Oak (Quercus robur) selfbow

[Pat B]

Nice bow, Tuomo but I do agree about cutting the nock cross the back can be dangerous.  Is your oak in the white oak family? The grain looks like it is. Does it have rounded lobes on the leaves instead of points?

[joachimM]

PatB, It is the european counterpart of white oak

[PlanB]

Great bow -- it reminds me a lot of the Holmgard -- a little longer and narrower, and others of those early types like the Ringkloster. It fits wonderfully for a northern European primitive self-bow made from a local hardwood.

I've seen back reduced or notched nocks on drawings of Finnish bows, but can see how they can't be as split resistant. A binding just below could reduce the chance of splitting out a piece of the belly.

Some of those nocks seem to have been used on the two-wood bows, and the standing part would then have been made of compression wood, which might or might not have have been tougher as a peg. Dunno.

Anyway, I love that it is so simple and so related to ancient types, and made of local wood. Cool Bow!

[Danzn Bar]

Yep I like it....[thumbs up].....
DBar

[bubbles]

Love the heartwood sap wood contrast

[Tuomo]

Thanks!

I make mainly bamboo backed laminates so it was fun to make a simple selfbow. Will make a few more oak bow!

There is no splits on the back. Those are just some kind of dark stripes of the cambium.

Simson and others - I have used a lot of that kind of "cut back" -nocks. In this image, the dark bow is massaranduba selfbow, about 40 pounds. Tip width is 5 mm (about 1/5"), which I reinforced with silk thread. The tip is so narrow that it is impossible to make side nocks. in this oak bow, the tip width is 11 mm. And, oak is very hard to split, so it needs no thread or other strengthening. I have had more problems with horn overlays on bamboo backed bows.

[BowEd]

Very nice work Tuomo.Ought to be sweet to shoot for sure.Like your pictures too.