finished this late yesterday so i was chompin at the bit to get some pics taken.
Its American hornbeam aka musclewood aka blue beech
not the easiest of woods to get a bow from due to the large muscled shape of the trunks, but i found one that wasnt tooooooo bad. it really has some character on the back, unfortunately the camera cannot capture all the good stuff. scraping bark is a nightmare with this wood...unless you smart and wait til spring...which i didnt. lot of tiny strips of cambium still on it, turns out i really like it. it made the back beautiful. the wood is really really tough, i real chore trying to scrape down.
i started with zero reflex or deflex. tilled out to about 1 inch of set. i suppose i consider myself fortunate thats all i got due to its weight and length.
its 63 inches and 72# @26
the shelf is above center about 1 1\2 inches
the tips are from buffalo horn given to me by Wolf Watcher (my camera must be poor, i can never get real good tip pictures)
the grip is deer hide that i "antiqued" by soaking it in black walnut stain for about 5 minutes.
the wood had really nice dark patches running through it. thay didnt seems to be any weaker or harder than the rest but they gave the wood are really nice look.
notice the big natural divot in the top limb. and there are 14 knots overall.
its a really nice shooter, im very happy with the way it tuned out
well thanks for looking- Ryan
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