Got sidetracked for about ten years gun hunting again, lots of life's ups and downs, lost my hunting spot a while back, focused on my teaching and coaching took up most of my attention.....after selling my house I had to dig into my mountain of gear, and came across my bows, took them out and reminisced a bit, focused on guns again but always kept my eyes out for Osage trees and my connection to archery, obsessed as I am with those trees and have memorized the spots I've come across, never built one from my staves I've collected.........and just happened upon an available Osage PSAX 49@28, 62" at BW last night. Well, looks like I have a new one to shoot, so I'm back after a long while.

This is my Barren Ground Caribou from my 85 trip

Theres quite a few in depth threads abvout this topic. Probably more info on a few of those than you will likely get answers for these days, i advise searching around the site a bit and if the search feature on the forum doesnt work go to the goog and type "static tip recurve tradgang" the keyword search on the bigger search engine will net you great results.


Kirk will chime in.

Myself and 3 friends did it in 1984 so a lot has changed but we flew out of Kotzebue up the Noatak. Flew in Aug 15th and out Sept 1st, bugs were horrific for 2 days then it froze hard and killed them all. The brush changed from green to brown, one day of drizzle but otherwise sunshine. Then we could fly the same day as hunt and our friend from North pole came in with his super cub so we could go look for the migration. I don't think nonresidents can even hunt in the area we were now. It was like 2 weeks in heaven! I've always thought Caribou were the perfect bow and arrow animal, not dumb but naive enough to get close to. I've taken one of each species and the furthest one I shot was 25 yds. I wish you luck, go for it and enjoy the adventure!

Looking for any advice on building a static or semi static recurve 60" in the low 40s taper in core and in the limb profile do you use a tip wedges and what advantages do you see over a standard recurve

I just just talked to 2  guys and yes.Two guys have had success on javalina, and they had a roundabout with some hogs also

I've used Sassafras in d/r longbows, all four lams, in bows up to 65 lbs. I use flat grain under the clear glass, and edge grain inside. Works great. From trees I cut here at home and seasoned myself. Smells great when cutting and grinding. Looks a lot like red elm. In fact, I'd bet most couldn't tell the difference in a finished bow. I haven't used it in a recurve... yet.

Hey guys. I just renewed my Contributing Membership via PayPal.

Receipt number: 10T909325Y9802302

Thanks!

Edit: oh, wow! Access is automatic and immediate. Awesome!

 

Quote from: harry 62 on January 28, 2026, 05:36:24 PMwhat do you guys think about osage for a core wood?

I'd save the osage for self bows, it is outstanding for that use and somewhat wasted on FG bows.

Quote from: Kirkll on January 28, 2026, 09:41:28 PMI built quite a few years ago using old growth CVG douglas fir that held up fine, but that was some rare stock that was originally milled in the early 1900's and very tight vertical grain. I don't think you cab even buy that quality anymore. No more old growth fir hitting the mills.

That old fir was really something, wasn't it? We have a 1903 farm house on our property that was built with fir 2x4's (REAL 2x4's) for the framing. The grain on that wood is so straight and clean, with super tight rings it is just amazing. I definitely don't see anything like that in a lumber supplier these days.


Mark