My neighbor's son asked me last fall when I was going to make him a bow. I told him I wasn't, but that I would help him make his own. So we took a big stave I got from Mullet, split it into 3 staves, and picked one that would work for him. It is a beautiful piece of wood with just the right amount of snake to it, and it turned out really well, I think. I helped him with the tiller, but he did most of the shaping and and finishing. He made his own string, as well as the cordage to stitch up the handle.
The bow is osage, with african blackwood tips and turquoise-colored rock pieces mixed with epoxy in the knot we filled--makes a nice accent on the belly. I tried over and over to teach him how to push-pull string a bow, but for whatever reason, he could never get the hang of it, so we put two sets of nocks on the tips so he could use a simple bow stringer. He thought it made them look like a rattlesnake, hence the name -- it was going to be either that, or "Mister Snakey." I urged him to stick with "Rattler"
64" nock-to-nock
42# @ 28"
The look on his face when I asked him if he was ready to take it home was worth all the effort over the last several months.
