Style versus Design versus....???...what

[bow101]

Just curious what motivates most to build a bow in any given style shape etc.  Is it the shape, feel, estetics, portability, weight, color or just been practical.  The reason practical was thrown in is, no Osage growing wild in the Western Hemisphere.
So it seems that most on the West coast would prefer Yew, Vine maple (maples), ocean spray or some other native species. And those on the Eastern side or western side of the Continent prefer the infamous Osage.
So lets leave wood choice out of the equation.

[blackhawk]

Uh.....think ya got your geographic terms a little mixed up.....there's plenty of osage growing in the western hemisphere...in fact its the only place where its native....and the east n west sides of the continent prefer only osage? Huh? What hat did ya pull that rabbit from? Personal preferences,what we use our bows for,environment, and on n on play the roles as to why some like this n that n others...not really sure what your asking here,or maybe I'm just daft 

[tattoo dave]

Boils down to function and ease of building process for me. Bendy handle, pyramid board bows are about the easiest to build, for me anyway, and the shorties work best for my hunting style.

Tattoo Dave 

[bow101]

Whoa.......this is really got me confused, thought Osage dod not grow out west , like Pacific coast..

This is just a matter what style you prefer over most.
Is it the shape, feel, estetics, portability, weight, color or just been practical.

[bow101]

Boils down to function and ease of building process for me. Bendy handle, pyramid board bows are about the easiest to build, for me anyway, and the shorties work best for my hunting style.

Tattoo Dave

That about answers it I guess.   

[Bryce]

I usually just build what I wanna build. And take the woods abilities into consideration. And design properly, and far as length and width.
.....I'm not intirely sure what your asking also..

[Joec123able]

I prefer wide limbed flat and pyramid style long bows because it's an easy durable design that fits most woods and I like the look of wider limbs even on Osage i don't care if it's overbuilt

[blackhawk]

Do a Google search on what the western hemisphere is...then you'll know 

[Badger]

  I think a big part of it boils down to preference and knowing what designs seem to work best with woods we get familiar with. I think most will agree that bows longer than 62" tend to shoot the most accurately for most of us. At that length we may prefer bendy handle or stiff handle. Some guys like shorts for various reason myself included because they are fun to shoot and hard to beat in real close range type hunting. I mostly enjoy all the various styles because I like the challenge of building them and seeing if I can get respectable performance that will do a style justice.

[BOWMAN53]

Whoa.......this is really got me confused, thought Osage dod not grow out west , like Pacific coast..

This is just a matter what style you prefer over most.
Is it the shape, feel, estetics, portability, weight, color or just been practical.

heres proof, i live in cali and cut this this weekend.

http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php/topic,45172.0.html

[bubby]

yeah it grows out here , maybe not as prevalent as back east, but it grows here, there is a plethora of native bow woods out on the left coast,

[SLIMBOB]

I think it's also tough to separate the type of woods available from the equation.  Certainly from a historical perspective woods available had everything to do with design choice.  See Tim Bakers "Bows of the World" in one of the TBB's.  Wood types available seems to be the single most important criteria.  I know your question was more directed at todays bowyers who can buy woods from anywhere on the planet and so it becomes less important for sure, but I have never laid my hands on a yew stave, and I'm swimming in Osage.  An ELB is far down the list for me over Flatbows of some type.

[bubby]

i'm pretty sure the NA tribes that wanted certain things traded for them, so maybe not that much different than us getting wood nowadays

[Marc St Louis]

Osage has been planted out West but it's native range is in the East.  It seems to me that I read once that it's really only native to AR or thereabouts.

[PatM]

I find the hypothesis that Osage was actually going extinct intriguing. The thought is that there must have been some sort of seed dispersing animal that once ate the fruit. Likely one of the Pleistocene era megafauna species. With them gone the range of the tree was greatly reduced until it started being used as a living fence and windbreak.