Do u like character bows

[wood_bandit99]

Ever since I was a new bowyer I always wanted to do character bows. I wanted it to be, when we go to a 3d tournament or something, to set my bow down next to everyone else's and not have to search for my bow because it looks so much like the others. I wanted my bows to be snaky, lumpy, and have knots and holes. I just talked to a few bowyers near me. One guy, Jason, does bows and loves it. He has only made a couple somewhat character bows. The rest were "fiberglass straight" osage bows. He took out any reflex or deflex he would just make them straight. The other guy, Jerry, sells staves and I was talking to him and he sells "good staves" and "premium staves". I asked him "what do u mean by that? I know people that lik zero character and I know people that lik a lot of character." He said he sells staves that are pipe straight and the bows look lik fiberglass. I told him I like the character staves and he said he had a bunch but nobody ever wants them. He says he tinkers on them himself. So, what are u are u like me and Jerry, the character boys or do u like making bows from pipes?

[Pat B]

Character! I want my homemade wood bows to look like what they are...homemade wood bows.

[Newindian]

Yup, never really noticed it until I worked on a perfectly clean bow and a character bow at the same time. The clean stage was soooo boring

[wood_bandit99]

There must be a ton of wusses around here then, pat and indian!!! I always wanted mine to be able to pick mine out from a mile away!

[steve b.]

I'm with you--I like the bumps, bark, and wobbles.  I appreciate any homemade bow that shoots well but I prefer something that blends in with the forest (with its fast flight string )

[PEARL DRUMS]

Knots, cracks, snakes and holes scare me. That's why Im a wussy.

[adb]

I certainly get the most comments about my character bows, especially the yew bows.

[bluegill68]

Hi my name is Sean and I am a wussy. 

In reality I have never seen a pipe straight stave of Osage that didn’t have some character to it. I definitely haven’t worked with two that were the same.  So in to me they are all different enough to keep from being boring.

I think it was Mickey Lotz that said something like “the good stuff makes better bows but the bad stuff makes better Bowyers”.  I like a challenge as well but my best shooting bows have been fairly straight forward builds.

[PEARL DRUMS]

Oh, come on pearlie!! Wood is stronger than you think and it's smart. It raises the knot and ads wood around it that is the same amount of bending wood. The cracks do nothing. I find a stave and find a design that fits it. I don't find a stave to match a design. Anything is possible

It was a joke bandit. Ive made plenty of them. There comes a point in your "career" as a wood bender where those nasty checked up, twisted messes have zero glow to them. You will get tired of wrestling them after you've tried a few. There fun to tinker with, but if a solid hunting bow is what your after a clean stave is a better choice. Ive never broke or had a clean stave break. Its the character bows that have a limited shelf life in my experience.

[Pat B]

I think you learn more about the wood and bow making with a character stave. I guess it depends on what I plan to make. On my newest bow, the short sinew backed static recurve I'm letting cure now I wanted as clean of a stave as I could get. I got the stave from Clint and it had a big, cool hole in one end. I cut that hole off to give me an almost perfect stave(as perfect as an osage stave can be) so I would have a better chance of success with this highly stressed bow I wanted to make.

[Onebowonder]

I search out the 'better' staves because I already have enough firewood, kindling, and frustration in my life.  I'd like a few more hand made primitive styled bows though, ...and the odds of achieving that goal are sharply increased when I start with a 'better' stave.  Does that make me a wussy-man?  Well, Okay then...  Here's my new T-Shirt:

OneBow

[PEARL DRUMS]

Order me one to Onebow, extra large tall is perfect!

[wood_bandit99]

I see where you are coming from pat. I'm trying to get after people that have plenty of skill and just won't do them for some reason. Thanks for the feed guys, this is fun to see what people like to do.

[blackhawk]

I like both a lot....just depends on what mood I'm in and what kind of bow I wanna make at the time 

[Dances with squirrels]

I'm a charcter bow guy. I love em. My goal is to make them as reliable and accurate as any other. I began making character bows very early in my bowmaking... #1 was straight, kinda... #2, 3, and 4 were snakey. I think it helped me immensely in my learning curve. I've made them with big knots, holes, insane amount of snake, sise to side leaners with each snakey turn, deflex in one limb and reflex in the other. Whatever, I like em all. Theyre my favorite to make, shoot, hunt with, and admire.

Straight bows are fine, I still make them too. Theyre just less challenging and a little boring in comparison.