How to Make a Recurve Bow

A recurve bow is designed to curve away from the shooter when drawn, which results in faster arrows and forceful shots. In a recurve bow, when the bow is drew, the string gets attached to the limbs of the bow rather than the tips like in other bows. The bow is made up of a riser with two limbs attached with hinge at both ends. When the string is pulled, the limbs curve back and when released they snap back into position. This produces a tension that propels the arrow with a higher force than usual. The tips of a recurve bow curve away from the archer when the bow is unstrung. It stores more energy than a straight-limbed bow, giving a greater amount of cast to the arrow.

A recurve gives more arrow energy to a shorter bow than a simple bow, due to which it is often preferred by archers in environments where long weapons are inconvenient, such as forest terrains or horse riding. On the contrary, the traditional straight longbow tends to stack, i.e as the string is drawn back, the required draw force increases rapidly per unit of the draw length. The recurve bow's bent limbs allow a lower bracing height with the same limb length, a higher amount of stacking and more spring force over the first few inches of draw.

Recurve bows have limbs made of layers of carbon fiber, fiberglass and laminated wood cores. The riser is normally made of aluminum or magnesium, although in recent times, carbon-aluminum hybrids are used for the riser. For beginners, they are usually made of wood or plastic. The recurve bow is a commonly used bow in the Olympics and other similar sporting events.

How to Make a Recurve Bow?

There are many types of wood that can be used for making a bow, like osage orange, lemonwood, hickory and yew. Maple is the most commonly used core wood for glass-faced and backed bows, as it is dense, straight-grained and readily available. Due to these reasons, the beginners prefer to use maple wood over other types of wood. Following are some basic steps to be followed while making a recurve bow.

Material Required:

5½ ft long by 3 in wide board, coarse wood rasp, smooth mill file, pencil hand saw, large pot stove 2 ft by 4 ft board and heavy duty clamps.

Steps to be followed:

• In the center of the board mark a line. For proper hand grip, measure 3 inches on either side of the line. Adjust the measurements as per your hand size.
• Use the coarse rasp to re-shape the wood around the gripping area.
• The gripping area and stave area should be 5/8 inches and 3/8 inches in thickness respectively, hence accordingly file the thickness of the bow.
• The width of the bow at the gripping area and stave area should be 2½ inches and ½ inch respectively. Make sure that both the ends are even.
• With the help of the smooth mill file, smoothen and even out the bow. File the gripping area so that it fits in your hand.
• Now cut a curve into the 2×4-foot board and try to make it as even as possible.
• Boil water in a container to immerse up to 10 inches of your bow's limbs. Immerse one end of the bow's limb in the water for three hours. You can extend the immersion time by one hour if necessary.
• Remove the limb from the water and clamp it onto the curved board. Repeat this procedure for the other end also.
• Cut 2-inch notches from the tip on the sides of the bow from the top and the bottom. These notches are used to hold the string in place.

There are many variables and pitfalls in the making of a recurve bow. If it turns out to be successful on the first try, it's an achievement for sure. However, the excitement of accomplishment and the knowledge gained through it makes it worth the effort, even if it takes more than one try to succeed.