Stratocaster I & II - Bamboo-Cumaru-Lemonwood Longbows

[Lehtis]

Greetings from Finland!
While trying to hide and avoid Covid-19 I just got a couple of bows ready for myself to be used for target shooting both indoors and field. The working name of these sticks was Non-Identical-Twins but my friend called them Stratocasters when he saw these ready. So, Stratocasters they will be and he´s their Godfather... 

The bows both have bamboo back, cumaru core and lemonwood belly. They are 71,5" between nock grooves, which are made from water buffalo horn. Arrow strike plates are from same material and handles are covered with leather found from flea markets. Both bows got Dacron string to meet IFAA competition rules. Stratocaster I, the one with brown handle, has a bit stiff handle area, so it doesn´t fully meet ELB definitions being more like ELB-stylish. Stratocaster II, the black handle one, bends through the handle fulfilling ELB definitions. S I recorded 82 Lbs @ 28" and S II 84 Lbs @ 28".

[Lehtis]

More pics...

[Lehtis]

...and more...

[Lehtis]

...and more...

[Lehtis]

...the last ones...

[Morgan]

Very fine work. Reading the specs on the belly makes my shoulder hurt

[simson]

Very nice and clean work on both.
Beautiful color contrasts and the tiller is awesome, that drawweight also.

The axe above the tiller tree looks dangerous, haha.
Hey man your floor in your shop is a s clean as my dining table 

[Pat B]

Very nice work, Lehtis.   

[bownarra]

Have you got any unstrung, shot in profile photos? How much set did they take?
I've never had much joy with lemonwood bellies. Made plenty, with wood from a few different sources but they always take more set than I would like.

[MM2]

This drawweight... OMG!

But your bows are fantastic!

Congratulation!

Michale

[bassman]

Nice work, nice bows. So you have to use B50 Dacron for the string, and the handle has to bend, but you can use a tripe laminated bow. Some thing wrong with that picture to me any how. If they are that stringent  about the rules I would think it would have to be a self bow, and no glued laminated bows. I can see a low stretch on Strato-1 with a slight arrow rest cut in and a string nock. Oh well, just my thoughts which counts for nothing.

[Digital Caveman]

How do you post all of those photos?  If I could post photos like that I'd have entered BOM 3 times now.  (But looking at these bows, I'd probably be beaten )

[Lehtis]

Thanks, guys, for your comments, questions and kind words.

Some replys:

The floor of my workshop is clean because of I decided to keep it like that when I built this after we sold our old house. Easier to use broom and ”hoover” frequently/daily than ”sometimes” as in the old space.

In British Islands laminated longbows have been used quite a long time and according to IFAA all bow styles that have be proven to exist prior 1900 are ”Historical”. Funny but true, polyester (Dacron) string and modern glues in working parts of the riser and limbs only allowed. ”Gray area”: animal glues with sinew backing.

Not much string follow (yet). When unstrung after shooting and some rest the strings will touch the handles. Some string follow definetly will be seen with these poundages with any timber; it’s natural wood behaviour.

Photos: I resized my pics to fit in 800 x 600 (or 600 x 800) screen by free s/w called Picture Resize so their size will be small enough for this forum. Then just select four pics per post. I suppose many other photo editors are available also.

[Lehtis]

While gluing with Smooth-On Epoxy these staves had some 4-5 cm reflex. After tillering and two shooting sessions the bows look like this when unstringed; the strings just touch the handles. I’m quite happy with that.
P.S. Several layers of TruOil as coating.

[Eric Krewson]

Wonderful craftsmanship! A matching set is a challenge all of its own and you did very well.