How-To: Make a pyramid bow from hardware-store lumber

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I am descended from 5,000 generations of tool-using primates. Also, I went to college and stuff. I am a long-time contributor to MAKE magazine and makezine.com. My work has also appeared in ReadyMade, c't – Magazin für Computertechnik, and The Wall Street Journal.

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@seanragan

March 25th, 2010November 10th, 2015 4

Interesting Instructable from member Tool Using Animal (best ID ever) about how to buy red oak from the big orange store and turn it into a decent bow. He reports a 55-lb draw. [Thanks, Tim!]

4 thoughts on “How-To: Make a pyramid bow from hardware-store lumber”

Math Campbell says:

March 25th, 2010 at 1:46 pm

Yeah;
I’ve seen a similar guide on other places, using the same red-oak, and the results are amazing lookingâ€¦

Sadly, apparently “red oak” is really common in the USA, but here in the UK, a lumber-shop will look at you with that “you-should-really-see-someone-about-your-chemical-dependency-issues” lookâ€¦

Any clues for UK makers on what wood would be good to start?

Jason says:

March 26th, 2010 at 11:41 am

Historically, the English longbow was made from Yew. That might be an option. Here’s a couple of links that I found…

http://www.diyarchery.co.uk/
http://www.bowyersandfletchersguild.org/

Also, the “The Traditional Bowyer’s Bible” is an excellent resource.

Regards

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How-To: Make a pyramid bow from hardware-store lumber

By Sean Michael Ragan