Last Christmas I made a bow for each of my brother-in-laws. I had no idea I would create three traditional archery monsters. They LOVE to shoot, and we do so at every family gathering. However, my biggest surprise came when my father-in-law took a fancy to shooting. I made him a lightweight oak bow just to get him started. He even set up a target and keeps the grass mown nice and short for every family get-together! Long story short, he's hinted a couple of times that he's in need of a heavier bow (mostly to perpetuate his comedic feud with a local woodchuck who has taken up residence in the far corner of his land!).
So, I had a little sliver of osage that I literally thought I couldn't get a bow out of but couldn't bear to throw out. It had about 1" of deflex, was only 64" long, was crooked as a dog's hind leg, and didn't have enough wood in it to build a flatbow. I don't particularly fancy D-bellied bows, but it was all I could do with this stave. I heated the snot out of it to get it aligned, but didn't take any deflex out of it. It finished out at 43# @ 26", has bison horn tip overlays, a floppy rest, satin lacquer finish, and a nice feel in the hand. The string follow gives it a nice smooth early draw, and you can just feel it give in the handle at full draw. I was impressed how quickly it shoots...it's obviously not a speed demon, but those small limbs sure do recover quickly. I added three arrows to keep the woodchuck dancing this fall! Didn't have time for many pictures, but here's a few:
He's quite the crack-shot. Here's the first arrow of his second round at 18 yards:
