Every bow seems to have a story. This one starts about 4 years ago when I tried to make a bow for my oldest son for Christmas. About a week before, however, the osage stave I was working on exploded during the tillering process. I ended up making him a white oak bow instead, but he was never that happy with it and hinted multiple times that an osage bow would be way cooler--especially since his little brother did get one that Christmas.
My son has spent the past two years doing church service in Brazil, and I meant the whole time to make him an osage bow before he got home--which I put off until just before he returned in December. He got a half-completed bow under the tree. I spent the rest of Christmas break and January finishing it off. In the process of thinning the tips, I went to far, and the recurves started to pull out. The tips needed some underlays. I decided to use the one still-healthy limb of the Christmas bow (I never throw stuff away) to do the laminations. The older osage is considerably lighter than the main limbs. My son and I both really like the contrast. It is also nice for me to have a piece of that old bow serving on the new one. Here are some stats:
-Length: 62" nock-to-nock
-Draw weight: 50# @ 28"
-The osage stave came from a stash that Mullet traded to me a while back. Since it is just a bit on the short side, I deflexed the fades some and then recurved the tips.
-Overlays are made from African blackwood.
-Finish is 8 coats of tung oil polished with pumice powder to give a satin finish.
-Grip is two layers of thin buckskin from a deer my neighbor shot. Made from scraps left over from the quiver in the pictures.
I also made 6 bamboo arrows for the bow. They shoot like rockets out of this bow. It is the first time I have wanted a chrono to see just how fast. They are just under 10 grains/pound for this bow, which is surely part of it, but the bow feels snappy nevertheless.
Overall I am very pleased with the way it turned out. there is a nice degree of snake and character in the limbs and the grain is really pretty. The well-seasoned osage has a beautiful red-gold color to it.
