I'll be presenting a class for 4-6 hours to a group of boys ages 10-15 about Traditional Archery/Hunting Etc at a christian day camp they will be attending for a week. We will have about 18-20 kids possibly. Any suggestions on how we could rough out a wood bow for each kid? or should i stick to maybe making just 1 bow (glass or wood) and showing them how?  How costly would materials be to buy to for every kid to make a wood bow? out of what?  any suggestions would be great..thanks

Hey Joebuck, awesome thing that you're doing.  I've taught an archery class years at the Middle School that I work at.  If you decide to go with board bows you can buy six foot 1x2's in red oak.  I rough them out this way.  First, cut six inches off of one end and glue it in the middle of the 66" left over.  Taper the six inch riser to a one inch width over an inch to give you a four inch handle that flares to one and a half inch limbs.  You will have 30"s of limb on either end.  Make a pencil mark every six inches from the handle to the tip.  At the handle leave the bow it's full 3/4 inch thickness.  Six inches up from that make a mark at 11/16th.  Six inches up from that mark it at 5/8th.  Another six inches mark it at 9/16th.  This is mid limb.  Another six inches up mare it at 1/2 inch and at the tip marek it at 7/16th.  

Handle layout.



Connect the dots to make a line that you can cut out a rough limb taper with.  This much would will yeild a 50 lb. bow if your careful, but can easily be worked down in weight.  After rough out my student just used farrier's rasps, four in one rasps, scrapers and sandpaper.

If you go this route be prepared to either make a lot of bows yourself, or know that there will be a number of broken bows  

Here's a pic of what one looks like finished.



If you've got time you could also purchase from Bingham's 1 piece of 2 inch wide .050 glass, one 2 inch wide .050 parallel core and a pair of 2 inch wide .100 butt thickness tapers.  Rip all of these carefully on a bandsaw to make 1 inch stock.  Glue them up in a hot box with a classic straight bow riser.  We use the rubber band method on a straight board for a form.

The resulting bow will be in the 35-40 # range.  

Have fun,

Stan

God bless you for teaching the next generation to appreciate our sport

I hope i have not bit off more than i can chew...maybe the thought of putting a working bow in each kids hand maybe be too much....i like the red oak idea...maybe i make 1 out of red oak and then give each kids step by step instructions on how to make one to take home..?

you could rough them out and then let the kids tiller them. You could demonstrate how you got to that point. check out the "so you want to build a bow" thread in the Bowyers section. as another option, Rudderbows archery has roughed out kids youth bows, ready for final tillering and finishing for $25

If you go the Red Oak board bow way, you will want to rough out all of the bows ahead of time.  I've used both a band saw and a table saw free hand to cut to the line made by connecting the dots.  From rough out to tillered bow can be done in an hour with some practice.  Might be a good idea to explain what got you to the rough out stage.  You could even type it up on one page and hand it out.  Then demo the tillering process on a roughed out bow.  Have another bow that is final sanded and demo the finishing process.  That should still give you a little time to let the kids get to work a little on their roughed out bows.  If they break one, they would at least know how to get back to a roughed out bow through the one page instructions.  

Another consideration would be whether or not kids have access to tools and a work surface outside of your camp.  Also a tillering tree.

If they don't $25 sounds very reasonable for a nearly finished bow.

Regardless of what you decide, you are doing a great thing.  My experience has been that not every kid will be bitten by the bug.  Don't take that personally, easier said than done.  We like it so much we really, really want them to as well, but they won't all.  However, you will have a few that get bitten BAD by the bug   :D  and that will be a very rewarding experience for you.  Those who do take to it will go home and make bow after bow and want to know about arrows, strings, quivers, etc.  When that happens for me I send them right here    

Have fun, and God bless.

Hey Stan, show off your students arrows too! There some talent developing in his kids. Very cool Stan.

joebuck, if you go the rudderbow route, I'll donate $25. Heck, I'll donate $25 if you need it anyway. PM where to send a donation. P.s. I got blood on my wooden hen strikers....MINE!!!!