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So when FA was down I did a lot of fiddling with the bows which is why you are getting this now! The pipe bow was nice but it didn't really look...bow like enough to me. And I also wanted to try the other main way I had seen online of how to make a PVC bow. So here we go with the second try! A horse (like) bow made with 3/4 inch PVC, a heat gun, a tapering jig, some gloved hands, and an empty soup can to bend the edges!
Big thanks to these two videos for helping me try to figure out the steps;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hE8rlbN3jg4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5GWyp52CVYM
And an extra big thanks to Dan Santana (first link) who offered some direct tips when I posted about the longbow I made on the Bowyers reddit. A lot of very good tips there!
The first step in making a bow with only a pipe, no fiberglass in this one, is to flatten out your limbs. Another special thanks to Backyard Bowyer for providing a great guide for that as I made my own (as I hope to make many of these) by following his adjustable jig video here;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2K0JnJApQWI
The biggest hurdle I initially ran into was the heat gun we had around here was nowhere near strong enough to do this. Thankfully Home Depot nearby had a better one that worked perfectly! And with the jig assembled and heat flowing it was time to squash those limbs down! I was advised to do this one limb at a time and take it slow. As trying to bend too much of the PVC at once may have it set thin and prone to breaking. And it went...ok? Its not perfectly symmetrical on each side but thats just something to try and do better next time for. I'm sure its not ideal but I'm just trying to get the basic process here to work. Learning to do better next time!
Next was re heating the last three inches of the pipe to squash it from horizontal to vertical to give the ends the strength they need to withstand having all the pressure of the bow on them. This part was hard but I found a pencil and gloved hands worked well enough to fold the floppy pipe into and over itself as you can see into picture three. Not even but hey - first try!
And then the next step is to cut the slots in those limbs, on the side where its open to keep the strong bottom, with a file for the string to rest. Good ol Rat Tail file! Yes-yes! Not pictures is where I heated the bow below this part, down three inches, to put in the bend. So inch 3-6 from the end of the bow while 0-3 was the squashed vertical part. I used an empty soup can to put in what I thought was good and I was recommended to have more bend from the archery store. So something to work on improving.
Big thanks to these two videos for helping me try to figure out the steps;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hE8rlbN3jg4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5GWyp52CVYM
And an extra big thanks to Dan Santana (first link) who offered some direct tips when I posted about the longbow I made on the Bowyers reddit. A lot of very good tips there!
The first step in making a bow with only a pipe, no fiberglass in this one, is to flatten out your limbs. Another special thanks to Backyard Bowyer for providing a great guide for that as I made my own (as I hope to make many of these) by following his adjustable jig video here;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2K0JnJApQWI
The biggest hurdle I initially ran into was the heat gun we had around here was nowhere near strong enough to do this. Thankfully Home Depot nearby had a better one that worked perfectly! And with the jig assembled and heat flowing it was time to squash those limbs down! I was advised to do this one limb at a time and take it slow. As trying to bend too much of the PVC at once may have it set thin and prone to breaking. And it went...ok? Its not perfectly symmetrical on each side but thats just something to try and do better next time for. I'm sure its not ideal but I'm just trying to get the basic process here to work. Learning to do better next time!
Next was re heating the last three inches of the pipe to squash it from horizontal to vertical to give the ends the strength they need to withstand having all the pressure of the bow on them. This part was hard but I found a pencil and gloved hands worked well enough to fold the floppy pipe into and over itself as you can see into picture three. Not even but hey - first try!
And then the next step is to cut the slots in those limbs, on the side where its open to keep the strong bottom, with a file for the string to rest. Good ol Rat Tail file! Yes-yes! Not pictures is where I heated the bow below this part, down three inches, to put in the bend. So inch 3-6 from the end of the bow while 0-3 was the squashed vertical part. I used an empty soup can to put in what I thought was good and I was recommended to have more bend from the archery store. So something to work on improving.
Category All / All
Species Unspecified / Any
Size 2002 x 1742px
File Size 839.2 kB
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