Iīll start tomorrow to built my own long bow. Iīll not finish it in 1 1/2 h like Tabo because I believe that the quality is better if you work slower and precise. I think it makes sense to give the wood the time to set as described in the guidelines of the manual on your page. That doesnīt mean that I donīt appreciate the work of Tapo - he has already a long bow that works, me not! His experiences are very interesting.

I think the most difficult job was to find the right wood. Itīs hard to find the type of wood which is recommended for the belly. Maple is available but I think itīs not good for the belly. Finally I went trough some books and found out that ash should work because of itīs characteristics. Even ash was hard to find but now I got it.

Tomorrow Iīll start to plain the front profile of the limbs. I start with a piece of ash 1820 x 30 x 32 mm. Iīll prepare a selfbow made from one piece of wood. Cost of the piece of ash was 5 $.

Today I almost finished my bow!

I shot 30 pcs. of 28" arrows with full draw length and the results were good (for me even excellent)

I followed mainly your guidelines and it works. One of the most critical points was rounding off the belly. I didn't found a shop selling spokeshaves, so I used a different tool. I will try to find out the English translation for it. Its a kind of very sharp knife used like a plane but you have to be very careful to plane not too deep into the wood.

After sanding down the belly I tried to string the bow - it required very much strength. I sanded the limbs down a little more, strung it again and remained the bow strung for some hours with a bracing height of approx. 10 cm. The bow followed the string slightly and it was now easier to string. Then I started to draw the bow 1/2 and later on 3/4 of its draw length. The next day I tried the full draw length to 28".

Today I shortened the full length of the bow to 1770mm because I use now a standard dacron string for 70" long bows. This string can be bought finished which is easier to replace and cheaper (I paid 7,-$).

The strung bow has now a bracing height of 17 cm.

After shooting 30 arrows with the full drawing length of 28" I was very satisfied. The bow is strong but not extreme compared with my wooden 20 lbs. flat bow. It has a different behaviour in releasing and accelerating the arrow and is stronger than the flatbow when shooting with the full draw length( arrow has more energy when penetrating the target.

I don't believe that the bow has 40 lbs. but I would estimate something about 32 lbs.

After shooting I detected some very small approx. 3mm compression ridges on the surface.

I will run now a long term test with the bow, counting the arrows shot until the bow fails. Tomorrow I will carefully sand the surface with 280 grain sandpaper and cover it with three layers of lacquer.

I also did the arrows by my own which was much more expensive than the bow. Ok I bought a tapering tool and a fletching tool and birds feathers which are more than twice times more expensive as the plastic ones. The tools are long term investment and I'm really happy with them! The birds feathers come a little bit bend which makes applying them difficult without the fletching tool. In addition you are faster and more precise than by hand - remember you need only one bow but many arrows and you have to maintain them! I used Cedar for the shafts and after testing it I'm convinced that this is really the best material for this purpose.

The total cost of my first effort were:
• bow:

  MATERIAL	COST
  1850 x 32 x 30 mm ash wood	5,-$
  cutting this dimensions (were done by a company with the right equipment)	1,50 $
  dacron string	7,-$
  sand paper diff. grain	1,-$
  lacquer	4,-$
  Total:	18,50 $

• arrows:

  MATERIAL	COST
  Cedar shaft 80 cm	2,60 $
  pile	0.40 $
  nock	0,15 $
  3 birds feathers long	1,60 $
  Total:	4,75 $ /pc.

• tools:

  MATERIAL	COST
  tapering tool	50,80 $
  fletching tool	46,- $

Finally I want to ask you two questions:

1. how can I measure the finally strength of the bow - how many lbs. it has?

ANSWER: The easiest way is to take it to an archery or hunting shop. Odds are that one of those places will have a bow scale. If you can't find a place with a bow scale, or if you simply prefer to do it yourself, there is a home method of measuring the draw weight of your bow. The method does require a bit of "creative carpentry" though.

create a 9- to 12-inch tall pyramid-like frame out of wood (or whatever) with a wide, stable base that comes to a point with a notch in it to hold the string. Place an ordinary bathroom scale on the edge of any surface that is narrow (just wide enough for the scale) and free of obstacles below it. Place the pyramid you made on top of the scale. Make sure that the pyramid is centered on the scale for the most accurate possible measurement. Place the bowstring in the notch you made at the top of the pyramid. Draw the bow to your correct draw length and read what the scale says. If you have to flex the bow in order to get it around the pyramid/scale contraption, be sure to include that distance when you draw the bow back.

I know that the description I just gave isn't very clear, but I don't know exactly how to describe it without making diagrams. Perhaps it's time for me to break down and make one . . .

2. Can you tell me something about compression ridges - when do they occur, Can they be avoided by e.g. special treatment , type of wood, geometry of the bow,...and how critical they are?

ANSWER: Compression ridges occur when the wood is bent past it's elastic limit. If the bow is bent too far, or bent too often, the wood ceases to return to it's original state, yielding compression ridges. Any type of wood can get compression ridges, but some types are more susceptible than others. They can be avoided in a number of ways.

Use the best possible wood for the bow (yew or osage). The bow can be made heavier than necessary, so that the bow is never bent beyond the elastic limit of the wood. The most important place to strengthen is the area around the riser (where you put your hand). I believe that there are some special treatments for bows to reduce the possibility of compression ridges, but I don't know what they are. The geometry of the bow is critical with respect to compression ridges. Or rather, the craftsmanship of the bow. It is very important to make the lines of the bow as uniform as possible. If there are irregularities in the surface of the bow, stress points can be created which promote development of compression ridges.

Compression ridges can eventually lead to failure of the bow. It is important to inspect a bow before and after each time it is used. It might also be wise to keep a log of when compression ridges form, where they form, how many there are, and how deep they are. This should help you determine when your bow is about to fail.