The Iowan Path

[iowabow]

For perspective this was a shed a friend 2 miles away gave me. Amazing the side of that boy.

[Pat B]

That one antler weighs more than our deer! 

[iowabow]

Pat 3 years ago we talked about dogwood shafts and natural finishes. One of those arrow killed a deer and it was coated with a pine pitch finish and another one with egg yoke applied very thin and left to dry a year. Well it's been about three now and I just finished this arrow. It has stayed striaght and still has its finish but some kind of bug tried to eat the coating off but not in a bad way. Here it is finish and I will let you know how it holds up

[Pat B]

Cool John.   

[Parnell]

The progress looks great, John.

[iowabow]

Thanks Steve

[iowabow]

Another deer season past and starting work on arrows for next year. I have three shafts finished and two more to go. I am going to shoot a little lighter arrow this next time around as I focus on tapering the end a little more, shortened the length and lighten the spine. My goal is 6 with. A practice arrow. I am going to rebuild the old shafts by cutting the them down and sanding to lightening the spine. This should save me a considerable amount of time.
Life tends to move so fast if I don't do it now I will wake up and it will be hunting season.
Maple syrup time is coming and we got all the equipment out and gave it a good washing so we are a little ahead of that ball.

[Wolf Watcher]

John I envy your ambition and skills!  JUoe

[Stringman]

(I dont envy his wife - this guy never sleeps!!) 

Good idea reworking the old shafts. Have you noticed any of them lighter in spine than originally? I wonder if the season worth of humidity and use has lightened them at all.

[iowabow]

Thanks funny Scott you know I don't sleep much.
Now I did check the spine on the arrow I made about 2 or 3 years ago and it was still at 60 lbs. That arrow  was was made for that short flat bow I shot at the devel's hole knap in. Anyway it held up well and cycled quickly to the 50 lbs and cut to the shorter length.
I can weight them this time Scott when I get them build and we will reweight them this time next year and see what happens.

[iowabow]

Four are done plus 1 practice arrow not shown.
Joe thanks for your kind words I think you were very busy at my age also from what I know of your travels and adventures. 
If we get a warm snap these bees are going to need some attention also. The boxes shown are empty and waiting for me to store them away for a couple months.

[BowEd]

From what I've noticed John the mass weight does'nt change much from year to year with dogwoods.
Hopefully our bees have enough food to make it this winter.We weighed our hives in the fall.They should be ok.I bump them once in a while to hear if they are alive and kicking.Bee keeping is on the rise in Iowa.

[Pappy]

Looks like a nice set of arrows in the works. I love making and tuning them when I just take the time and do it. How is the shop coming along ?
 Pappy

[BowEd]

John....Do you remember the requirements of Colorado for mass weight on an arrow to hunt elk with?If I remember right they are around 520 grains.Plenty to kill a deer with too.I believe you are right doing what you are doing with your shafts.The extra speed will help to shoot flatter I think.

[iowabow]

Pappy the shop is on hold untill we get a break in the weather. I want to get started on phase 2 a soon as possible. The ground is frozen solid but looks like 50 degree weather at the end of March.
Beadman I should between that 559 and 600 mark. I could make them spine even less but they get so thin after 50 lbs. Currently they are 5/16