Osage short bow

[Gordon]

A good friend of mine, Ron York, recently had neck surgery and asked if I would make him a bow that would be easy to draw and carry. Ron is part Creek Indian and had some Osage that he picked up from a reservation in Kansas.  The stave was weathered as it had been sitting on the ground for about 10 years. When I began chasing a ring I saw this was going to be challenging because the bugs had done quite a bit of damage.  I did manage to find a ring that was fairly intact except for one borrow that ran diagonally through the ring. I ended up filling the hole with a mixture of superglue and sawdust. I also backed the bow with rawhide just to be safe.

The bow is 53” ntn, is tillered to 40# @ 28” and bends slightly through the handle. The width is 1 1/4" to mid-limb and then tapers to 1/2" tips. Ron doesn’t pull 28" the moment, but he will eventually when he fully recovers.  This was my first Osage bow and I have to say it is wonder to work with.  Ron painted the design on the back which is a Delaware Indian pattern. The quiver pictured in one of the photos was hand-made by Ron including the beading. The arrows are Potawatomie style. The person posing in the full-draw picture is Ron.

[radius]

good lines Gordon...elegant

[DanaM]

Damn Gordon don't you ever have any honey-do's

Beautiful bow and that much more special because its for someone else, well done Gordon, well done

[Dano]

OUTSTANDING!!

[sailordad]

as always gordon, beautiful bow, i really like the paint work,awesome and authentic to boot.
sweet looking stick there.

                                                                       tim

[Pat B]

Very nice little bow, Gordon. Gotta love osage.      Pat

[shamus]

very nice work. Very refined nocks.

[medicinewheel]

beatutiful bow, gordon, as always!
the braced profile really looks great, so does the full draw; really like the paintjob, too!
frank

[Dustybaer]

awesome.  what a perfect package.  one  day, you'll have to learn to make normal bows.  i bet, poppoing out one masterpiece after another is gonna get boring sooner or later 

by the way, if you could get some close-ups of ron's fletching, that would be very nice.

[ricktrojanowski]

Another Beauty, 53" NTN  drawing to 28" .  Can you post any full draw pics.  That must look wicked at full draw.

[1/2primitive]

Wow, that is beautiful. Great job as always. I like the painting, too.
    Sean

[a finnish native]

just awesome

[catfishon]

that really looks good

[Gordon]

Thank you all for the nice comments. I do want to point out again that Ron did the artwork. He painted on the design using acrylic paints and I then finished it with Tru-oil.

Ron is an amazing artist - he makes all sorts of indian artifacts from full beaded quivers, war pipes, craddle boards, to moccasins. It was a special honor to collaborate with him on this bow.   

[deerhunter97370]

That is a Beautiful and well crafted Bow. Good Job Gordon and Ron. Joel