The first osage haul I ever made, in 2001, included the stave for this bow. It was an ugly twisted pretzel with a massive knot dead in the middle of the stave. It set for a few years until I had the ambition to tackle it. After roughing a bow out from it and realizing just how bad it was, I let it set for a couple more. Two years ago I began serious work on it. The stave had a natural reflex deflex profile that I decided to take advantage of. I discovered the grip had a separate, large sideways-oriented knot that was cracked through on the belly, so I cut away the damaged belly section of the grip and replaced it with an osage patch. Over the next two years, I worked on the bow periodically in around preferred projects. Knots aside, one of the hurdles included substantial heat gun corrections to get the string to line up even close with the handle. I made the final push to get it done last month. Here are pictures of how it turned out. The knot looked like a place a squirrel might live, hence the name, "Squirrel's Den". It's 62", and draws 59# @ 25".
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