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Author Topic: Mystery Osage Bow - Repair or Re-purpose?  (Read 2121 times)

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Offline Two Heart

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Mystery Osage Bow - Repair or Re-purpose?
« on: July 25, 2017, 11:00:04 am »
Hi All, first time posting for a novice bowyer here,

A friend of mine recently acquired this bow, the original owner and bowyer are unknown.  Apparently it was left strung for the last 5, yes five, years :(  My friend would love to shoot it and asked me if there was anything to be done about some chrysaling and set that appear midway in the lower limb.  It's a beautiful piece nonetheless.  I thought I should ask the professionals here :)

Snakeskin on Bamboo on Osage
61" ntn

A few questions:
Anyone recognize the work? - It had a name written in marker on the handle, but is now illegible.
Can this bow be salvaged? - The Chrysals appear to go all the way through the osage belly.
Would gentle heat treatment straighten out the lower limb without effecting the other glue joints?
Would it be possible to thin the lower limb above and below the chrysals? Then tiller the upper limb to match?

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Liz's Bow by Mark Thomson, on Flickr

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Offline Two Heart

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Re: Mystery Osage Bow - Repair or Re-purpose?
« Reply #1 on: July 25, 2017, 11:07:44 am »
Some more pics...
Liz's Bow by Mark Thomson, on Flickr
Liz's Bow by Mark Thomson, on Flickr
Liz's Bow by Mark Thomson, on Flickr
Liz's Bow by Mark Thomson, on Flickr
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Offline Two Heart

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Re: Mystery Osage Bow - Repair or Re-purpose?
« Reply #2 on: July 25, 2017, 11:11:20 am »
More photos...working on the sizes here, sorry if they are too large

Liz's Bow by Mark Thomson, on Flickr

Liz's Bow by Mark Thomson, on Flickr
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Offline PEARL DRUMS

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  • }}}--CK-->
Re: Mystery Osage Bow - Repair or Re-purpose?
« Reply #3 on: July 25, 2017, 11:14:44 am »
That's no good, sorry.
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Only when the last tree has died and the last river has been poisoned and the last fish has been caught will we realize we cannot eat money.

Offline PEARL DRUMS

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Re: Mystery Osage Bow - Repair or Re-purpose?
« Reply #4 on: July 25, 2017, 11:28:55 am »
That bamboo is twice the thickness it should be. That's 50% of the reason it happened, the other 50% is from a 5 year brace. Ouchy.
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Only when the last tree has died and the last river has been poisoned and the last fish has been caught will we realize we cannot eat money.

Offline bjrogg

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Re: Mystery Osage Bow - Repair or Re-purpose?
« Reply #5 on: July 25, 2017, 11:40:47 am »
I agree with Pearl. Only way to save that one is maybe you could reuse the bamboo but would be much easier to just start over and hang this one on wall.
Bjrogg
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Offline Dances with squirrels

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Re: Mystery Osage Bow - Repair or Re-purpose?
« Reply #6 on: July 25, 2017, 11:55:34 am »
Stick a fork in her... she's done.
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Straight wood may make a better bow, but crooked wood makes a better bowyer

Offline osage outlaw

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Re: Mystery Osage Bow - Repair or Re-purpose?
« Reply #7 on: July 25, 2017, 12:11:34 pm »
Please do not try to pull that bow back. 
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I started out with nothin' and I still got most of it left

Offline bradsmith2010

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Re: Mystery Osage Bow - Repair or Re-purpose?
« Reply #8 on: July 25, 2017, 12:34:04 pm »
no I dont think it can be fixed,,you could straighten it so you could use it for display,,
 (--)
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Offline Two Heart

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Re: Mystery Osage Bow - Repair or Re-purpose?
« Reply #9 on: July 25, 2017, 02:22:10 pm »
Well, it sounds conclusive. Thank you all for your responses!
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Offline bradsmith2010

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Re: Mystery Osage Bow - Repair or Re-purpose?
« Reply #10 on: July 25, 2017, 04:26:23 pm »
also just to add,, I dont think the chrysals came from being left strung,,
it looks like someone really over drew the bow,,,
that kind of bend came from someone drawing the bow to 30 plus inches,and the bamboo was thick as mentioned,, or maybe someone tried to string it only bending that one limb,,,,
in any case sorry for the bad news,, osage backed bamboo does make a great bow,, (--)
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Offline Eric Krewson

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Re: Mystery Osage Bow - Repair or Re-purpose?
« Reply #11 on: July 26, 2017, 07:51:06 am »
I call those bows "osage belly  bamboo bows", it doesn't look like there is hardly any osage near the tips. Whoever made that bow didn't know what they were doing, wall hanger.
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Offline upstatenybowyer

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Re: Mystery Osage Bow - Repair or Re-purpose?
« Reply #12 on: July 26, 2017, 07:31:16 pm »
Those don't even look like chrysals to me, they look like scratches.  ???
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"Even as the archer loves the arrow that flies, so too he loves the bow that remains constant in his hands."

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Offline Danzn Bar

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Re: Mystery Osage Bow - Repair or Re-purpose?
« Reply #13 on: July 26, 2017, 07:53:42 pm »
+1 on all of the above....except those are not scratches.
That is a perfect example of a hinge going bad and not being address in the built stage. "It just keeps getting worse"
DBar
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Offline Hamish

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Re: Mystery Osage Bow - Repair or Re-purpose?
« Reply #14 on: July 26, 2017, 08:57:35 pm »
Wallhanger
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