Hello All,
I've been with PA for about a year, but haven't posted any bows yet myself. I've been building bows since fall 2015, and I love trying new things and new designs. I just harvested my first animal with a homemade bow last month (Osage self-bow), and that just sealed the deal on this addiction. The thing that I really love is getting the young folk into this art, and most of the bows I have made have been for children/youth.
For quite a while now, I've been wanting to try building a native american-style, bend-through-the-handle bow, much shorter than most of my bows. I got a 56" Osage stave from Osage Outlaw this last fall, around the time we were cleaning up the mess that Hurricane Harvey left here in Houston. My intention was (is) to build a 56" sinew-backed bow (first attempt with sinew backing) with slightly flipped tips to help a little with my 29" draw length. When I got the stave, I realized it was thick enough that I should be able to get a second stave out of the belly. Only problem was, at one end the growth rings converged pretty tightly over the last 10" or so, and I was afraid by just splitting it all the way, I would just make 2 long peices of firewood. So, I did what any sane bowyer would do, and took a hacksaw to the belly of it about 10" from that end and about half-way through the stave so that when the split reached it, it wouldn't continue to the other tip. This worked out, and I ended up with one nice 56" stave, and another nice 45" stave.
Now, what to do with a 45" stave? I had started building a board-bow for a 12-year-old kid I go to church with, but I thought, certainly he'd like a nice little Osage bow better. So, I went to work on my first bendy handle bow, which turned out to be great practice in preparation for the bow I'll be building for my next hunting season.
Here's the bow:
45" ntn, and 34# @ 25". Rawhide-backed for a little ensurance with that kind of a radical bend. I was really pleasantly surprised by how hard this thing shoots. I haven't chronographed it, but these arrows fly strait and fast, and when they hit the target, you know it.
Forgive the picture quality. I have a new phone, and the picture quality is not near what my old iPhone could do. I reckon I just need to buy a camera.
[url=https://flic.kr/p/GeJ7Gy]
[url=https://flic.kr/p/231h9e8]
[url=https://flic.kr/p/231h9ji]
[url=https://flic.kr/p/GeJ7pu]
[url=https://flic.kr/p/231h9p8]
[url=https://flic.kr/p/GeJ7vm]
[url=https://flic.kr/p/231h9u8]
Also, please forgive the clutter in the background of the full-draw picture. I'll use a better background next time.
We named this bow "The Tempest" since it was built while the memory of Hurricane Harvey was still fresh (in fact, I had first approached Clint about buying this stave a couple of days before the hurricane hit).
Now I just can't wait to finish building her sister!
Thanks for looking!
Eric
