Fence post bow

[Stringman]

In the last few days of deer season last year I spyed a nice pile of fence posts that had been pulled and stood tepee fashion just inside the woods at one of my hunting properties. After gettin permission, I drug a likely stick home and set it in the corner. It took me awhile to figure out which end was up but finally I started makin shavings.

I had to remove a lot of weathered and bug damaged wood, but I eventually found a place to start and began shaping a bow. The handle had a weird "S" shaped side profile that gave me fits all the way thru the tillering process. I heated the limbs and trained a mild reflex to even them out a bit and after that the old girl didnt see the heat gun at all.

A very tough old bird to force into shape, but patient scraping revealed the beauty and durability of old Osage. She ended up 45# @ 28" and shoots very smooth. I wish I had a guess as to her real age, but like most women some secrets are never told.























Thanks to my buddies Cipriano and Erik for providing a half a copper to skin my bow.   

[DuBois]

That is beautiful. Any suggestions for mine? Thanks for the pics. How long is that?

[BOWMAN53]

Thats one sick bow scott

[osage outlaw]

Nice job on that one Scott.  I bet it was a pain to tiller that thing with the way the limbs come out of the handle at different angles.  Where is the full draw?   

[lesken2011]

If only those old fence posts could talk. No tellin what they've seen. Nice job and sweet skins.

[Trapper Rob]

Nice bow skins look good.

[Badly Bent]

Nice job getting a bow out that old weathered post, looks like a good one too. I cut my bow making teeth on 65yr old
osage fence post staves. Hard and dense as stone they were and all of em' have survived and still shoot, durable is the right word. Bet that one of yours will be around a long time stringman, nice one.

[Stringman]

Thanks guys, this old piece of wood was fun to work with.

Clint- it was hard to get any momentum on it. I kept puttin it back in the corner cause of the lower limb. It seems to have a bad hinge but considering everything, I'm inclined to believe its pretty close overall. I'll try to get a FD pic up later, but it won't be very flattering.

Lesken- I'm with you. This tree was born and raised in big buck country. Fed an untold number of squirrels then spent a lifetime holding cattle in and providing a roost for every bird that swooped by. In the early years that log took a tan from some of the prettiest sunsets in the nation. Bugs chewed it up and farmers ran staples up and down its length. And now after all that I made a bow from it that should last another lifetime. Incredible...

[twisted hickory]

Beautiful and a meat maker for sure

[criveraville]

That's a sweet bow!! Nice work on half skins!! I bet there's hundreds of post out there.. I like the old color in that old wood! Excellent work amigo 

Cipriano

[H Rhodes]

Outstanding.  That's a fine bow Scott.  Great work as usual. 

[Joec123able]

Man I love these bows from old fence posts the wood we call Osage is just plain amazing tht they can still be turned into bows after being through The test of time out in the elements

[Will H]

You done a fine job on that bow Scott. I've built a few and thrusts some of the best IMHO. Gotta love old Osage!

[Pappy]

Nice job and loved the story above, wicked tillering one like that in the handle,sometimes you just have to shoot it and if it shoots good all else is        out the window. That's all that really matters anyway. They do sometimes look hinged out of the handle when they are like that,most really aren't ,just look
like it.
   Pappy

[burn em up chuck]

    well done

        chuck