ugly and a wannabe with cherry bark

[huntersim]

Hey everyone.

Wanted to post a few photos of the first two bows I've had a chance to wrap up since the start of 2008. One is an osage branch bow that is about half and half sap wood and heart wood. Its about 58" long, 1 1/4" wide and is 67 lbs. at 27". I wanted to make it look like a branch that fell out of a tree. Backed it with some cherry bark I bartered from Joe K. AKA 330bull (thanks Joe!). BTW, the lower limb has a bit of twist that for the most part refused to come out. I also had a heck of a time trying to get the limbs tips to line up. I finally gave up after i decided to let good enough be. Every time i would try to correct this thing it would spring right back. I've never had this with osage so i wonder if it was due to the large amount of sap wood in it? Any one experience this with osage sap wood?

The other bow is a total wannabe of a Grumley deerslayer. It isn't even close but i was able to learn a few things from it. I'm gonna build another now that i know what it will take. My next one will be a much closer version. It scales in at 52 lbs at 27" and is 63" NTN if you measure around the recurves.  It was cobbled together with scraps of osage, hickory, bullet wood and also has some cherry bark. Anyway, thanks for looking.

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[huntersim]

Couple more photos.

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[Pat B]

Very nice bows. I have successfully heat straightened osage 50/50 heart/sapwood bows. Might be that particular piece that is stubborn
   I love your brush nocks. I need to try that. They look very cool and are practical, especially where I hunt.     Pat. 

[jamie]

both are excellent . i really like the grumley . awesome

[Hillbilly]

Both are excellent looking bows. Great work! 

[Justin Snyder]

Great job on both bows.  Justin

[medicinewheel]

WOW, great bows!
more details??
frank

[1/2primitive]

Very nice! They each look great for their 'category' of bow.
    Sean

[huntersim]

Thanks everyone, I appreciate the complements.

Pat...thanks, I wasn't sure. I had suspected it was just the branch but havent done a lot of work with the sapwood on osage. It reminded me of some red cedar i tried to bend with heat one time. About the time you think you have it, it pops right back into place. It corrected some but not much.

It supprises me more people dont build brush nocks. They seem to serve multiple pourposes and you really can get the weight down in them so they dont weigh much more or even the same as a standard static tip.

Frank, I'll give you all the details you want. Pictures or just stats?

[mullet]

  I like them both, very unique. Is there any hand shock with the Grumley ?

[huntersim]

Thanks Eddie. No handshock at all, kinda surprised me the first time i shot it. Like i said though, you can get the weight down quite a bit, especially by the time you flute them.

[Dustybaer]

mullet beat me to it. i like them too, but still have a question: do you notice any loss of speed because of the brush nocks?  i mean, is it noticeably slower than a comparable bow with regular recurves?  the reason i'm asking is because i was always intrigued by the looks of brushnocks but never dared make any because i was always told "keep your tips as light as possible".

[david w.]

great bows,perfect tiller,love that bark.


330bull wanna trade?

[medicinewheel]

....
Frank, I'll give you all the details you want. Pictures or just stats?

well closeups (best on MACRO/focus-on-spot position of the camera) especially of them grumley nocks would be fantastic; but also the handle sections and tip details of both bows i would love to see. - i always learned from pictures... 
thanks, frank

ps: the arc of both weapons looks F A N T A S T I C !!!

[cowboy]

Two great lookin bows - am leaning toward trying some brush nocks myself, after huntin the brush this past year..