Character Stave Bow / Honest opinions wanted (not for bom)

[half eye]

Fellas,
      This is a stave with more curves than than a snake. It's tillered out to 45# @ 26" (my full draw). It's old aged Ironwood. The only straightening I did was to correct the lower limb tip which was badly deflexed. The string path goes right down the center of the grip area.
      It shoots flat at 15/20 yards and hits hard (450/500 arrows)......so here's the question....If you could have this bow in your collection as a shooter/hunter would ya want it ? I'm askin because this ones for a friend and took a long time to tiller out....but if looks too crude I'll make him another one.......I value your opinions so please look over the pics and give yer honest opinion.....good or bad.
thanks, rich

there's 2 side "draw" pics one is about 1/2 and then the full draw so ya can see how the draw curve works.....

[half eye]

few more pics

[PEARL DRUMS]

Rich that top limb looks dead flat to me? Could me my eyes or the pic.

[half eye]

OK pearl, thanks

[blackhawk]

I agree the top mid limb is a bit flat. Can you feel an unbalance when you draw it? Have you tried shooting it the other way? Flip your limbs around and it might look better. And it might even shoot better than it does right now.

As far as character goes that don't bother me none and most guys who even don't make or even shoot bows think they look cool. As long as its a good shooter then who cares.

And why such the disgruntled look on your face?     Cheer up

[PEARL DRUMS]

I like the character and I would bet your buddy will be happy with that bow. Get that top limb moving a touch more and call it a bow!

[criveraville]

I dont know much, but like the others said. the top limb looks to just bend hard at the handle, with that fixed its a bow fo sho

[aznboi3644]

I can't say much...I've only made a couple character bows with wiggles and some woop de doos.

But to me it looks like you handled that bottom limbs crazy curves pretty well.

[half eye]

Thanks for the tips fellas, allready redid the upper limb and we got us a bow.....but I piked the pin knocks another inch and got some more weight. Getting the top limb bending some more didn't seem to change much but sure looks a whole lot better and will undoubtedly add to it's longevity.
     Thanks so much for these early comments......this stave thing is a whole new deal to the old guy.
rich

[George Tsoukalas]

Rich, I agree with PD but on those character bows how she shoots has to be the judge. Looks like you are branching out; pardon the pun. Jawge

[PEARL DRUMS]

Rich the last 1/3 of the limb does little work, thats why you didnt lose much draw weight getting that part to bend a touch more. I bet it is even smoother in hand now?

[Gordon]

I've made quite a few character bows and in my limited experience I've found that some folks really like them and some don't like them at all. There's a guy I'm building a bow for to trade for some of his stone points. Given his knapping skills you would think he would be all over a character bow, but he wants his bow perfectly straight with no knots. Then another guy I've built bows for is only interested in bows with lots of character. It's all a matter of taste...

[Josh B]

It is definitely a matter of taste.  In my case, the more character the better!!! I love the natural look of a hand made character bow.  With the right amount of character, there is no need to put alot of foo-for-all on it to be beautiful.  And that my friend, is beautiful.  Josh

[Matt S.]

Looks like you're not having any problems transitioning over to staves from your usual quarter-sawn lumber, how have you liked it thus far? I'm working on my first few bows from staves as well. It's a lot of fun. Board or stave, I still just like to make bendy sticks that shoot pointy sticks.

...this stave thing is a whole new deal to the old guy.

I guess you can teach an old dog new tricks! 


Seriously though, your past few stave bows have all looked really good. Only a fool would be disappointed in getting one.

[half eye]

Thank you all who have commented....might get a bow worth having out of it yet I think the "free-hand" aspects of the stave thing is right up my alley.....but I aint real sure about real knarly staves yet though. Guess it's just lettin the old dog know there really is a lot a different ways to get the job done.

Thanks also about the "shoots good" aspects over perfect bend profile.....I was really wonderin about that part.
rich