Chapter 4: Tools
You need a tool that removes a lot of wood, and one that removes just a little bit. I like to use a drawknife and card scraper, but you can also follow this entire build along with just a rasp and a file. There’s always a way to improvise, so use the tools you have or the tools you like, you don’t have to use the ones I do.
I really like drawknives, but they can be risky on boards. Sticking to a rasp is much safer and cheaper. You can buy a basic set of rasps and files for around $20. Most will have everything you need except the sandpaper and string material.
The full beginner kit I’d recommend is sandpaper, a heavy rasp, a file, a scraper, and a thin needle file or a chainsaw file.
Farriers rasps and Shinto saw rasps are great options for the heavy rasp. A common half round file is an excellent bow making tool too, but you can’t beat a card scraper with a sharp burr (aka cabinet scraper.)
It’s also nice to have some thin rasps and files to carve the nocks. A rattail rasp, needle file, or chainsaw file would be ideal, but you can also use a knife or the skinny edge of a half-round file. In that case it might be easier to carve pin or diamond style nocks.
Some other tools I like to use but you don’t need are spokeshaves, drawknives, carving axes, and assorted needle files.
Putting a burr on a scraper
Card scrapers are just about the simplest tool, but the one I use the most. All they are is a piece of tool grade steel. If you don’t have one you can make a great scraper out of any sheet of tool steel, such as an old knife or plane blade.
If you’re setting up a brand new scraper, skip to the next step. If you’re resharpening an old one, get rid of the old burr with a file or some sandpaper.
To start off, you want 90 degree edges on your scraper. Flatten the sides until you have nice clean corners.
To form the burr itself I use a burnishing tool which is just a rod of extra hard tool steel. Its easy to find a replacement if you don’t have one of these. You can also use the base of a chisel or any other piece of hard steel.
Start off by rubbing the burnisher at about a 90 degree angle, until the edge of the scraper starts to look smooth and polished. Then we can start to apply more pressure.
Eventually the edge will begin to mushroom over. As that happens, you can start to slowly increase the angle of the burnisher. This will draw out a sharp burr from the mushroomed edge.
Once you’re done, work the opposite edge, and then flip your card over, and work the two edges on the other side. That’s 4 useable edges from one simple tool.
Mervyn Patterson
Hi, congratulations on your full tutorial.It was very well done,easy to follow and understand,one of if not the best tutorial I have seen.Thanks very much I as a amateur bowyer found it most informative but being English my experience is more toward the English Longbow or D section bow.I have had some success with Italian and Pacific Yew.After seeing this I will have a go at a flat bow.
Best wishes Mervyn Patterson UK.
dansantanabows
Thanks Mervyn. In the UK also keep an eye out for Ash, Elm, and Hazel. On facebook there’s a UK bowyer’s group you may want to check out. There’s probably someone close to you who can show you the ropes. There are also several UK bowyers on the other groups and r/bowyer. Good luck and enjoy the journey!
Duke
I am very new at this and can’t wait to start. thank you very much for these easy-to-follow instructions and video. As soon as I obtain the equipment and a good piece of wood I will try to follow your directions.
thanks again and be safe
dansantanabows
Glad to hear it Duke. Hope to see your bow on r/bowyer one day. Good luck and feel free to post as many tiller checks as you need
Gingdah
I enjoyed the detail that you have. This one of best Detail videos on making a bow I seem.
Tyson
Picked up a red maple board and a draw knife today, getting started this weekend. Can’t thank you enough!
dansantanabows
That’s awesome! With red maple I’d go for a slightly wider bow than I have, maybe 2” wide, or a slightly lower draw weight of 30 or 35 pounds. Next time if you can, try to get one of the maple species categorized as a ‘hard’ maple like sugar maple. Silver and red are a bit less dense, but don’t worry and it won’t stop you from making a bow. Just pay extra attention to the set and drop off the draw weight if you start seeing more than a couple inches.
Good luck and feel free to post as many tiller checks on r/bowyer as you need
Tyson
Thanks, Home Depot was my first stop for lumber, red maple was the best they had in hardwood planks at the moment, excluding mahogany. I did notice the porousness so went with the best most dense board I could find. I’ll post my progress!
Terry Bowmam
I am not able to get bow wood boards around here to sort thru.
I can get Black Walnut or Eastern Red Cedar bow making lumber, but requires a backing. I don’t want to waste my hickory backing yet, been a long time simce I made a wooden bow.
My question is, will that linen backing in your video be strong enough, with some reflex? Or maybe double it?
Thanls
dansantanabows
I’m not a big fan of doubling up on the backing because of the extra mess and glue line. Better to use a thicker backing from the start. I think with ERC lumber you’re probably going to need a hard backing unless you find a miraculously clean and straight board. With natural staves, if you’re able to chase or almost chase a ring then ERC can handle being unbacked, despite the popular advice. The problem is that the other popular advice for ERC is that it’s ok to violate the fibers on the back. This is only true to an extent and I wonder if this practice has much to do with juniper’s reputation for breaking in tension.
John Halverson
You would NOT be wasting your hickory backing on an Eastern red cedar board (so long as the board is fairly decent grained with few or no knots). In fact, Hickory backed eastern red cedar (often called HERC) is considered a superior combination for high speed, high efficiency bows.
dansantanabows
I will write more in the future as my formal ideas develop. My informal ideas are easily found on r/bowyer. Thanks for this backhanded compliment, I think.
Pat
I’m impressed, I must say. Seldom do I encounter a blog that’s equally educative and amusing, and let me tell you, you’ve hit the nail on the head.
The problem is something which too few people are speaking intelligently
about. I’m very happy I stumbled across this during my hunt for something concerning this.
Kevin
G’day Dan, fantastic tutorial. I have always wanted to make a bow and I would like to thank you for putting the time into your channel. I live downunder and I am trying to work out what local timber I can use. After watch this I think I will try to practice on a fine grained timber and will certainly look what is in town at the hardware as well. Thanks again. Cheers Kev
Rex
G’day Kevin, I’ve heard quite a few say Spotted Gum is a good option of you find a nice board. I couldn’t find any it the right size at my local timber supplier so I opted for a really straight bit of Jarrah as it’s properties looked similar to hard maple (density, elasticity and modulus or rupture), hopefully it will work. Some others have said iron bark could work for a bow, but that stuff is so hard it makes it difficult to shape.
Rex
G’day Kev
I’m keen to try this out as well. I’ve heard Spotted gum is a good option. I’m going to try it with some Jarrah. Ironbark might work but that stuff’s really hard, shaping it will probably be a pain and lots of tool sharpening.
Cheers,
Rex
Rex
G’day Kev
I’m keen to try this out as well. I’ve heard Spotted gum is a good option. I’m going to try it with some Jarrah. Ironbark might work but that stuff’s really hard, shaping it will probably be a pain and lots of tool sharpening.
Cheers,
Rex
Mickey O'Neill
Dan–My son and I have decided at the same time to get into traditional bow-making. We shot off and on for years, and really enjoy being out in the fresh air and sunshine losing arrows together!
We both truly appreciate your teaching style and the beauty of the videos you’ve made. Thanks for your generosity!
We both went to the store and got red oak boards for our first bows. That is some hard wood! It’s pretty slow going for the moment, but we’ll see how it goes as we progress.
We share the ultimate goal of crafting character bows out of wood we harvest for ourselves. We’re in Oklahoma, and tried over 20 years ago to make a bow from a piece of Osage Orange. Our attempt still hangs in my office! Hopefully, with your tutelage, we will produce something that shoots!
dansantanabows
Good luck Mickey! I heard from your son on reddit last week and am very glad to hear you’re taking on the project together. Let me know if you have any questions or trouble, and feel free to post as many tiller checks on reddit as you need. Go make a bow!
Ross H
Dan, I loved this tutorial. Extremely helpful, a friend of mine and bowyer, Correy Hawk pointed me to your video. I had a question regarding the scale of the bow.
If I wanted to follow your tutorial to make a kids bow (for a 3-5 year old) how does this scale down from the longer ones you make?
Thank you.
dansantanabows
Correy is an awesome bowyer and teacher. I would love to film one of his classes someday. To answer your question it depends a lot on the design. The absolute easiest way is to copy other kids bow’s dimensions that you see on other forums. Of course you can only copy the rough out dimensions since the true dimensions will be revealed by tillering. For a same length bow you can adjust the draw weight by scaling the width. And as a rough rule of thumb you can estimate the bow length by doubling draw length and adding on the length of your stiff handle, and adding a few extra inches per limb for stiff tips. This will give you plenty of margin for error. It’s possible to make a bow shorter but that will give you a nice safe length.