Osage holmguaard takedown

[BakhSA]

Beautiful bow, Mike! Great job.
Bakh

[mikekeswick]

Thanks for all the kind commentguys.
I bought the sleeves from flybow shop, they are the small size. To be honest I don't really like the size of them, a little 'chunky' for me. They are about the size I used to make my handles but recently i've been going narrower,especially at the arrow pass. I tend to go with widest and highest in the very middle to narrow and thinner at the necks then back wider at the fades. I wish I could find somebody who made actual small ones...
I'll try and get a picture of the width taper today to show you, it's sort of shallow pyramid taper then steps in to the narrower tips, eiffel tower style. People often (i used to as well) add way too much thickness at the tips on this style of bow. If you think that the limb is tapering anyway then you don't need much at all extra thickness to make them stiff.
Still haven't chronoed it yet...

[Keenan]

Wow Mike, That is a very impressive bow. The tiller is spot on perfect. great looking detail work and love the coloring of that wood. Congratulations on another very nice bow.

[Pappy]

Beautiful bow,got to love that,everything about it.
   Pappy

[Gaur]

Nice bow Mike.  Let me know what size take down sleeves and I'll have a few made up for you here in Thailand.  I use thin walled stainless piping 2 mm and have a local machine shop spin some brass inserts 2mm thickness.  Then I squeeze them in a big vice a bit to give it the oval shape I like.  I'll throw a couple to try out with the next batch of horns 

[okie64]

Great lookin bow Mike! What color of stain did you use to get that darker color in the earlywood rings? Ive never thought of staining osage but I love the way that turned out.

[swamp yeti]

Awsome bow Mike,good job.

[mikekeswick]

Nice bow Mike.  Let me know what size take down sleeves and I'll have a few made up for you here in Thailand.  I use thin walled stainless piping 2 mm and have a local machine shop spin some brass inserts 2mm thickness.  Then I squeeze them in a big vice a bit to give it the oval shape I like.  I'll throw a couple to try out with the next batch of horns 

That would be excellent! I really like the idea of takedowns but the size of even the small ones left a bit to be desired. I'll measure these and get back to you with the sizes. If the price works out ok I may well have more orders for you. I could do with a couple more horns because I want to make more hornbows, got three drying now from the horns I got off you...patience isn't my strong point...
The stain is just a 'light pine', I tested it on an offcut and liked the way it looked. It only seemed to make a difference to the earlywood like you say.

[davkt]

Sweet!

[Gaur]

Mike,  I've been using 1 1/2" stainless pipe but I was thinking of trying 1 1/4" to give a smaller handle.  The 1 1/2" fits my hand nice but then you need a thin leather or other type material over it to keep it from getting too bulky.  The more you squeeze it in the vice then the narrower your handle can be but there seems to be a limit i can squeeze it before it looses its oval shape.  They cost me about $17 to do a set.  Brass is spendy here but the labor it cheap.

[druid]

Very good bow my friend! Very important thing: ends of you limbs are not too thick, just as the have to be! Usually people left them too thick and lost all the benefits of this great design. This is right design!!!  Is it heat treated?

[medicinewheel]

Very nice!