branches. I split the branch down the middle and used the other half to help a friend of mine make a bow for his kid as well. Again no Idea what it pulls as far as draw weight is concerned, but it is 39" in length and draws to 15.5 inches.

It is actually a little strong for Lil right now but she'll grow into it. I made some arrows out of wooden dowels crested them and made some duct tap fletching.

It turned out to be a beautiful bow and hopefully will give both my daughters some fun and excitement in their formative years.

This bow making thing is turning into a beautiful addiction. I have some sketches and art to post but rest assured there are more bow to come.

Stay golden, Pony Boys and Girls.

New Kids Bow: D Style Longbow

Here is another bow I worked on at the end 2012. It is a D style ( named for the shape of the belly of the bow) long bow. It is 51" in length and pulls 22". I did not have a method of gauging the draw weight but it is light, intended for a ten year old.

It was backed with rawhide and painted wonderfully by my talented wife, who also sewed on the suede  hand grip. Beautiful work.

The wood used was elm and was cut from the river bank near my house. The sapling was split down the middle and yielded another bow as well. I did not get a chance to photograph that one. Both bows were christmas gifts for a friend nephew and niece, and I was under deadline pressure.

This bow would fall under the category of a "character bow" as there were all sorts of knots and bends in the wood for me to work around.

It was a great learning experience and has helped me improve my understanding of how to make bows. I have been working on some larger bows recently and look forward to presenting them in the near future. so stay tuned.

Before I touch on those, I do have another kids bow I will be posting about. it is the one I made for Lilly for christmas. So stay tuned.