Latest composite prodigy/finished/with arrows

[Pat B]

Very excellent bow, Ed, very excellent!      

[Stick Bender]

Thats every thing a natural material hunting bow should be and then some congrats ! Ed does that one have the same draw feel like you exsplained on your last one I think you related it to a rubber band feel ?

[BowEd]

Thanks fellas.
A very strong rubber band I would say with no stack.The previous bows like this were a little more poundage.

[DC]

Great job Ed! I really like your bows.

[BowEd]

Thanks DC.I shoot with FG bow makers year round over here.These type bows open their eyes a little wider to the capabilities of natural materials.
With the draw weight down to 48#'s my consistent accuracy has improved at different ranges.Good things happen for me when I focus and get to full draw shooting as with most shooters.More then likely I will go to the woods with it this fall hunting.I figure to use heavy tapered dogwoods with as much weight forward as possible with a 2 blade broadhead.Good hunting arrows are precious.Especially wooden ones.     .

[osage outlaw]

Very nice work!

[BowEd]

Thanks Clint.It's one of those bows where the majority of the work is done before tillering.Not everybodies cup of tea but the rewards are pretty good.Always fun to make a bow in anticipation of the hunting season coming up.Only thing to do yet is make some killer arrows for hunting season.

[bjrogg]

That is one sweet looking bow Ed. I just love those profiles, they look Awesome. I wish you the best refilling your freezer and restocking your rawhide and sinew supplies.
Bjrogg

[BowEd]

I sure wish you the best too BJ during hunting season coming up here.It's good to associate with people that use practically all the parts of the deer for a useful purpose.The deer population looks good here so far.Provided the deer don't get bit by that fly around these water holes during our drought here.It gives the deer a disease called blue tongue.It's nondiscriminatory and kills large adult deer.Time will tell to show it.In 2012 summer drought it hit the deer pretty hard in some counties in Iowa.
The bow I made here is just for that mainly.HUNTING.I wanted something with exceptional cast that was smaller,durable, & resilient for many years down the road besides impressing the FG boys at the shoots.The profiles can be accomplished with wood only BJ but at this length to get the stored energy to hold through the years of use and shots sinew and horn hold up better keeping early weight draw poundage and don't break down so much as wood only keeping it resilient.

[BowEd]

For those skeptical of humidity on sinewed bows.I carried this bow to Mo Jam 3 days this year.Hot and high humidity.An inch of rain fell saturday night too keeping it very humid.I saw no reduction in poundage/cast or reflex.With 10.5" of reflex on the bow that would of shown something you'd think.

[wizardgoat]

Not sure how I missed this one, great job on that bow.
I'd like to build a wood core horn bow without having to conform to any style
or material to be considered a replica. Thanks for sharing a lot of your process as well

[Aaron H]

It looks even better in person.  Great bow Ed

[BowEd]

Thanks fellas.
Goat...I'm sure as with most all bows something like this has been done before.I enjoy seeing what natural materials are capable of as you've shown yourself with excellence.Granted even though certain construction rules do apply on designs I don't really like to restrict myself worrying about a certain label for it.Written insight before me definitely contributed to this build along with experience making self bows.I build to please myself for my use within my capabilities which I think is the general overlapping common thread here on the result.Keeping an open mind and making these with good results learning something along the way opens the book farther for me to continue.
It was fun jawing with you at MoJam Aaron.There is no doubt in my mind the degree of understanding and attention to detail you have will set us back in our seat with your work on horn bows as it has with self and laminated bows.
If anyone is curious about this build the details I would gladly correspond with them about it.

[bjrogg]

Not sure how I missed this one, great job on that bow.
I'd like to build a wood core horn bow without having to conform to any style
or material to be considered a replica. Thanks for sharing a lot of your process as well

That's what I really like about this one Ed. It just really looks like a great shooter that should last many years. I like your building it for myself, for myself aditude and results.
Bjrogg

[BowEd]

Yes BJ I agree making bows is a sort of personal thing with everyone as long as it is safe/durable and performs to their liking.
To round out the project the hunting arrows to be used are dogwoods.3 on the left[yellow & barred] from last year and 4 more[red & white] made lately.Parabolic shaped 4.25" length feathers.A little over 4" ahead of center balance on the shaft with 145 grain steel broadheads.Spines are the same even with the weight difference because of the full length tapering.50 to 55 pounds.They all fly clean and like darts.They stay straight also over time.I attribute this quality because of the extended time I let these dogwoods season straightened[over 2 years].Best from scratch arrows I've ever made from shoots.My arrows are nothing fancy looking.Performance is the priority.Just like my coondogs used to be.All that's left is practice occasionally and the 0 to hero scenario of the deer getting into the right spot.I usually only carry 4 arrows with me at a time hunting though.Knowing some may be lost or broke through the season.Hopefully all of us will reshow what our handy work did on the shooting and hunting thread with success.


You can see the 4 string nocks on the right with the red & white fletching are narrower[a shade under 5/16"] because of the full length taper.

The yellow feathered 623 grain arrow was the one I shot a nice buck with.Kind of that lucky arrow guess you could call it.Still has remenants of blood on the shaft.The broadheads are glue-on stoss and zwickey blades.