Poor Folk Bows
Bow building for poor people and apartment dwellers
Brought to you by: SAM HARPER
Build alongs and stuff
Red oak board bow build along This is a tutorial showing how to make a cheap bow with a minimum of tools. If you've never made a bow before, this is a good place to start.
English Longbow build-along This was my first attempt at an English longbow.
Another English longbow build-along This was my second attempt at an English longbow. I like this one better.
Bamboo-backed ipe bow build along I suppose the information in this one would be just as useful if the belly wood were Osage or bamboo.
Fiberglass laminated bow build along This is probably not the best build-along I've done, but it's better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it.
How to make a Flemish bowstring
How I make arrows This build-along did not go smoothly, but you may still be able to learn something, or just enjoy the adventure.
Bow woods This is a list of my opinion about various woods I've tried in bow limbs.
Finishes This is a list of my opinion about various finishes I've tried.
How to make a cheap and easy hot box
How to Make a Spine Tester This tutorial shows how to make a simple and inexpensive spine tester. It also goes into the difference between static and dynamic spine and how to estimate the proper spine for your bow. And it shows several other spine testers.
Violin build along This is my first violin and is posted more for your entertainment than for your education. Please keep that in mind.
Updates
June 15, 2013
I added a video tutorial on how to make a Flemish bowstring. It's 40 minutes long. I didn't do any editing. Oh, and I also found John Scifres' old web page on the Wayback Machine. There's a lot of good build along on there and well-worth checking out. I read his stuff religiously when I was learning how to make bows, and I still like to look at them. His build alongs were a big inspiration for the how I do build alongs.
February 27, 2013
Somebody opened an account and started a thread on The Leatherwall pretending to be me. It's not me, and I don't know what the deal is with that. His handle on the leatherwall is Poorfolk Bows, and he calls himself Sam Harper.
July 5, 2012
I did a wee bit of editing on the red oak build along and the bamboo backed ipe build along, and I fixed a few dead links. I also added a bunch of links to the other bow building sites page.
May 29, 2012
I added an arrow build-along. It's not my best work, but cut me some slack. I don't have that much experience making arrows. I was making six arrows, and I broke four of them. It's been a rough day. :-( I thought about scrapping the whole thing but after all the time I spent writing, editing pictures, making corrections, etc. for the last three days, I decided to post it anyway.
May 27, 2012
I added a tutorial showing how to make a simple spine tester. It's similar to the one I did for the YouTube video.
May 24, 2012
I posted a video on YouTube today showing how to make a quick and easy spine tester.
May 18, 2012
I added a Frequently Asked Questions section to hopefully cut back on some of the email I get. But don't feel bad about asking questions if you have them! So far, I've been able to respond to all of my email.
March 7, 2012
I finally got some tools to continue my violin build along, and I posted a few pictures on page 4.
January 29, 2012
I uploaded a video on YouTube showing how I pack my bows to ship them.
July 14, 2010
I uploaded the new web page my friend, Tonya, designed for me. She did all the graphics and everything, and she designed seven different logos I can change out whenever I feel like it. I haven't decided whether I should upload the corresponding pages for the build alongs or not since the build alongs already have lots of images, and I don't want to slow them down. What do you think?