Built a Reflex Deflex Longbow (with Video)

[bowhunter15]

I decided to finally make a longbow to use for hunting. Overall the process took several weeks, only having weekends and time here and there after work to commit to the project. I think it turned out alright. I'm still split on whether or not I want to take it out West. It would be a really expensive tag to swallow if I only got within say 30 yards of an elk and couldn't take the shot. I'm sure the bow is more than capable of bringing one down though!

[8upbowhunter]

Looks like it came out good to me. Whats the draw weight @ 28"?

[bowhunter15]

Looks like it came out good to me. Whats the draw weight @ 28"?

64# @28".

[Indian Summer]

64 lbs is adequate to kill anything in North America. Don't question your bow as much as your ability to use it and consider the life of the animal and what happens if you hit one and don't recover it. Everyone on here knows I take that very seriously.

Worked on my bow today. Also a reflex deflex. Osage and bamboo with a center lam layer of black walnut. Handle is cocobolo. 48 lbs at 27 inches. My plan after talking with my mentors is to start lighter to build form and consistency and then build a heavier bow. I'm really lucky to have guys with decades of experience watching over me and an extremely well equipped shop to do it in. I almost finished mine today. Finished the tillering the limbs. In the end they pulled perfectly even and the anchor point ran dead center all the way through the draw cycle. Also worked the handle just enough to be able to grip it.

I can hunt deer with this one. The next one I will use to hunt moose in Alaska. In my opinion, even though they are considerably larger than elk, they will be easier to recover because of terrain and cover. Plus I am confident that I can get a shot at around 10 yards and with trad gear distance is obviously very critical to accuracy.

I was actually shooting the bow today. Took about 100 shots which went very well. I just need to finish sanding the boo, stain it, and work the grip a little so it fits my palm and thumb like a glove for a consistent grip position. Two other guys finished theirs today but I'm a bit of a perfectionist so I work slow and sure.

I only build bows in the winter. It's fun and you get better every time. No 2 are the same. It's definitely fun and self rewarding. Killing something with a self made bow will really bring hunting and bow building full circle. I'll post some pics when I'm done.

[bowhunter15]

Yea I'd love to see pics of that when it's done. Sounds like a beautiful combination of woods. I've also considered getting a "form bow". Jeff Kavanagh recommended having two bows for the same reason in one of his videos. If I see a 30-40 pound left handed bow pop up on eBay for under $100, I might pick it up.

[Indian Summer]

That's a great idea. I almost bought a lightweight bow to refine my form. Form is super critical with trad gear. Martin makes a cheap takedown, a Jaguar, for like $100 that I thought about. But then I decided just to build one. I borrowed a lighter recurve from one of the guys I build with anyway.

I noticed the backside of your bow is flat. When we tiller ours we rasp the belly to a round shape first then shave it as needed. I also see the nodes on the face of the boo are still very prominent. Bamboo has 2 layers. The outer sheath and the core. We shave the outer sheath which is non-porous and doesn't take stain. Then we sand the entire thing which takes the majority of the hump off of the nodes. In the end it stains nice and uniformly and looks great.

This one I think I am going to stain initially, then steel wool everywhere except the nodes, then restain. That will give it darker bands by the nodes of the boo. It kind of gives it a camo pattern. The guy who lent me the recurve did one like that and it looks awesome.

We have some incredible bow builders here in western Pa.

[Indian Summer]

Up until now I hadn't actually watched your video. Dude that is excellent. You did an incredible job putting it together. I can't believe you did that in an apartment! We make one hell of a mess building bows. Super fine wood dust gets everywhere. And all that with no vise to clamp your bow while scraping and sanding. If you had a better facility you'd be in heaven.

One little trick I invented. Even beginners can come up with good ideas and the veterans I work with gave me the thumbs up. I use it to avoid limb twist. Before I scrape the wood during tillering I take a pencil and mark lines horizontally across the limb every half inch. That way every time I make a pass with the scraper it removes the lines and I can move side to side avoiding the areas that have already been scraped and hitting the ones that still have pencil on them. It keeps my scraping uniform from side to side. I suppose that doesn't seem like to big of a deal if the belly of your bow is flat. But when it is rounded and your scraper is flat it is huge.

Starting with that kit from Three Rivers was a good idea. In the future you can start from scratch but with that you can get right down to business. It's especially beneficial if you don't have the tools we do. After watching your video I have an even greater appreciation for the guys shop I get to work in. I guess I'm pretty lucky. He gave me some bison horn for the limb tips and makes me custom Fast Flight strings. He builds some pretty sweet arrows too and has some interesting tricks of the trade.

One other thing worth mentioning.... this involves getting a uniform curve to the limbs. Remember above how I mentioned that I only put those pencil lines in the areas I need to scrape? Well this is how I know where. He has a small block of wood abut 4 inches long. In the center he drilled a half inch hole & pressed a metal threaded insert that is just big enough to screw a 2 inch long piece of pencil into. We put the bow on the tillering board and pull it down to the draw length that we are currently exercising it at. The board on the wall has holes at every inch. We put a smooth bolt in the hole and pull the string down and hook it over the bolt head. Then we run that block of wood along the inside of the curve of the limb and see where the biggest gap is. Adjust the pencil in so it is 1/16 inch or less from the limb. Then slide the block left and right along the limb. If the limb has a curve to it the pencil won't touch because the curve makes a gap between the limb and the block. But anywhere there is a flat spot it leaves a pencil line. That is where you scrape. If there is no pencil line you leave that area untouched. Eventually you will eliminate any flat spots and have a smooth uniform curve to the limbs. Works like a charm.

Knowing which section of limb to shave and scraping evenly side to side at the same time really refines and speeds up the tillering process.

Where do you live anyway?

[bowhunter15]

That is a really good idea with drawing lines across the width to prevent inducing twist. I had one of those tillering "gizmos" too with the pencil, but ended up not using it much. I think the reason that my bamboo dyed in streaks was that I only got down through most of the rind. But there were streaks where it was probably still a little present, and those are the streaks that stayed lighter. I thought about sanding the nodes down too, but wasn't sure if that would affect it's performance at all like going through a growth ring would on wood. Now I know it probably wouldn't be a big issue.

I live a little north of Minneapolis. Is one of the guys in your bow building group Roy? There was a guy that went by "Roy from Pa" that gave me several good pointers along the way on the Tradgang build-a-long forum.

[Indian Summer]

LMAO... yep. Roy is my man. He lives to build bows. He really enjoys passing on the tradition and likes to see his shop get put to good use. I was going to mention that the guys I know are on Trad Gang.

Your bow is an awesome first build. My first build failed. There were flaws in the piece of boo that I used but there was no way to know that in the early stages. We wrapped the limb in sinew so it is still usable but these days it's just another decoration in the man cave. But it didn't phase me and I ordered materials for my next one the very next day.

Building bows is a never ending learning process. Every one will be a little different than the last one. Like I said I didn't know squat and before long guys were using my line technique and Roy gave it the nod. I'm a thinker by nature. And I can tell without a doubt that you are too so I'm sure you'll put out some nice bows in the future. As far as stain goes... it's personal preference. I like a little variation. Darker at the nodes. Yesterday a guy stained his olive green. I didn't care for it but he loved it and that's all that counts. To each his own. I don't care for the rattlesnake backed bows either but one guy there plans to do that on his next build. I think your bow looks great!

I personally think your thread and that video is one of the best posts on here. Thanks!

[bowhunter15]

That's great. I actually think I remember Roy mentioning someone's bow breaking in a recent build-a-long, and I was thinking "How does a bow break under his watch?" I'm sure I will probably make a few more as time goes on. I have all the rest of that Unibond taking up space in my closet begging to be used.

[Indian Summer]

Since we work with natural materials a failure is something that happens to everyone eventually. The bow he mentioned might have been one tat was much worse than mine. The osage had a sever irregularity in the grain. Mine just made some snap crackle pop sounds. We looked and could see where the boo was compromised so we wrapped it. It's still functional but I wouldn't hunt with it. The other guys really let go! The limb blew out right in the middle and I mean blew out. Snapped right in half with splinters flying.

Too bad you're so far away. It'd be cool to have you join us. I've fished up your way. I'm a muskie nut so I've been all over. You guys have some great muskie fishing up there. Mille Lacs has been hot the past couple years. I have friends who guide there. When I was outfitting I did the Minneapolis show and met lots of guys from the Muskies Inc chapters that I knew through the grapevine for years. I like Minnesota.