Greetings everyone,
I wanted to share that I've finally finished my first successful ash longbow. I found some nice, straight grained ash board and cut it into sections to make some staves. Oddly enough, I had a lot of trouble at first. On one stave I tried very hard to chase the grain, and it was going very well, until I noticed that it had thinned out to less than 1/2 inch in the middle verses 1 1/2 inches at the fades. That one went back into the pile (maybe I'll use it to back something). The second one broke, more due to impatience than wood quality. The third started to get underweight and I glued it to a long piece of black walnut - more on that one in another post. Finally, this fourth came out underweight, but just about right.
It's 72 inches nock to nock, 32 pounds at 30 inches draw. It has no backing, so that's a first for me with ash. The handle wrap is more leather that I scavenged from the old couch, with a small piece of oak underneath to give it a little rest. For myself, I just shoot off the knuckle, but I noticed that my friend is more comfortable with a rest.
The bend is a little wonky, but I'm learning. Hey - it's my seventh bow that didn't break. Rather than spend more time on this bow, I'm giving it away to a friend and starting over.
I'll post a full draw pic when I have one. I have to get my wife to shoot me (which I'm sure she'd enjoy).
The kitten in the photo has been a handful. Obviously, she likes the strings, but also attacks the bows while I'm working on them unstrung. I think she just goes after anything that moves. Or has moved. Or could move. The pattern on her back is weird - sometimes it looks like a squirrel if the white fur blends into the floor or wall.
I stained the belly of the bow with a 'rosewood' stain, left it outside for a few hours, and then it started pouring rain. I got back to the bow in time to have most of the finish get ruined and run down the sides. After drying, I sanded and applied a lighter colored stain. It came out okay, but some of the sides are funny. Guess that's what I get for trying to make it 'look' like a traditional longbow.
