75# carved white oak viking bow

[NTD]

Zen & NTD
       Zen I'll decipher that and let you know later if thats ok?
      NTD heres those pics
half eye

Very Nice!!! Thanks Half Eye, that's one helluva bow!!

[Jude]

Don't know how I missed this when it first posted.  How many of these relief carved Holmgards is this now?  Simply awesome job.

[half eye]

Jude,
      Probably more than I care to use....just tried to get it down good. Working on a different type now to get it to work.
half eye

[radius]

we should archive this thread

[Brock]

I have a stupid question...

For years I have read on various locations and in all the well known selfbow books that you dont violate the rings on back and such.  How do you complete such intricate and deep carvings and notches in the limbs without compromising the integrity of the wood and therefore weakening them a point they are not much more than works of art or only good for limited use?

This threw me for a loop...LOL

[Lombard]

Once again, awesome artwork, and a heck of a bow to boot.

[gmc]

Cool stuff as usual, Half eye. It's always fun to see what you're into.

I have to totally agree with your analysis on white oak. I built two bows with both having the same sluggish performace that you described. The wood came in at a much higher mass than normal with a very lazy response upon release. I also found the wood to take a lot of set later on after shooting it in, too. To be quite frank, its the slowest responding wood on release that I've ever experienced. It is a beautiful wood with a nice primitive look but my experience has not been the best so far with white oak.

[half eye]

Hey fellas,
      Man this bow got dragged back from the dead.....moldy-oldy file
Brock; I use fully quartersawn "boards" for my bows (aka vertical grain) so if you don't get too nutts, ya can carve them. Once they are shot in to a certain draw and weight, I have not had any break on me or any problem with "creeping" limb set.

GMC; I believe that white oak works really good in two applications: 1] used as a belly wood for a high strain backing wood like hickory or ipe etc. and 2] as a thin backing piece if your belly core is of tough (but brittle) types of wood.....but as a self bow they are slower and heavier than other woods.
Rich

[gmc]

I agree.

I actually thought about giving my last white oak bow more than a good heating to see if it would resurrect the thing but lost interest. It's still parked in the corner, maybe one day. 

[Brock]

Brock; I use fully quartersawn "boards" for my bows (aka vertical grain) so if you don't get too nutts, ya can carve them. Once they are shot in to a certain draw and weight, I have not had any break on me or any problem with "creeping" limb set.

Thanks....beautiful work for sure.  That makes sense even to my novice brain.  Appreciate the response.

[AncientArcher76]

Rich the wood wor on this bow is tremendous.  I think u got a few of them thinking!  Back to the drawing board...lol This is one of my favorites...I'll tell u I like quite a few u made to be honest!!!

Russ

[gothmog]

Holy crap Rich!!!  That thing belongs in a museum!  Missed it the first time around, glad it was brought back up.

[madmax46]

The carvings are awesome, Half-eye!!  Beautiful.

[ohma]

and they keep on coming ,great job and imagination,

[Scowler]

One of the most beautiful bows I have ever seen.