Congratulations to Greg Bagwell of Clarksville, Tennessee
His Dogwood "Blossum" Bow is January Self Bow of the Month
From Greg:I just completed this bow I named Blossom since the first of the year. I've got more hours in this bow then any I've made so far. I tried to incorporate as much "Mojo" into it as I could!
The wood Dogwood, my first bow from Dogwood, and it is 65" ntn, 1-1/2" width at fades to midlimb, down to about 7/16" tips. The tips are larger then I normally leave them, but I wanted to retain the looks of the natural bumpy surface as much as possible. The bow pulls 55 lbs @ 27". I laid this bow out differently then I normally do by making the top limb 1-1/2" longer then the bottom and tillering the limbs even with each other.
The dogwood was cut off of my property just a couple of days prior to the 2007 Classic. The tips are eye-guards from a buck BigA took in years past. I tried to purposely have the tips hook up by using some of the main beam for the glue-joint surface to attach to the limbs. While he was at Pappy's on a hunting trip, I asked Sawfiler to cut the string grooves into one of the tips after I had first glued them in place. I've admired how Shannon does his bow tips, and liked the idea of his having something to do with this bow. I basically told him I wanted to leave some of the brown knarley part of the horn in place. I shaped the other tip to match from his example. I stained the back of the bow black walnut, while the rest of the bow is stained with red mahogany. PatB donated a bow to the 2008 Classic that I admired, and I especially liked the texture of the finish. He had ground up wood coals and mixed them in with bear grease for sealing. I liked the texture of Pat's bow, and wanted to do something similar yet different.
I finally hit on the idea of grinding flint flakes left over from all the folks flintknapping during the 2008 Classic into pieces about the size of a grain of salt and using these on the bow's back. This process took a LONG time to accomplish! Leapingbare, Cowboy, robustus, Hillbilly, mullet, Sawfiler, RidgeRunner, DTiller, Dingleberry...just to name a few of the flintknappers whose left over flakes I used. I sprinkled these grains of flint onto a wet coat of Truoil and let them dry in place. I then put probably a dozen or more coats on top of the flint before I finished, leaving a bumpy texture with some color that expecially shows up in good sunlight.
My youngest son Jamison painted on the dogwood blossom on the belly of the bow and I did the writing...he's a talented artist I think! The grip is from beaver tail and I decided to leave it the natural color. Hawk had sent me a book on lacing back last year and I used it for the lacing direction, and I might mention that those lacing needles fit the bill as well! The arrow head is authentic, and I found it in my parents garden over 30 years ago when I was a teenager. I can't believe I never loss it during that time...maybe so I could use it on this bow? The point is attached using dogbane string which Leapingbare taught me how to make. I made a couple of osage beads to adorn it. The final 1/2 dozen coats of sealer are polyurethane clear satin. The bow really flings my cane arrows with authority, where you look, and is smooth and balanced in the hand. It relaxes back to straight after 30 minutes or so from shooting. I hope yall like this dogwood mojobow as much as I do!
Forum members were impressed with the artcraft not to mention the fine tiller.-"
Man that is one AWESOME bow. I love the nocks and grip. Your son did a beautiful job on the blossom painting. What an artist. That bow is a piece of art. Great job, very impressive work." -ricktrojanowski
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Greg-Wow!! That's one of the most impressive bows I've seen in a long time. Tiller looks great- mighty fine looking bow without the added eye candy, but the detail work is just awesome. Love those tips (have you noticed they look like a deer track from the rear view? ) The handle lacing looks great, hell, everything looks great. Tell your son that his artwork is awesome. I've got a dogwood bow almost finished myself, first one for me too. If it turns out half as nice as yours I'd be really happy. (Except you beat me to the painting a dogwood blossom on it idea, durnit.) Oh, did I mention that I like your bow? I'm proud to have some of my debris glued to it. " -Hillbilly
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