I’ve built several self-bows over the past few years. A self-bow is made from one solid piece of wood. Most any of the hardwoods and some of the softer woods can be used. My personal favorite is Hickory, specifically Pignut Hickory, so that's what we are going to focus on.

The first thing we need to do is get a good stave. You can order a stave from one of the ads in Traditional Bowhunter magazine, Primitive Archer magazine or you can check ebay, but the most satisfying way is to do it completely yourself.

If you have access to a woodlot find a nice straight Hickory. Remember Pignut is preferred but any Hickory will work fine. Look for a tree 8 - 10 inches in diameter. It’s best to wait until the sap is running (the buds are starting to show) before cutting your tree down. Once the tree is down cut out the straightest section with as few limbs as possible. I prefer a 7 – 8 foot log.

Now you need to split and quarter the log right away.  I have used sledgehammer, wedges and mauls and I have also taken the log to an Amish sawmill and had it cut into quarters. Either method works, it just needs to be done as soon after cutting as possible.

Next you need to peel the bark and the inner bark. If you have cut your tree when the sap is running and you didn’t let it dry much before quartering, the outer bark will peel very easily and the inner bark will come off with it, leaving you with the finished backside of your bow. You now should have 4 staves ready for drying.

Coat the ends of the staves with paint to keep them from cracking and checking during the drying process. Now put the staves up for 2 – 3 weeks in a warm dry area.

After a few weeks of drying the moisture content of your stave should be around 20%. You can now dry it at a faster rate by putting it in a heat source of around 100 degrees.
You can make a cheap hot box from a piece of 6” duct pipe or PVC pipe. Get a piece long enough for your stave. About a foot from one end drill some holes through the pipe. Run some wire through the holes creating a screen for one end of your stave to rest on. With the pipe and stave standing on end put a lamp socket with a 60 –75 Watt bulb under it. This will create a temperature around 100 degrees. You will need to flip the stave in the hot box every now and then to dry it evenly.

The moisture content of your stave should drop to about 8 – 9 percent in 4 or 5 days. Moisture content is critical for performance. Above 10% and your bow will be slow and sluggish, at 8% it will be fast and snappy. There are electronic moisture meters available or you may be able to take your stave to a lumberyard and have it tested. I have found if you use the method above and the stave feels dry when you take it out of the hotbox it’s ready to make a bow out of.

Now it’s time to start making that stave look like a bow. There are many different styles of bows you can make. For this project we are going to make a Flat Bow.

Start by trimming your stave to 70 inches. Your finished bow will be 65 – 68 inches long. To layout the shape of the bow I start by securing the stave in a vise or on a tabletop with the back of the bow up. This is the outside part of the log you peeled the outer and inner bark from. Now snap a chalk line right down the center the length of your stave. Now measure from each end and mark the center of your stave. This will be your reference point for laying out the shape of your bow. Using the picture below draw the shape of your bow on the stave. Make sure to use a dark pen or pencil to make it easier to follow the lines when you start removing wood. It’s a whole lot harder to put wood back on than it is to take it off.

Now using the method of your choice work the sides of your stave to the lines you drew. I use a band saw to remove the bulk of the wood then finish with a wood rasp and then fine file. Remember to be careful and work slow. You’ve already put a considerable amount of time and effort in your new bow, trying to hurry it up usually results in a nice piece of firewood.

Now that you have the stave to the shape of the bow it’s time to remove some wood from the belly of the bow. Using the picture below for a reference remove wood from the belly leaving the stave approximately 3/4” thick at the nock ends, 7/8” thick at mid-limb and 1 5/8” at the handle. Again use the method of your choice to remove the wood. I use a band saw and make slow careful cuts. Take it slow and easy. This is the time that most staves are reduced to firewood. If you’ve made it this far your bow is now ready for nocks and tillering.

Tillering is the process of removing wood from the belly side of the bow so that both limbs bend equally in a proper arc achieving the correct draw weight.

To start, I floor tiller the stave by placing one end of it in the instep of my right foot and pull on the handle with one hand while pushing the top of the stave with the other. At this point you probably won’t see much bending if any at all.  With the bow held in a vise use a good 10 or 12 inch coarse wood rasp and take 20 full strokes from the belly of each limb and floor tiller again. Continue this process until the stave begins bending. When you can bend the bow about 4 inches its time to cut nocks in the ends of the bow and move on to a tillering stick.

Locate the nock positions by measuring from the stave center toward each end an equal distance. For a 68 inch bow it would be 34 inches. I use a chain saw file to cut the grooves. Using the picture below as reference cut in the nocks (string grooves).

I made my tillering stick from a scrap piece of 2x4. Using the picture below for a reference cut a notch in one end that will accommodate the handle section of your stave. Notice that the notch in the end is cut off center so that when you are checking tiller the bow is being pulled straight back.  

Next cut a series of grooves spaced 1 inch apart on one edge of the 2x4. I cut the grooves so that the last one is 24 inches from the end of the board that you cut the notch in. By doing this I know that I cannot over draw my bow during the tillering process.

Now that you have your tillering stick ready you need a tillering string. You can use an old bowstring if you have one long enough or you can do as I do and use a piece of 3/16 inch nylon rope. Tie a loop in each end of the string so that it is just an inch or so shorter than your stave. Place the handle section of your stave in the notch being careful to center it. I also mark the center point of the string between the loops.  Pull the string back and drop it in one of the grooves. You will find that at first you may be only able to get to the first or second groove, that’s OK.

Carefully look at the limbs of your stave. You’re looking for a continuous smooth curve with the same amount of bend in each limb. What you probably have is an uneven curve with straight stiff sections. Using a pencil mark the sections that are not bending and note if one side is bending more than the other.

Remove the stave from the tillering stick and take it back to the vise. With your wood rasp remove wood in the stiff areas leaving the areas that were bending alone. If one limb was stiffer than the other remove wood from the full length of it. Be careful not to get carried away and remove too much wood at once.

Put the stave back on the tillering stick and repeat this process until you have both limbs bending in the same smooth arc. Now you should be able to remove wood from each limb equally until you can put the string in the last groove of the tillering block. Remember to constantly watch each limb to insure a smooth even arc.

The picture below is the stave I am currently working on. It is from a 10-inch Osage log that was dried for 15 years.

Here’s another stave on a tillering stick. Notice how the right limb is stiffer than the left. Wood needs to be removed from the full length of it until they bend equally.  

You can lay your tillering stick on the floor as in the first photo or make a stand to hold it vertical like this one. Whatever works best for you.  

We used to have a kitchen floor that had a design in it of small squares. It was great for tillering. Looking down on it was like looking at the curve of the limbs on graph paper.

I know one fellow in South Carolina that painted a series of horizontal lines on the side of his garage and then fastened his tillering stick to the garage wall.


Now that you have a nice smooth even arc in both limbs it’s time to start thinking about draw weight. I try to finish my bows around 50# pull at 27 inch draw length.

To check the draw weight you will need a bowstring and a way to measure the draw weight. As for the string you can either buy or make one. It should be about 3 inches shorter than the distance between the nocks. You can twist the string to make it shorter if needed. I make a 3 ply Flemish twist for my bows, but that’s another whole topic. To check the draw weight I used another scrap piece of 2x 4 about 30 inches long. Put a groove in one end and fasten the other end to a 10“ square piece of wood. Mark the length of the 2x4 in inch increments, mine stops at 29 inches.

Place this fixture on the bathroom scales and zero them. String your bow and place the string in the groove in the end of the 2x4. You can now pull down on the handle section of your bow while watching the bathroom scales. If you want a 50# draw weight it is very important that you never draw your bow past 50#. You will probably find that you will reach your desired draw weight at 12 – 15 inches, That’s great.

To reach your draw length you need to remove wood evenly from both limbs, maintaining that nice smooth arc you have developed.

For this part I put away the wood rasp and get a little modern. I use a 3” drum sander (80 grit) in a bench top drill press. Holding the stave on edge and starting at the tip of a limb I take full length passes across the drum sander. This does a good job of removing wood evenly and leaving a much smoother finish than the rasp. This is also a slower process, which gives you much better control of achieving your desired draw weight. If you want to continue with a rasp, switch to a fine tooth one.

Repeat the process of checking the draw weight and removing wood. The draw length will increase slowly at first. Be careful your desired draw length has a habit of sneaking up on you and many 50# bows have ended up as 35#. When your draw length is within 2 inches of your desired length it’s time to stop removing wood. Your stave is now a bow ready for final finishing.

Removing wood from the belly of the stave.

Using a light steady pressure removes wood evenly the length of the stave while maintaining the nice smooth arc you worked so hard for during the tillering process.

It’s time to shoot your bow. Remember final draw length has not been established so only drawing it about 3/4 shoot it at least 50 times. This will get the wood used to bending. You can use the knuckle of your bow hand as an arrow rest if you are shooting arrows fletched with feathers. If you are not comfortable doing this or you are shooting arrows fletched with vanes, wear a leather glove on your bow hand.

After shooting your new bow check the draw weight. You will likely find that the draw length is getting pretty close to your desired length. At this point I use a sanding block and progressively finer grit sand paper to hand sand the belly of the bow to achieve final draw weight and length. Remember to remove wood slowly and check often to make sure you are maintaining your nice smooth arc.

For final finishing sand the grip of your bow to fit your hand. I use the drum sander in the drill press to shape the handle and fadeouts.

After you are satisfied with the final sanding of your bow apply a finish of your choice to seal and protect the wood. I apply several coats of Tru-Oil using 0000 steel wool between coats.

Wrap the handle with material of your choice. I use thin leather cut to shape then laced at the back of the bow. You can glue thick pieces of leather together and then to the side of the bow for an arrow rest. I choose to shoot off the top of my hand using the knuckle of my bow hand as the arrow rest. I have shot hundreds of arrows like this and have not left a mark on my hand yet.

You now have a finished self bow that you made yourself.

Have fun shooting it and don't forget to email some pictures of it and any game you take with it.