Snakey osage with Coral skin

[osage outlaw]

This year at the Tennessee Classic Will H showed me a beautiful snakey osage bow that he had been working on.  He got the billets from a vendor at the previous Classic.  The bow opened up a side check on Will as he was shooting it in.  He filled the crack with superglue and set it aside.  He didn't think the bow would hold up to his longer draw length.  He gave me the bow to see if it would work for me since I have a shorter draw length.  I brought it home and couldn't wait to see what it would do.  I strung it up and pulled it back to full draw.  A loud snap came from the bottom limb and my heart sunk.  I could feel the pop in my hand holding the bow.  I let it down and looked it over.  I couldn't find anything damage.  The only thing I could figure happened was I didn't have the string in the groove all the way.  When I pulled it back it snapped into the groove.  I shot the bow quite a bit and it never made any more noise.  I sinew wrapped the side crack for some added protection. 

This bow deserved some special skins.  I traded for this set of coral snake skins at the Classic 3 years ago.  They were old, in pieces, and had moth holes ate in them.  When I went to glue the skins on the bow they wouldn't flex around the bends in the limbs.  I had to cut and splice the skins at each bend.  There are 11 splices all together.  I had just enough skin to cover the limbs.  If the bow was any longer or wider they wouldn't have worked.  The bow is 62" from tip to tip in a straight line.  I haven't checked the weight but it feels around 45 lbs at my draw length.  It's finished with tru oil.

[Buckeye Guy]

About time you posted that beauty!
Been seeing it all over the net
Very good work Clint

[burchett.donald]

  Your right Clint, that deserved some skins...Coral is rare around here...Nice
                                                                                                                                         Don

[Balsatech]

Those skins look great on that bow Clint. Very cool. Joe.

[Will H]

Dude! That turned out GREAT! So glad it ended up with you, I was bout ready to throw it in the fire!

[PNewton]

Sharp looking bow Clint. Those skins look great on it.

[osage outlaw]

Thanks guys.

Will, thanks again for giving me this bow.  I'm glad it didn't end up in the fire pit.

[Badly Bent]

Veeerrrry snaky looking Bow Clint, nice team work between you and big Will. Your becoming the man of exotic skins with your last couple.

[osage outlaw]

Veeerrrry snaky looking Bow Clint, nice team work between you and big Will. Your becoming the man of exotic skins with your last couple.

Thanks Greg.  I'll be posting another bow tomorrow with a unique skin. 

[BowEd]

Nice job Clint.Those kind of bows don't come around very often.

[paulsemp]

Wow quite the gift from Will!  Staves or billets like that are very rare and be able to get something out of them is even more impressive. Beautiful job on splicing the skin to make it work

[bubby]

I've been waiting for this post that is a thing of beauty and is a tribute to your attention to detail buddy

[Selfbowman]

Nice one Clint . What weight is that bow?
Arvin

[chamookman]

Good save on the Bow & the Skins, looks great ! Hope to see that at Marshal - Bob.

[Danzn Bar]

Great Job!!!
DBar