Osage warbow 140# @31"

[JNystrom]

Here is a osage from Hungary, made into a bow in Helgoya Norway, shot in Wales, pictured in Finland!

73" long, self nocks and under 1" of set. Weights about 38 oz/ 1090g. I'm sorry dimensions i can only say in european language, 30x30mm at handle.
Sapwood still intact in the back. I'll attach a video of Jeremy Spencer shooting it some 220 yards with military arrow.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtQXKEjyDYE

[Pat B]

Very nice. What's your opinion of osage for a war bow?  Looks like you left quite a bit of sapwood on the staves. I've found the sapwood on osage works well and it looks great, especially as the osage changes color.

[JNystrom]

Thanks! Well obviously its really good for a warbow, only thing you need to care is never make a light longbow out of it. For example even this bow feels a bit heavy in mass and understressed. Obviously i didnt have room to make the bow narrower, since it was 30x30 already at handle. Maybe you should make shorter osage warbows? 68-70" for 30" draw?

Yes, i left 1/5" /5mm sapwood on the back. I just wanted all the poundage i could get.

Hope it will live a long life, i like the color change of osage too, especially now with the creamy sap.

[Pat B]

IMO, osage sapwood is very strong. I have used it in quite a few bows of different styles, I even made an ELB a few years back that I left a ring or 2 of sapwood on the back. It was 68" or slightly longer and drew about 55#@28". It did have a bit of hand shock but not much and shot very well.

[FilipT]

Looks amazing but why is it so narrow when compared to thickness?

[Ryan Jacob]

It saves mass since osage has a high density.

[Del the cat]

Great looking bow
Del

[JNystrom]

Thanks everyone. 2 rings of sapwood sounds nice too, Pat. I think this has couple more - about 4?
FilipT, i think its still too wide! You could make a elm bow in the same weight with a mass of 4 oz (100g) less.

[meanewood]

Nice bow, what's the story with Osage growing in Hungary, was it imported from the US at some stage?

[JNystrom]

I don't know about the real origin, we just last summer ordered a bunch of osage from there. It seems like good stuff, some are really heavy, oily and have these black stripes.

[Ruddy Darter]

 That's a very nice bow  .

 R.D.

[FilipT]

Osage orange grows in the Carpathian basin and in the USA. Austro Hungarian empire imported it in the 19th century and in territories that were under AH Empire, Osage is found mostly in botanical gardens. In Hungary it grows by itself but for example in Balkans Osage was sometimes used as poles for fence around military bases, which they of course imported from Hungary. I found only osage in my town. It is in yard of middle school that deals with forestry and I never found time to pick some of its fruit in order to plant seeds around the house.

[Badger]

   Slightly heavy in mass but I think very well designed. The low amount of set trumps and slight extra mass easily. Good job.

[JNystrom]

Thanks guys.
I actually will touch up the tiller a little bit, right limb is a bit too stiff. The slight deflex is natural on the right limb. And one thing i should start doing is keeping my bows in a regular place in the tiller tree. My previous method has been - just adjust the bow in the tiller so it bends nicely and then when you shoot you will find which limb is top, which is bottom. So i don't care where is the nocking point. Maybe i should...

[Mounter]

Love it with thesapwood! I got 3 or 4 staves that will be this someday... less wieght tho, hunting weight. Thanks for sharing.