I nicknamed this bow "Pender" after my pal Pender Bender
Brendan gave me this stave at the Cumberland Woodbow Gathering 2017. Always thrilled to be gifted staves I didn't ask much about it. I presumed(even imagined? that he told me) that it was Doug maple and I went about my weekend. The stave had some nice reflex and was super clean, awesome! But because it was white wood I wasn't all that excited about doing anything with it. I even offered it up to someone who had just recently built their first selfbow. Boy, sure am happy that he didn't accept! Anyway as the summer 2018 wore on and I wasn't seeing any yew in my stash that was calling to me I thought "lets just take this piece of Doug down a little, see what is in here", and then I built a shave horse, so this was my test piece for that new equipment. Not expecting much other than saw dust and getting to know my shave horse, I kept plugging away. My 3 year old daughter learned how to use a rasp and scraper on this piece.
After taking some dimension off this stave, I sent Brendan a message. "Hey Mate, just working that Doug maple you gave me, any tips?", and I got back "Doug Maple? I haven't cut any Doug maple. Pretty sure that was Saskatoon..." Hmmm now I am confused, and positive that he said(or I conjoured) it was maple. So I keep working on it and getting it floor tillered. The stave is holding reflex and LOTS of weight for how small it is getting. Very impressed!
So our 2018 Gathering happens, full of liquid sunshine and our usual good crew of wood collectors and sawdust makers, and I bring out the mystery stave, which by now is pretty well a bow. I saved some bark by fluke and after some discussion with the group, we conclude that Pender was right, I was mistaken, but the stave turned into a nice bow! Before the weekend was out the ever generous Pender(who btw helped me tiller out the last critical couple inches) handed me two slivers of Scotch Broom, ready for tip over lays. I knew just where to put them!
I am really happy with this bow, I love the way it shoots, the color it took from the stain and the way the Broom wood tips match. This piece has given me a new respect for the understory white woods of the Pacific coast that have evolved by being smashed for eons by the bigger flora. It is 66" long. 46lb@28". I used SamaN waterbased dark walnut stain with two coats of shellac and three of tung oil. I am gifting this bow to my best friend and Brother from another mother, Russ, who has been through a lot with me. The name of this bow will forever be "Pender", but I simply signed off as "MMX" as this is the roman numerals for the year my friend and I chose to live without alcohol. Thanks for looking and to Pender for being a great pal and for the hook-ups!
After several months of waiting my pal Russ finally got to shoot his new bow! He is pretty excited about the prospects of taking this new weapon to try for his first deer
https://youtu.be/jivqvoP0JcY
