I love the moments in life where the world feels small.  My wife and I recently had that feeling when watching The History Channel’s hit show Alone, it’s our favorite show and we watch it with our good friends, the Websters (shoutout). I’ll warn you that this article will have a spoiler or two.   

Alone is a show where ten survivalists are dropped off with ten items of their choice in different spots and whomever can stay in the wild the longest wins $500,000.  We’ve become somewhat self-proclaimed armchair experts (I say jokingly).  But, it is interesting how much people struggle on this show with the mental game and leaving their families, this is something I feel every extended hunting trip I go on and I still have ways of communicating with my loved ones. 

To give some context before diving into our ‘small world’ moment.  Every year we participate in the Black Bear Bonanza here in Northwest Arkansas that’s hosted by many of our friends on the board of the local backcountry hunters and anglers group.  It was here we met a cheerful, full bearded and long haired fella who simply introduced himself as, Cubby. 

Cubby was a boyer and had donated a bow for the raffle.  He’s the type of good vibe fella you feel you could take on a road trip and not squabble with (you traveling hunters know what I speak of).  Cubby had plans of moving to the area and said he’d help me build a bow whenever he got here and we exchanged numbers and kept in touch from time to time. 

Fast forward to my wife and I watching our favorite show from a couch at the Webster’s when I saw a familiar face on the old picture box and recognized him as my Bonanza budd, Cubby where I also finally saw his last name.  I couldn’t help but shoot him a text even though he was famous now. 

Unfortunately, due to a serious injury involving thick brush and a broadhead, Cubby had to tap out and the medical team had to rush him out to the hospital two quarts low on blood. I’m not sure if my next message would have been considered super “tactful” or not but I figured we could get back to the original mission and told him I still wanted to build a self-bow and he was like, LET’S DO IT!  He just so happened to be helping run the Cane Creek Archery Range in Prarie Grove, AR, not even thirty minutes from my house!  It was clear from the first trip out there that he was passionate about building bows and getting other’s to try building their first bow so this is us passing on his passion and knowledge.  The goal here is to either give you a window into what it is like to build a bow and you can choose if that’s something you want to pursue from there as we go through the process of me building my first bow with Cubby!  Don’t worry, I’m putting in work too but we’re gonna focus on the true craftsman in this article. 

What is a Self Bow? 

A self bow is a simple, primitive bow made from a single piece of wood.  They are what early humans would have made for hunting.  Different groups of people were known to have different styles of bows of various lengths, grips, and limbs.  The differences often would be regional based upon the type of wood available to them in that area. 

We’re focusing on the actual building of the bow in this article.  Prior to this process, a stave would need to be selected and given time to dry out and you can research that.  Some bowyers prefer to let the stave dry for up to two years before working on it.  Just do some research here but you could reduce the stave to almost bow profile and seal it then allow it to dry.  This would speed up the drying process. 

We’re using a piece of black locust for this bow.  Black locust is a strong wood and a great option for a self bow.  While this is a good option, the king and most widely favored wood for self bows is Osage. 

General Bow Building Process: 

General Bow Building Tools: 

Materials (Not Many): 

Step 1 - Remove Bark and Sap Wood from Stave 

In the initial parts of the bow making process, your draw knife will be the go too along with your bowyer’s bench or vise.  Work off the bark, the cambian/sap layer. 

Step 2 - Chase the Ring 

The next step is finding a late wood ring to chase.  You want this hard ring layer to be the full face of the back of the bow (faces away from you).  Once you get to the ring, switch to your cabinet/cardscraper to get all reminents of the prior (early season ring) removed. 

Step 3 - Draw the Profile 

The next step is to draw out the overall profile of your bow. There will be a 6-8 handle section in the middle of the bow and equal distant limbs on both sides.  The limbs measurements will be different depending on your drawlength.  There are good resources online and you can also checkout ‘The Bowyer’s Bible’. 

Step 4 - Remove Everything That’s not a Bow 

The famouse sculptor, Michelangelo, is famous for the quote, “Every block of stone has a statue inside it and it is the task of the sculptor to discover it.”  That is on brand for building bows as well.  After you draw the profile of the bow, you follow what you drew out and remove everything that is not your bow.  You will remove a lot of material and this is a great place to break the draw knife back out.  A saw and chisels also come in handy here.  This is the bulk of the work on your bow; though, the most tedious part of bow building is yet to come (tillering). 

Step 5 - Tillering & Finishing  

Now that you have the bow down almost to it’s final form, it’s time to do some limb work.  There’s a lot that goes into the details of a bow that we often don’t think of like consistent bending througout both limbs.  On a compound bow we can easily change poundage with a simple allen key but not on a self bow. 

Welcome to the portion of bow making that separates the men from the boys (not kidding).  This can be frustrating but this is where the ‘good attitude’ tool in the kit is key.  This is the point where most bows fail.  You are taking off layers of the bow making them more bendable and getting them down to your preferred poundage.  The key is to be patient and take your time.  For you ‘Forged in Fire’ fans, welcome to the quench.  The scraper and rasp are your friends on this step. 

Step 6 - Finish Work 

If your bow is not straight there are ways of making it straighten out using heat and forms.  That’s a little too advanced for covering in this article.  Now it’s time to do some finish work like forming the limb tips, doing some final wall tillering, and applying some bear grease to finish it all up.