Bows with all the bells and whistles (gifts for my friends)

[Pappy]

That turned out nice Rich, someone will be very happy.
 Pappy

[half eye]

Thanks for the compliments, appreciate it.  Got 3 more "fancy" ones to build, then I'm going back to "plain" replicas.
rich

[Ranasp]

That bow is absolutely wild!  I've never seen a Penobscot bow before so I was really baffled until I saw the final pics. 

[half eye]

Fellas,
    got the parts in Friday and got the saw back together. So we are back to Don and Jon's bows. The process here is to slowly reduce weight and tweek the bend shape alternately untill the bows are near desired draw weight at 20-22 inches of draw and have even bends going.....then they will get sinewed.
    The scalloped Seneca is getting close and has the profile pretty close.....ready to start tillering it back. The heavyweight Penobscott needed to be shaped, straightened, then reshaped and final straightened. I want it to have some snake but not enough to affect the mechanics of the Penobscott it is ready now also to start tillering.
    Here are the pics of the present condition.
rich

[turtle]

Looking good. At the rate your cranking out bows I hope you ordered extra saw parts.

[Del the cat]

Hey Rich,
I'm a bit late getting here!
You, sir are a master craftsman.
Great work and a privilege to watch the bows progress
Cheers
Del

[half eye]

Turtle, you hit that nail right on the head sir.....between bow making and cutting down ironwood staves the old girl is about as tired as I am (I got a bow of 10 on the thrust bearings )

Thank you for the high praise Mr. Cat.....however I dont believe I'm a Master of anything, more a "jack of all trades"......I thought I'd build these in photos to make the point that just because I dont normally make "fancy" doesn't mean that I do not have the capability.....and I think I really do "owe" these fellas.
rich

[JonW]

Looking real good Rich. Take a break dude

[burchett.donald]

 Rich,
         Like Jon said, looking good...That flipped tip scalloped Seneca has my blood boiling...Something about scallops have always intrigued me...And I have seen many of yours...
                                                                                                                                    Don


 p.s. You "owe" me nothing buddy, your friendship, motivation and mentoring over the years cannot be bought...And oh yea, I would say your more than a couple of bows up on me
                                                                                           

[half eye]

Thanks for the comments fellas but really not to worry guys.

Jon, makin bows is my taking a break Besides, here shortly I'm gonna have to go and watch sinew dry

Mr. Burchett, not about the "things" but you and Jon both been real good friends to me for a long time now and this is a small way of saying thank you and "I appreciate" all you fellas have done.... and thats just the plain truth of it sir.
rich

[Josh B]

Wow! Just wow...I've been a fan of your scalloped bows for a long time, but penobscots!  Now that's too cool!  Josh

[Stringman]

Mighty fine work Rich! Keep on scraping, I'm enjoying the show!

[Buckeye Guy]

Sweet  stuf going on up north for sure
thanks for letting us ride along

[half eye]

Here is where the bows are at now fellas.
     The scalloped seneca is short tillered to about 70# right now.....needed an alignment tweek to keep from turning itself inside out.....but it's all good for the sinew tomorrow.
     The Penobscott is short tillered to 65 pounds by itself also ready for the sinew on both bows. In picture 3 you can see the lower limb is slightly stiffer....that is because all the actual Penobscott bows I have pics of tend to have more set in that limb.....and I call always scrape a little off.
   Tomorrow I will clean up the thin edges on all 3 bows and hopefully get sinew laid down. Here are current pics.
rich

[burchett.donald]

  Sweeet looking bends Rich...Sweeeet, I'm going to go bananas waiting for the sinew to dry
                                                                                                                                          Don