This man is a genius. Not only would I not have believed that making a PVC bow was possible; I could not have thought possible that anyone could demonstrate how that works in less than ten minutes. That’s exactly what Nick the Backyard Bowyer does.
It seems pretty simple — just heat it up, flatten the limbs, and then make sure they’re straight. You could jack up and throw away ten of them before you got one right, and you’d still be only a few bucks in the hole. The newest addition to my list of things to do this week is stealing Chuck’s heat gun and trying this out after building a flattening jig.
Props to you Nick, and well done! It’s projects and thinking like this that make DIY possible and affordable. We love the end product and how you managed to keep everything easy to build.
PVC Horse Bow [Youtube]
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3 Responses to Backyard Bowyer: PVC Bow
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You do want to be careful heating PVC, as it can release Hydrogen Chloride Gas. This is why most commercial laser cutting operations will not cut Sintra, or similar PVC sheet. Over the electric stove, maybe, but over an open flame, not a good idea, especially indoors with no safety gear.
Ten years ago I made a didgeridoo from PVC pipe over the barbecue. Worked like a charm (not that the bends *did* anything for the sound but it looks a hell of a lot better bent than straight
Anyway, what Kurt says, do this outside. And, if you heat it too much, the bow will snap. And, make sure you get the 100% PVC pipes, not the ‘sandwiched’ ones with only a bit of PVC on the outside. The latter will not bend but burn (and smelly at that).
few kilograms holds this arc???
may break and as has hardened PVC poartes .. could hurt the user.????
IDEA: Why not cover external and internal superfivie some material to keep the pieces of the arc (if it breaks) in place??? by exemplo a layer of leather or as they did with the old arches were encvueltos ballesgtas in a thong to avoid damage to the user???
(Sorry for my English badly written)