Middle Earth Ranger Forum

Well I have done some research on building bows and I found out how to make them out of PVC piping. I know it isn't as official as a wooden bow, but they shoot pretty dang well if they're made right. At one point, I just cut a piece and put a string to it, that was a no no. NOW I have learved the art of flattening the pipe and making flatbows and even recurve! If you want to learn how to make these bows, look up Backyard Bowyer on youtube and have a blast.
I made my friend a 55lbs recurve for his birthday the other day. I cant wait to see his face

Seen that, cool idea, glad it's working for you! Will have to try it myself one of these days.

Right now I'm working on an bow, made of wood from an elm tree I cut a year or two ago. At the moment it's on the back porch, in a steaming setup improvised from an electric skillet and a length of dryer vent. Originally I hoped it would be a "pretty" bow, but now I'm just hoping I can get the thing to shoot straight and not break the first time I draw it... At least I have staves left for three, maybe four more tries if this doesn't work.

Never heard of an elm bow? Elm would be really hard to work with in my thinking because the grain is spiraled not vertical. Anyway I hope it works out for you and if it does pics would be awesome

Update on elm bow: It works. But it also takes terrible set. Yeah, maybe elm isn't a prime bow wood for a reason. But... it works!

Id love to see some pics and what do you mean "set" like stringing it?

In this case, taking a set means that the bow will remain somewhat bent when it is unstrung. Ideally, when unstrung, a bow ought to be nearly straight. Some bows even curve the opposite direction from the way they bend when strung (which is called reflex). When a bow takes a set, it means that the tension of the string, and of drawing the bow, has permanently warped the wood of the bow so that it no longer flexes back to its original shape, after tillering. This is also called "string follow."
This is undesirable because when a bow takes a set it no longer wants to spring back to its original shape with any particular urgency, thereby causing the bow to lose power.

Aaah, now I gotcha. Maybe perhaps, the wood was too wet when it was drawn back.