Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: Mistergone on July 16, 2012, 09:24:50 pm
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Hi all,
I've been lurking and learning for about a year now and have finally gotten the courage to share the few bows I've built so far. First thing to know is that I graduated with a BFA in sculpture years ago but that mindset still completely dictates the look and design of my bows. I've slowly been learning how to integrate my more sculptural qualities into functional bows (I got into bow making purely as a decorative prop thing but soon couldn't help but make them fully functional). I've been working mainly with hard maple and a few early bows from red oak, I back everything with silk to minimize potential rookie mistakes and to compensate for any weakness my carvings introduce. Once I get a commissioned wall sculpture out of the way I plan on doing a bamboo backed walnut bow with ebony tips (so frackin excited!) Anyways, I'd love to hear all comments, I got used to brutal honestly early in my schooling so go nuts, and if anyone has any advice on walnut bows I'd really love to hear it.
(https://ny-image3.etsy.com/004/0/6396707/il_570xN.353443327_o7on.jpg)
(https://ny-image2.etsy.com/000/0/6396707/il_570xN.350841102.jpg)
(https://ny-image2.etsy.com/000/0/6396707/il_570xN.350795830.jpg)
(https://ny-image1.etsy.com/000/0/6396707/il_570xN.305333581.jpg)
(https://ny-image0.etsy.com/000/0/6396707/il_570xN.263432528.jpg)
(https://ny-image3.etsy.com/000/0/6396707/il_570xN.263398679.jpg)
And if you have any questions about any of the bows fire away, Its a bit lonely being the only one around me that enjoys bow building :P
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Wow! Those are some cool lookin bows!
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That's pretty incredible. What do you use to carve those with?
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That work is impressive, you're obviously very talented. I'd love to see some closer shots of some of the details!
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That's pretty incredible. What do you use to carve those with?
I'll probably get some flack for this but since I work as a metal fab guy I'm very comfortable with grinders, dremel tools and the like so I use those for everything from the tillering to the decorative carvings. All my bows start out as 2"x2" pieces of lumber and then after cutting them down I begin tillering, once I'm relatively sure they aren't going to explode or fail in some horrible manner I start carving out the handle and fades. By using 2x2 stock I can do a fair amount of carving all on one single piece of wood, which is important to me.
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yes more detail... awsome work.
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That work is impressive, you're obviously very talented. I'd love to see some closer shots of some of the details!
Thanks! Here are a few detail shots along with one of my machete builds, the blade is A400 steel and the handle is pure ebony with multiple tung oil coats.
(https://ny-image0.etsy.com/000/0/6396707/il_570xN.350795836.jpg)
(https://ny-image3.etsy.com/000/0/6396707/il_fullxfull.350833607.jpg)
(https://ny-image1.etsy.com/000/0/6396707/il_fullxfull.350843465.jpg)
(https://ny-image0.etsy.com/000/0/6396707/il_fullxfull.305481792.jpg)
(https://ny-image1.etsy.com/000/0/6396707/il_fullxfull.305338221.jpg)
(https://ny-image1.etsy.com/000/0/6396707/il_fullxfull.263398597.jpg)
(https://ny-image2.etsy.com/004/0/6396707/il_fullxfull.353423606_8dx7.jpg)
(https://ny-image0.etsy.com/002/0/6396707/il_fullxfull.353423632_6dmg.jpg)
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To be brutaly honest.....those are Awesome! only concern would be cutting away the back really close to the fades where they may need the back intact to keep them from exploding and damaging that well cropped mohawk. :)
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Unique!
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To be brutaly honest.....those are Awesome! only concern would be cutting away the back really close to the fades where they may need the back intact to keep them from exploding and damaging that well cropped mohawk. :)
As of yet all failures I've had (and they've always been on the tillering stand, knock on wood...) always occur in the middle of the limbs, never near the fades. That might be pure luck or...um..luck I guess. One of the main reasons I've done most of my work with hard maple is due to the fact that it's been so forgiving when it comes to putting up with my designs, plus the fact that I use relativity thick silk for backing and tend of build my bows wide and thick probably helps keep the breakage rate down.
(damaging the mohawk would truly be a tragedy, its the only hair style that looks remotely decent on me, go figure.)
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Some of the work reminds me of furniture carvings. Nice flights of fancy (pun intended). You'd be very popular at ComiCon with those!!!
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Some of the work reminds me of furniture carvings. Nice flights of fancy (pun intended). You'd be very popular at ComiCon with those!!!
Funny you should mention ComiCon since we just had Minneapolis's version a few days ago, much drinking and sci-fi/ fantasy panel debates!. ;D
The truth is I'm a nerd through and through and since I focused mainly on prop building during school all my stuff tends to have a fantastical twist to it. One of the things I'm truly enjoying about bow building is that it always demands a balance between form and function, that's always been kind of a creed to me and with these it forces me to live up to it, otherwise doom.
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Really cool bows,and beautiful work!
Like the others i would love to se more detail.
It would also be fun to know what drawweight they are.
/Mikael
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Your bows look really familiar. Where would I have seen them before?
G
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Those are definitely examples of a new king of "character" bow!! :laugh:
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Very nice.....I love to see different designs and people trying new things.
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Very impressive work their, your artistic talents will no doubt aid you in your tillering as well.
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Man, those right on the money. I've often wanted to carve my mine up real artistic like that. But I am lucky to just get one that shoots.
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incredible art! That's taking finishing a bow to a whole new level.
Jon
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VERY Cool!
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Your bows look really familiar. Where would I have seen them before?
G
Not sure, I've sold a couple so they might be posting pics on facebook (ran into a bow of mine that way, very cool feeling) and I post on SG and Deviant, one of those maybe? Honestly I'm kind of surprised I haven't run into more sculptural bows like these, I tried my hand at it on a whim and with the advice of this forum and some youtube posts (and trial and error of course) I was making functional bows within a month (thanks again to everyone on this board, an amazing amount of information), I still have a shit load to learn but its so rewarding that even when I screw up I happily take the lesson and move on.
As for the draw weights, I try to keep the bows usable for everyday shooters so i try to stay between 30-50lbs, I'll move higher eventually but since they aren't meant for hunting and I'm still learning I think 30-50 is a good range. Anyways, in order from top down in my first post they draw:
38lbs - Made for a acquaintance in Minneapolis, she wanted between 35-40lbs and ambidextrous with a complex red stain, the wood is hard maple
50lbs - Made for a longbow competition at the MN renfest, still have it and shoot it most days to get ready, its presold but won't ship until after the competition.
32lbs - Made as a fun bow for everyone to shoot at some of the regular bonfires that happen in the neighborhood, hard maple as well.
40lbs - Built over the winter at a local maker shop, I build everything in my backyard during the summer and move to the communal maker shop in winter.
25lbs - this was a prop bow for a Renfest costume, it still shoots but its very light.
32lbs - First proper bow build, a smooth shooter, tips were too heavy but it made it a very lazy easy bow to shoot.
(Everything is measured at 28")
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I can't believe that this would stay in one piece - that's incredible! What kind of draw weights are you getting out of these bows? BTW, maple is one of my favorite woods to use as well.
(https://ny-image1.etsy.com/000/0/6396707/il_fullxfull.263398597.jpg)
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I can't believe that this would stay in one piece - that's incredible! What kind of draw weights are you getting out of these bows? BTW, maple is one of my favorite woods to use as well.
(https://ny-image1.etsy.com/000/0/6396707/il_fullxfull.263398597.jpg)
I built this before I learned I probably shouldn't ;D
It got over drawn to 32" by a 6'4" friend of mine before I could instruct him on the proper draw length, it just kept on tickin', guess I lucked out on that particular piece of oak, as of late however I haven't had the best luck with red oak, I think I got too comfortable with the forgiveness of the hard maple. I have a 7' piece of red oak waiting to be cut right now, I'm thinking I'll try a recurve with it since I haven't done any steam bending yet, see if I can't break my streak of bad luck with the stuff. The bow I'm most excited for is the bamboo and walnut, I did a spear out of walnut last year and still remember fondly how nice it sanded and stained(https://ny-image0.etsy.com/002/0/6396707/il_fullxfull.354748692_hagu.jpg)
I just hope the bamboo doesn't over power the walnut, I'm going to try for around 40lbs and overbuild it to be safe.
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So..... How would I contact you about contracting a piece made special? Since I'm a bowyer and own a business, I can provide all the materials needed. Please let me know. Thanks Mistergone! ;D
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Am i the only one who cannot see the pics ? :(
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Interesting stuff but not my style of bows..I can appreciate the craftmanship. I do have a picture that I barrowed from paleoplanet (hope the don't mind) Would love to see something like that..
greetings stefan
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Fantastic work, man. Really, really cool
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This is awesome work, as everyone seems to be echoing here! Do you have any pictures of your bows during the contruction, tillering, or carving phases of thier lives?
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This is awesome work, as everyone seems to be echoing here! Do you have any pictures of your bows during the contruction, tillering, or carving phases of thier lives?
I really should take more pictures during the construction but I'm always too excited to remember until afterwards, here are a few quick shots I did get,
(http://i.imgur.com/rw9ya.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/8CyaJ.jpg?1)
(http://i.imgur.com/YZvkO.jpg)
I really need to make a better tillering setup but for now this one works out.
They sometimes have a sketch guiding them but often as not they just kind of evolve, I do have a very strange build I'm slowly working and there are plenty of drawings of that in my book but I have no idea if its even going to shoot, let alone shoot quickly or properly, hopefully once I have a decent working design I'll put it up here.
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Is that bow a take down? It looks like it is in 3 pieces. The riser section looks like a pretty good weapon in its own right!
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Those are spectacular. Keep up the good work.
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Is that bow a take down? It looks like it is in 3 pieces. The riser section looks like a pretty good weapon in its own right!
Nope, just a single piece of red oak, I haven't tried any takedowns yet, I try to make everything out of a single piece of wood.