I've read some good online instructions, but I need to know where are some good places to find wood to make bows.

I really don't care what kind of bow I make, so can someone tell me about the different kinds and the pros/cons of them?

Best place is a lumber yard that carries many hardwoods and exotics. They are some times hard to find. Other sources forIpe (brazilian walnut),red oak, and osage (some times), are lowes or home depot. The Ipe will be sold as a decking material. You can also get bamboo at flooring stores, just make sure your bamboo is side pressed or itwont work. Plain pressed or horizontal pressed will not work.You can also get oak at Lowes or Home depot.. You can order online from several different sources. Ebay, online lumber yards, ect. ect. The only problem with online is the cost of shipping. If you buy lots of wood like I, it is much cheaper to pick it up some where instead of haveing it shipped. One other thing about online sources, its hard to see what grain you are getting. Which is very crutial in your wood choice.

Oh, I forgot to mention the kinds of bows. Its like everything else, personal pref..


There are :
recurve, which will give you a greater energy store in the design and can make a smaller bow with good cast.

Longbows (flat back), more authentic but has the worst hand shock of the designs. If you use bamboo, you won’t have to big of a problem with hand shock.

Longbow reflexed or deflexed, or both, stores more energy in the curves and helps with cast and hand shock.

Longbows come in different versions like English longbows which don’t have a riser and are long D shaped bows; American longbows have a riser and usually are in a pyramid limb design.

Self bows, any of the above, just made out of one single piece of wood. Hard to make if you don’t read your grain right and tiller poorly.

All bows can be made by either a board, wood laminates, wood laminates under glass, or horn. There are also lots of other designs like horse bows, Hungarian bows, static limb, Penobsco Indian bow, etc. etc. I’d stay clear of these until you have made a few other bows and start to get the hang of it. I hope some of this helps. Im just rambling


I justpulled two American long bows out of the oven last night and added tips. Ill try to tiller and shape tonight. One I simply reflexed and the other is deflexed and reflexed. The reason I did so was due to the materials I was using. The reflexes is black walnut with a backing of bamboo and a belly of maple. With the bamboo, you really don’t need much deflex. As for the R/D bow, it was a cherry and maple lam, all wood. So I used a R/D design to get better cast and string flow. Ill post pics when I get them finished.