Hi, all,
I've been trying to improve on my old standby take-down travel bow, and I finally made an acceptable replacement. This started out to be a 64" tip-to-tip bow, but I didn't like the tips, the length, or the weight. So, I gathered up my courage and piked off 1-1/2" from each end. This boosted the weight considerably, and made for a slightly more compact and stealthy length.
I had a 3' Osage stave gathering dust, and made this from sister billets from that stave. It had remarkable growth rings averaging about 1/4" each, and was fairly straight. I joined them with a metal sleeve. It started out with some natural recurve, which I tamed slightly with heat. After tillering and shooting it in, it ended up with about 1-1/2" backset at rest.
It ended up 60" nock-to-nock, and draws 59 lbs @ 26". I put on ebony tips, diamondback skins, and a swede grip dressed up a bit with rattles. Finished it with a few coats of Tru-Oil. This one shoots real nice for me, and I plan to take it backcountry elk hunting this fall.
