this is some naturally dark brown osage I cut 6 years ago. Backed with silk. Itsw 64". 55# at 28", 1 5/16" wide at fades. Has rounded belly. Goncalo Alves tip overlays (pic was fuzzy, sorry - looks nice though). Carved in arrow rest.
There's a bit of a humorous/poignant story behind this. Rings are so thin on this brown osage that I decided to back it with fabric from the start. I got all the way to long string tillering until I realized the bow piece was in edgegrained orientation. For those that don't know, my vision is limited. I was wondering why the rings weren
t feathering out and why there were this funny little parralel lines running vertically down the belly. What alerted me was a resounding crack on the tillering tree very early in long string tilering. One of those transverse fissures that hide in edge grained osage and why most don't use in selfbows. I put a thin hickory patch on it and backed it with the last of the 45% linen 55% silk cloth from an old pair of the wife's pants. I heated in some reflex, but because of the patch, I didn't stress is too much. I actually didn't think it would make it. But it did. Painted the back black. I actually tried some tan paint first, but it looked a little light in the loafers, so I recoated. Bellyooks pretty cool with the rich brown and the cross dark marks from heating. I'll try to get a better pic of that. Took a little set mid limb. Shoots fine. Has a really nice feel late in draw -
Dave
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