Author Topic: Ashe juniper selfbow  (Read 3480 times)

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Offline Josh B

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Ashe juniper selfbow
« on: October 05, 2019, 11:16:54 pm »
I harvested this branch in the Arbuckle mountains in southern Oklahoma several years ago.  It's just been laying around ever since, mainly due to the rippled surface that would have to be the back.  Today I decided to give it a shot.  It's not finished yet, but I put a couple hundred arrows down range with it.  A few more hundred arrows and I'll finish it up.  Right now it's 67" NTN and pulls 55#@26".  Sorry no full draw pic yet.

Offline bassman

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Re: Ashe juniper selfbow
« Reply #1 on: October 06, 2019, 09:12:08 am »
Nice job on that one. I make American Hornbeam bows that look like that ,and as rippled as the backs are they still tiller OK ,and make a bow.

Offline DC

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Re: Ashe juniper selfbow
« Reply #2 on: October 06, 2019, 09:16:09 am »
Nice job. I really like the look of the rippled back.

Offline SLIMBOB

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Re: Ashe juniper selfbow
« Reply #3 on: October 06, 2019, 09:17:53 am »
Nice Josh.  I have one in the possible phase right now.  Interested to see this bad boy bent over when you finish.
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Offline Josh B

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Re: Ashe juniper selfbow
« Reply #4 on: October 06, 2019, 05:54:30 pm »
Thanks fellas!  Put it through the paces this morning.  It's still in one piece so I gave it a quick sanding and a few coats of Tru oil.  I liked the grain in the handle so much I decided to forego the handle wrap.

Offline Josh B

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Re: Ashe juniper selfbow
« Reply #5 on: October 06, 2019, 05:55:47 pm »
The money shot.

Offline Deerhunter21

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Re: Ashe juniper selfbow
« Reply #6 on: October 06, 2019, 06:08:16 pm »
the back is beautiful!
Life before death. Strength before weakness. Journey before destination.

Offline Chuck.e.b

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Re: Ashe juniper selfbow
« Reply #7 on: October 06, 2019, 07:55:48 pm »
Awesome bow! I dig it.

Offline leonwood

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Re: Ashe juniper selfbow
« Reply #8 on: October 07, 2019, 07:57:04 am »
That back is so awesome! Love it!  ;D

Offline Josh B

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Re: Ashe juniper selfbow
« Reply #9 on: October 07, 2019, 08:38:20 am »
Thanks fellas!  Momma caught me a couple inches short of full draw in the pic.  It does come all the way back, I'm just a bit nervous about holding an unbacked juniper bow at full draw for very long.  I've had a decent amount of success with various juniper varieties, but it's still juniper... ;)

Offline Ringeck85

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Re: Ashe juniper selfbow
« Reply #10 on: October 07, 2019, 09:28:37 am »
Sweet bow, Josh B!!
"It is how we choose what we do, and how we approach it, that determines whether the sum of our days adds up to a formless blur, or to something resembling a work of art."
-Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

(Ren', in Wytheville, VA)

Offline Chuck.e.b

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Re: Ashe juniper selfbow
« Reply #11 on: October 07, 2019, 10:58:46 am »
Thanks fellas!  Momma caught me a couple inches short of full draw in the pic.  It does come all the way back, I'm just a bit nervous about holding an unbacked juniper bow at full draw for very long.  I've had a decent amount of success with various juniper varieties, but it's still juniper... ;)

Are you going to back it? Do you back all your junipers?

Offline maitus

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Re: Ashe juniper selfbow
« Reply #12 on: October 07, 2019, 12:39:14 pm »
I would never make juniper bow without sinew backing :) .....

Offline Josh B

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Re: Ashe juniper selfbow
« Reply #13 on: October 07, 2019, 01:07:13 pm »
I won't back this one.  I rarely do back juniper limbs.  If it was trunk wood, then I would definitely back it.  I've had zero success with unbacked juniper trunkwood

Offline Chuck.e.b

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Re: Ashe juniper selfbow
« Reply #14 on: October 08, 2019, 02:15:31 pm »
Good to know. The heartwood in the grip really cool. Did you have to take a lot of wood off the back to achieve that?