75# carved white oak viking bow

[half eye]

Sometime back hickoryswitch and bubby were asking about white oak bow wood. I had not ever used the stuff so thought I'd try it for myself. I found the wood easily worked down and carved. The bow pulls very nice and all in all it is a very durable bow. The only thing I have noticed is regarding the the "snappiness" (if there is such a word) the bow imparts a lot of power to the arrows but does seem a bit more sluggish than some other woods I've tried. The other thing is the weight of the finished bow...it sems a little heavier than my others such as elm, ash, even maple.

Here's some photos: I'm going to reduce the profile of the levers some because I plan on dropping the draw weight a little. When I first tillered it out it was drawing 60# @ 12inches...so left the levers too heavy. The bow has been drawn to 30" on the tree but I cant pull it that far.

Use the infor for what ever it be worth.
half eye


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[Aries]

Amazing bow, i love your carvings. the arrow is sick!!  how long does it take you to do a carving such as that, what tools do you use?  Awesome

[half eye]

Aries,
       If you download a picture that you want to use....about 20-30 min to trace it, With a dremel (or such) and a small "ball" shaped carver (holding it like a pencil) about 1 to 1.5 hours to carve away the background, then maybe 20 min to "shade in some contrast with a wood burner. The burner is only necessary because this is "low-relief" and the carving doesn't really show the shadows as good as deep relief does.
      It is not hard to do, your first one or two will probably take longer....but after that you can "whip" them puppies right out and you'll have to remind yourself to slow down a little.
half eye

[Dane]

Forgive me for my ignorance, but what is a ball shaped carver? Is it a tool I can get from a specialist wood working company, or is it something I can make myself?

If I didn’t want to mess with a wood burning tool (last time I used one was when I was in the Indian Guides, back in the 1830s when I was young and full of life. My name was Shooting Star in that organization. The best part of it was the end of the meetings, when we did the great spirit prayer and then shot each other with imaginary bows and arrows:) ). Could paint also take care of contrasts and so on?

This new design is just so cool. The sides of the levers / upper limbs is also very nice. Thanks for sharing it with all of us.

Dane

[half eye]

dane,
    Here's a pic of the diamond carving heads...they are mostly called by the shape of cutting end (ball, cylinder, point etc.) You can get them from any of those "discount tools" outfits and the like for really cheap....maybe less than $10 for a 12-15 piece set. You can also get them from anybody that sells dremels etc. but they will cost a little more and usually by the each. if you have a choice get the "coarse cut" they still cut real fine and dont clog up as bad.
     The ones in the pic are from my carving days, now I clamp them into a handle and use them like a bottoming file....takes longer but I can hang onto a handle but no thumb for that "pencil" hold thing.
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[NTD]

I would love to see a full draw pic

[Dane]

I probably have those in my shop, and didnt know it. I was picturing some really fancy, exotic tool.

Thanks for clarifying for me!

Dane

[Josh]

nice bow Halfeye.  I really love your carvings you do a great job!     -josh

[zenmonkeyman]

Half eye, somehow you inspire me and fill me with despair every time you post one of your bows, especially considering the frequency with which you do it!  It's almost too much to aspire to!  Keep 'em coming! 

I can't quite make out what the runes might say in that one picture, is it the name of the bow?

Garett

[half eye]

Zenman,
     I dont know what they say, I can write my own but these came off a rock carving in Sweden and I haven't decifered them as yet, dont know if I can cause I know what the letters are but cant speak any of the Nordic languages. They just looked cool and they fit into the space.....
half eye

[zenmonkeyman]

Hey, my grandma is 2nd generation Canadian, half Norwegian, half Swedish, and knows some of both languages.  What do the runes say in modern script, maybe she'll know.  (Maybe you don't want to know, maybe it says "Spineless" or something inappropriate like that...)

[half eye]

Zen & NTD
       Zen I'll decipher that and let you know later if thats ok?
      NTD heres those pics
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[cracker]

Great lookin bow I really like the carving.Ron

[half eye]

Thanks Ron, Garett, here's a picture of the "rock" the parts I used come out like this....I mean the letters come out like this:
F N Th U R S I : N Z N R ( J or I ) : L I T......the "colon's" are word separators. ( I used the Elder Futhark for the letter equivalents)
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[Dave 55]

Beautiful  bow half eye was wondering if you were going to do the money shot nude.