Osage Orange Heat Treated 55#@28,5"

[Rowan Bows]

Hey folks!

I got this very nice clean stave from Konrad Vögele a german bowyer. It had no knots but to my bad some strange growth at some parts.
For example the upper limb (left side) has quiet a lot reflex at the last 20cm so the tiller looks a little bit strange there but I think everything is balanced this way.
If I had made a perfect half circle this spot would be too weak.
Bow ledge is 1,72m unstringed and it draws 55lbs@28,8 pyramid shaped Flatbow from Osage.

I played a little bit with the shape for example the edges of the fadeouts. The disadvantage is you can easily get dents there but really like the style.
These edges are repeating in the diamond shaped tips. I couldn´t identify the wood. I got it with a lots of other hard wood pieces from a bass guitar builder - Oliver Lang.

The Arrow plate is from horn and carved and glued into the wood. I have a little trick to fit it right into the wood without any gaps so watch the Video if you are interested.
The shape of the plate is quiet simple like a sachs knife cause I dont think that medieval goth window fits to the whole style here.

My target was 50lbs but when I finished the bow and shot it it felt quiet hand shocking and still heavy so I decided to heat treat it.
The heat treating gave me 5 pound more and the bow was much lighter after the process. I also shot the bow over the Chrony with 27,5 gram arrows and a speed of 157,5 fps.

Stave to bow: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRoMKDZpuCg

Detailed Pictures: https://imgur.com/gallery/mRG9R5a

[Pat B]

This is a very nice utilitarian bow. Well done.   

[Hamish]

Nice bow,I like the angular stylings, they look really good.

[SpringyWoodPassion]

Nice one. Isn't it a little too slow for a 55# draw weight? Just curious. Great job.

[Rowan Bows]

I dont think so I shot a 50lbs fiber laminated bow with the same arrows over this chronograph and it shot 51 m/s. this one has 55lbs and shots 48m/s so almost equal. think thats quiet fast for a bow without backing

[simk]

Nice crafting  The lack of speed could be due to heavy mass. whats the physical weight of the bow? it looks wide for an osage bow of that drawweight...

[Rowan Bows]

lack of speed?

[RyanY]

If my calculations are correct that’s 417grains or about 7.6gpp (grains per pound) for arrow weight. That would make 157fps very slow for that draw weight and arrow weight. Many bows are shooting 160+ with 10gpp these days.

[Rowan Bows]

If you say "these days" you might mean modern laminated bows cause primitive bows didnt change "these days" since 10000 years. I think its quiet good for a selfbow without a backing or recurves. just want to point out (if you mean modern laminated bows) yes selfbows are much slower.

[Rowan Bows]

here is another guy who scales his selfbows https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qA1FnkDZ36M he uses a bit heavier arrows 495gn but his bows 50-576lbs@28 cant get faster than 155fps... selfbows

[RyanY]

I don’t mean fiberglass bows. Many people in this forum have built much faster selfbows. I suck at shooting over a chronograph and I got 170+ fps with a white oak recurve earlier this year.

[Rowan Bows]

well 171fps are 51m/s - the 60lbs yew in the video shots that fast and its a very good bow but its also much stronger and a much better wood - fine yew. If you always think of fps it seems a big lack but if you take m/s its only 3m faster. I confess the bow could have been more narrow but thats my style I like those pyramid paddles. How much draw weight has the white oak and has it recurves or a sinew backing? makes selfbows much faster

[simk]

maybe you are just watching the wrong channels on youtube 

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3BBOGXmmnF9wUP1vv5oWqA

[Jjpso]

Good looking bow.
In regards to speed, yes some people are getting better numbers.
 I have only cronographed 1 bow, it was a 56 lb bow, black locust flatbow with a 565 grains  arrow. I got 164 fps, but I only draw 25.5 inches

[Rowan Bows]

hey simk his arrows have only 380gn of course its fast