My first bow, long time coming!

[lebhuntfish]

The title says "my first bow" this is true but I have built others and have several in process. That being said, this is the first stave and the first time I ever put a tool to a piece of wood to make a bow. The stave was given to me by an Indian friend of mine the first time I ever met him. His name is "Gray Ghost" or Larry. Anyways it was a big stave and about 5 years old. The rings was thick with thin early growth. It was twisted about 30 degrees on one end and had about 2 in of prop twist. At that time I knew nothing about how to work out all of that so I turned to the internet and found "Boarriorbows" on YouTube. (Thanks Mike) I also made several trips to my friends house for input. But as far as working on the bow at home I never had anybody to look over my shoulder. As far as the design, it has transformed a lot from its original to its current state. I followed one of Mikes build alongs on his YouTube page. I made a simple form just like the video and bent the tips into thees huge hooks. Looking back they were horrible. I put sinew on the back just like the video showed. Then I found PA, and after a few post with this bow I transformed it to almost what it is now. Then I had what I thought was my first big screw up. I took too much off one of the tips and made a weak spot in what was supposed to be a static tip. Luckily MoJam was in a couple weeks so I took it with me and met Dave/dvshunter.  He acted like it wasn't a big deal and told me what I should do to correct the problem. In about an hour I was borrowing his arrows to shoot my first bow. Thanks a lot Dave your awesome! After that I put it away with the thought of adding more sinew to the back. I got it out today and done some minor adjustments to the handle and finished the tips out. Then I started shooting it and realized that it was super smooth and really comfortable to shoot. I decided I was done working on it with the exception of some skins and a handle wrap. This bow was started the first week of the government shut down last October. And as my grandpa would say "All I like is finishing" 

Specs are 60" ntn 38@27. Thanks for looking and thank everyone that helped me with this bow. It means a lot to me. Patrick

[bubby]

nice job and cool story

[osage outlaw]

Nice job on your first stave bow.  That is a heck of a lot better than my first one.  That DVS is a good guy.  You were lucky to meet up with him at Mojam.

[lebhuntfish]

Thanks bubby!

Osage, thanks and you are right about Dave he is a stand up guy!

[tattoo dave]

Great looking number 1 Patrick!! Nice work.

Tattoo Dave

[lebhuntfish]

Thanks tatoo dave!

[koan]

Nice!...... Brian

[Stixnstones]

If thats ur first than its gonna b awesome watchin everything i do from here, sweet bow

[Badly Bent]

Real nice one, a well made first bow thats for sure.

[wizardgoat]

Nice bow Patrick

[Knoll]

Great job, Patrick.   Your satisfaction shows in your post .... and it's understandable.
Every time I see one of your posts I'm left wondering how we managed to NOT meet at MoJam.

[lebhuntfish]

Thanks koan!
Thanks stixnstones!
Thanks Badly Bent!
Thanks wizardgoat!

Thanks knoll, I know what you mean. I was pretty much in the middle of everything too. Figured that was the best way to learn! For sure next time!

[Pat B]

Nice bend, Patrick. Those tips seem to be opening a bit at full draw. 

[lebhuntfish]

Thanks Pat B, that was dvshunter's fix to my screw up and I like it! 

[George Tsoukalas]

That's awesome! Love the tiller! Jawge