Thank you very much! I appreciate that.

Thanks for the feedback and support! Glad it's helpful. More to come soon!

Tbh not really, there's a good amount of some but not much really ( on videos and info) need more species and designs and all out bow making randomness. Might seem like a lot at first but after a bit bow making on yt and websites hit a rock wall

Thank you sir!

Thank you, glad it's helpful. I know how hard it can be to get good staves. Don't give up

Haha, that's great feedback. Thank you!

You're welcome. Glad it was helpful

you're welcome. The next video should be up soon. I'm editing now.

Great, hope you find it helpful

​@@SwiftwoodBows Please let me know the board length, Thickness and width

Thanks! Welcome aboard. Hopefully I can get the next one out soon.

Glad it was helpful. Keep it up!

Thank you, Michael. Appreciate your feedback.

You're welcome!

Thanks, Ryan!

Sorry to hear that you got such a negative reception. That would be really discouraging. The community on the Primitive Archer forums has always been very friendly and supportive. I hope you can work up the motivation to give it another try, making bows is very rewarding. Good luck

You're welcome! Glad it was helpful

some places it's harder to find a good board, that's for sure. Just be paitient and get in the habit of perusing the boards any time you're in a place with lumber. eventually you'll find the right piece and it will be worth the wait. Good luck

That's a good example, thanks for sharing. In my opinion, there are far more attractive materials that you can put on a stave to keep pieces from blowing everywhere when a bow breaks. That's all anything will do short of laminating a wood or bamboo backing onto a board. Even then, it's best to have decent grain in the belly wood, it's just slightly less critical.

Thank you. Glad it was helpful. If you have a board with straight grain on all faces then it really won't matter too much which side is the back. I wish you luck ordering your boards. I understand your limitations, but there is a good probability that you will get boards with unsuitable grain. It can take a lot of time to pick through a stack of boards to find just one that will work even when you know exactly what to look for. It's unlikely that a paid employee is going to be able/willing to take that time and care.

But does it matter if the grains are laying or standing? If you get what I mean?

@@larsstensvold1146 it doesn't matter if the board is flatsawn, riftsawn or quarter sawn. They will all make a good bow as long as the grain is passing straight through the board. I talk about the different orientations some in the first video and have an example of each.

Thank you for your answers, they have been of great help. I’m currently in contact with a friend who lives in south-Finland. I’ve sent some of your instructions to him, maybe he will find me a board or two. Again, thanks for your your replies.

@@larsstensvold1146 you're welcome. Good luck

You should still be able to see if the grain is running straight through or if it's running off. You only need it straight of the length of the bow so if there is a section that is better, then use that part.

With most white woods either sapwood or Heartwood is fine but I'd say ideally your board should have one or the other because they can have slightly different properties that could make tillering difficult. If you happen to find one that gives you a natural and consistent backing of sapwood then that would be fine but a board like that would be pretty rare.

@@SwiftwoodBows Thank you for the fast reply! :)

I understand how it seems strange at first glance but it does bend and it does hold together just fine.

Better to go against it so that it provides a small degree of natural reflex.

Making a fiberglass bow is a totally different project than what I'm showing here. In that case the wood is basically filler and the fiberglass is doing all of the tension and compression work. I'm sure there are many good videos showing that process but my practical knowledge about it is fairly limited. Fiberglass bow making will require a fair bit more tools and equipment than what I'm showing here, so that is one thing to consider. I would look up a video on it and see what's involved and then decide which direction you want to go. Good luck

@@SwiftwoodBows I was just curious about the idea of it and wasn't sure how hard it would be. I'll probably just make a self bow as your making in your video. I have access to both hard maple and hickory boards, which in your opinion would be the most forgiving choice for a newbie? Thanks for your response.

@@adamarthur9672 the one with the better grain. 😁 If I had to choose I'd say hickory but hard maple is good bow wood too. Won't go wrong with either. Just be super picky about the grain. That will set you up for success.

If you're making a fiberglass bow you will approach this entire process differently. I wouldn't use this video for making a fiberglass bow.

Generally speaking, the limbs of a selfbow should be only one growth ring, a handle section is an exception. I recommend watching this: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/jJmma9Cn1ricdIk.html

Did you even watch the video?

Those are excellent questions. You can chase a ring on a board if it will let you, then you will essentially have a stave. Depending on the wood type and the design you could make a good bow out of a stave with violations, there are many examples of Native American bows that have violated backs. The question there is why would you intentionally violate a stave if you didn't need to. The most common practical application of intentionally violating a stave is decrowning, cutting away the high crown of a narrow stave to give it a wider flat back. This is essentially turning a stave into a board. So there is some flexibility both ways, if that makes sense.

@@SwiftwoodBows interesting stuff , makes me think that chasing a ring may be an exclusive thing to certain woods in stave form ,perhaps osage ? Just a guess as I have heard osage pretty much always needs a ring chase unless hard \sinew backing but again in may be wrong.. What I do know from my own experience is a yew stave I have harvested from Scotland has had the sapwood violated to take it to an even thickness to make an English style longbow pulling 80lb @28" I have heard that although yew and osage are very similar , yew is more forgiving and the rings can be violated on the back without backing .. Perhaps self bowyers worry too much about chasing rings and snakes on staves ? Next time I cut a snakey yew stave and get an even split I will attempt a pair of bows, one following the rings and contours perfectly on the back/sapwood and sides to make a snakey single ring back bow and the other a bow with a violated back and the sides squared and cut straight regardless of grain .pretty sure yew is going to hold up regardless , don't have the luxury to try osage so perhaps one of you guys would be in for the experiment ? Thanks for your reply it's opening can of worms😂

@@captainflint8412 ah yes. Yew is a good example of a bow that can break the rules on a violated back. The structure between the rings is much more homogeneous on yew compared to Osage. As long as the yew has a consistent thickness violations in the sapwood are pretty harmless.

I can't remember if I mentioned it or not. It was definitely 1" thick. I think I bought 1x6x8 and ripped into to two bow worthy boards.

A well designed, well tillered and well cared for self bow should last for a long time, even a lifetime.

It depends on what you do with the handle and how heavy you want your draw weight. I think a reasonable minimum is 1.5"x.5". You'll need to build up the handle unless you're doing a bend through the handle. A board that is 3"x1" will give you a lot more options.

@@SwiftwoodBows Thank you so much! Great video

Well, they are both true in the sense that following an intact growth ring on a stave is ideal, but not everyone has access to seasoned staves and a board with straight grain will serve fine as a selfbow. Different wood species respond differently to violations as well. Osage doesn't do well with violations but yew can tolerate it fairly well.

@@SwiftwoodBows Thank you for the reply. I really appreciate it. Just getting into this and that is the one thing I was having trouble wrapping my head around. Does this mean for instance that you could decrown a yew bow, but not an osage (without backing)? Also, just found and love your content. I am going to get a few staves drying out this year and I think maybe make a board bow or two while I wait.

@@abcxyz9643 you're welcome, glad you're finding it helpful. Decrowning is a little different. On yew, I regularly reduce the thickness of the sapwood but it's not exactly decrowning because I'm maintaining the shape of the back. Of you decrowned it you would be reavealing the heartwood and that wouldn't have as much integrity, though I still think it could be done. I don't have much experience decrowning so I can't say with confidence what types of wood handle it better than others. But basically a good board is just a commercially decrowned stave.

Poplar is horrible it’s a soft wood

@@thecarnut9899 im a doctor!

@@DogsaladSalad of what?

@@devinm.6149 bullshit

@@DogsaladSalad hm...