75# carved white oak viking bow

[Lombard]

Half eye, is carving a hobby for you, or something you do for a living?

[TBod]

Very nice bow!

I find Oak very hard to work with compare to the woods I tried before. On the other hand I've only tried pretty soft woods..
I would have imagined Oak be hard to carve in.

[Pappy]

Beautiful work,looks very nice.
   Pappy

[half eye]

Thanks fellas,
        Dave: At my age them money shots ain't gonna happen, thats just too ugly to even contemplate 
Lombard: I used to carve at the world-class level (realistic wildlife) but not for the last 10 years because of the injuries, so this low relief is about my only option due to the physical limitations. An example is burning in the barblettes of feathers I used to be capable of about 95-100 lines per inch and now I'm lucky to do 20 and those aren't real good)
T Bod: I think that working the backs and or bellies of this oak is cause it's vertical grained, I have trouble with the edges of the limbs cause that's horizontal grained. Most all of my tools are Cutting Edge types (scrapers etc.) and the vertical grain cuts more even than the horizontal and gives less problems with the tools digging in, or lifting slivers......thats just how it seems to me.
Pappy, Thank you, means a lot coming from you.
half eye

[DanaM]

Another inspiring bow Rich, someday I need to try this perhaps when I'm retired

[Hrothgar]

Nice work, beautiful bow.

[half eye]

Hey Dana,
      Dont forget I seen your bows so dont go there about how nice mine are eh? Truth be told all you fellas probably build more types of bows than I ever will. The retired thing does help some, too
      Rothgar: thanks, man. I think I got this carved Mollegabet thing pretty good, but you all didn't hear about the carved pryamid that went away....did ya? I'm going to see if that is viable (carving thin straight tapered bow designs) sort of need a reality check. Everytime a guy gets cocky them bent sticks will put ya right back in your place....at least that's how it works for me.
half eye

[tombo]

Beautiful bow! Nice job,   Tom

[Kviljo]

Hehe, you're taking this to a new level with those notches along the outer limbs

I guess this really shows how safe a board bow with good grain orientation really is.

Keep it up!  (I really need to try this!)

[half eye]

Kviljo,
       Thats pretty funny....I was thinking the same exact thing about that beautiful bow you just posted....very nice !! Actually I got the notch idea from some carved roof gable ends I saw in a museum display photograph and thought it looked pretty cool.
half eye

[DanaM]

Rich I just read your article in PA and I just want to say well done and I think your article embodies what PA is all about.
The bow you have pictured in the article is fantastic would like to see you post some more detailed pics on here
I'm hoping to get down your way this summer and would love to spend a day with you, maybe you could teach this yooper a
new way to skin a cat eh

[PeteC]

Very nice example of a holmegaard.The carving is beautiful. God bless

[ken75]

awesome job , artistic and extremely functional. best of both worlds, rich your an inspiration to us all !

[half eye]

Thank you fellas, and hey dana your allways welcome at my house....but I bet you can teach me more about bow building than I can you.
half eye

[OldBow]

Excellent bow (Holmgaard style, I presume) And bookmarked for January Self Bow of the Month