I made this bow for a close friend and hunting companion of 30+ years. Brian has been supporting my bow building addiction for the last 2 years with wood, sinew, cane and feathers and will probably continue to do so for the next 30 years.
I cut this osage from my neighbor's farm. While it was very straight piece, the longest I could get a stave was 62". No problem, I like bows a bit on the shorter side. I chose one stave to make a board from, actually I got two quarter sawn boards from it. I'd had been wanting to try a hickory backed osage, thinking this combination would yeild a bow with the best properties from both woods. One bow I laid out as lazy pyramid, other as parrellel limb design. Then I realized that Brian's draw length was 29" Head scratching time. The bow would be 61" ntn, 7" stiff handle, leaving the working limbs a mere 27" to get a 29" draw. The bow needed to be of hunting weight 50-55#. Did I meantion this would be my 4th bow and my first attempt at a laminate bow. I was optimistic and gave myself a 50/50 chance of pulling it off.
Specs:
61" ntn
29" at 53#
1.6" at fades
stiff handle
hickory backed osage
1/2" tips
cow horn tip overlays
antler combination arrow rest strike plate
rat snake backing (the rat snake took up residence in the wrong cabin. He was tollerated until sheds were found under the pillow of Brian's bed)
Riser is walnut over hickory.
Stain is ebony and red mahogany on the hickory backing; 5 coats of linseed on the osage belly. 2 coats of poly over all of the bow.
1 1/2" inch of glued in reflex, finished 3/4" after unstring with 3/8" of set afte an hour of rest.
[attachment deleted by admin]
