One of these days or weeks or years I'm gonna start building these things. But for now, how about showing off your summer built selfbow and arrow pics. Nothing better for kicking off the season than seeing a bunch of gear that comes with alot of heart!
(http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y16/mysticguido/103_0688.jpg) This is the bow I finished earlier this year.70" t2t 68"n2n 51#@24" Red Oak Pyramid w/ Wenge, Osage & Ipe
Molson, I sent you a PM. Pat
Got it Pat. Sent you and email.
Nice bow Mystic. Is that pyramid a board bow?
Pics sent! I sent some arrow pics also. Pat
Here's a couple bows I finished just a couple weeks ago. I plan on using them this season.
First one is an osage selfbow, with bullsnake skins and sheephorn tip overlays, around 62 lbs @ 28, and 62 inches nock to nock.
The other is a bamboo backed Ipe, around 70 lbs @ 28, and is 64 inches nock to nock. It is a real screamer to shoot too. But I like the selfbow best myself.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v508/woodwizard/newbows1-1.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v508/woodwizard/newbows2.jpg)
Nice bows Mark. Not to take anything from the Ipe but man is that Osage sweet! Love those handle wraps.
Pat B. emailed me some photos of a beautiful yew bow and a super nice osage recurve. I'll get some pics posted for him soon.
Really nice Mark. Looks like you made those arrows too?
QuoteOriginally posted by Molson:
Nice bow Mystic. Is that pyramid a board bow?
Yes it is.
Got this fine old, very old, stave from javaman in the St Jude auction and made some elk medicine.
http://tradgang.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=119;t=000112
I had it at MOJam in the rough state at 62#@28 - 67.5" ntn and posted this pic a while back.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v613/shaunw/bow003.jpg)
Finished out at 60#, put a JD style handle and a home for a special pair of moccasin skins I'd been saving. Teamed with some yellow birch and 190 Grizzly it pushes this 730 grn combo with authority. Jack Russel Terrier inspected and ready for fall.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v613/shaunw/StJude001.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v613/shaunw/StJude004-1.jpg)
Nice Shaun. What kind of skin is that?
Really nice Shaun!
Nice Shaun. Your bows always have that, "Take Me!" look to them!
Here's a couple pics Pat B. sent me. The first is yew and the recurve osage. Pat can come along and describe the bows better than I can. He obviously has some talent!
(http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w49/molson410/for_PA_015.jpg)
(http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w49/molson410/for_PA_016.jpg)
(http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w49/molson410/for_PA_027.jpg)
(http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w49/molson410/for_PA_026.jpg)
(http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w49/molson410/for_PA_033.jpg)
Pat had a nice youth bow he made as well but I'm having trouble with the picture for some reason.
Here's a few cane arrows Pat made to go along with the bows.
(http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w49/molson410/for_PA_008.jpg)
(http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w49/molson410/for_PA_011.jpg)
(http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w49/molson410/for_PA_009.jpg)
Check out that Cherokee two fletch on those shafts. Sweet!
Thanks for posting these bows Tim.
The first is from a 5" yew log that Don Berg(OldBow from PA) duct taped to his bike and rode 8 miles out of the Montana wildeness. The bow bends through the handle and pulls about 50#@26" and is about 64" t/t. She has water buff tip overlays and is finished with only bear grease.
The osage static recurve is 60" t/t with cherry bark backing, TruOil finish and elk antler overlays. Most folks scrape the lychens off the bark but I thought it was to cool so I left it on. This bow also pulls about 50#@26" and bends through the handle. The osage stave for this bow was cut May 8, 2008. After I finished the bow it began to take on some set. I believe it was still a bit "green" so it has been over my hotwater heater for about a month now.
Both of these bows will join me in the deer woods this season.
The arrows are hill cane(Arundinaria appalaciana)one of our native bamboos, from along my driveway. The stone points were made by 3 different friends. The fletching are turkey but the style is a bit different. The first is a slightly modified Cherokee 2 fletch. The second one is similar to the first but I used a feather burner to give it a banana burn. The 3rd is a hybrid 2 fletch with my own burn style. The points are hafted with pine pitch glue and sinew wrap and the fletching is only sinew wrapped, fore and aft. The sinew wraps on the points and fletching are sealed with pine pitch varnish. These arrows weigh between 612gr and 648gr.
The arrows fly very well from both bows above and will join us as my hunting equipment this season. Enjoy! Pat
Sal
they are copper head skins. Don't know why I put "moccasin" in the post, maybe because of a recent conversation about how aggressive water moccasins are. I picked up a pair of copper head skins from Lloyd at MOJam but one was not long enough so I dug into my stash for this pair of primo skins.
Shaun, you got a pic of your hatchet bow?
Shaun, You did a great job with that old, snaky stave. I bet it was a pleasure to work. Just knowing its history makes it even more special.
I love copperhead skins on bows but was run out of my stand 2 nights in a row by a Brown Thrasher(ground bird). It wasn't until I was back in camp the second evening that I realized it was the copperhead and not me the bird was after. Pat
Kevin
here's the hatchet bow. I made up my own rules this year; find a piece of wood on site and make a bow during the MOJam weekend. Cut this piece of hickory along the 3-D trail and chipped out a bow on Friday afternoon and Saturday before the contest. It looked good but had not cast - wet hickory. After drying for a month+ it is up to 20# and will at least toss an arrow to the target. Hope it dries on out over time. It was a real fun project.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v613/shaunw/Hatchet001.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v613/shaunw/Hatchet002.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v613/shaunw/Hatchet003.jpg)
Nice bows Pat and Sal and Mark. I really like that yew bend in the handle Pat, swell work!
Thanks Shaun. Yew is fun to work. I just hope I'm not too rough with it. It can be delicate and I'm usually not!
I like your hatchet bow. Give that hickory a few more months and it will be hunting weight. Pat
How long do they need to dry?
culleng, It depends on the wood and the relative humidity of your area. A good rule of thumb is one year for each inch of thickness. That can be speeded up considerably by reducing your stave to near bow size...but, there is nothing like well seasoned bow wood, no matter what specie it is. Pat
Thanx Shaun, The copper heads do look nice on that bow too.
Pat B, Them nice arrows and awesome looking bow pic's
Mark, great looking bow's.. I want to try Osage soon.
Thanks Sal. I finished up 3 more this weekend with obsidian points. In this set of 6 cane arrows the average weight is 610gr(551gr to 648gr). I weighed the bows today and the yew pulls 47#@26" and the osage recurve pulls 48#@26". The way these cane arrows recover the 13gpp doesn't seem to effect my shooting ability with either bow at 20 yards. That works for me! Pat
Here's Your pic's Pat B. (http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y16/mysticguido/forPA013.jpg)
(http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y16/mysticguido/forPA016.jpg)
Thanks for posting these pics Sal. I think I'm ready for the season. I hope the deer will cooperate. I have lots of good medicine accumulated it these items. At least 12 different people contributed with gifts of wood, stone, steel, feathers, fur, bark and sinew. I guess the rest is up to me!!! d:^) Pat
I was a little slow on this post. Here are the three bows I will use this season. The Meland is for Antelope out of the blind not a selfbow but the arrows and broadheads I will use are hand made. The two selfbows were made last year. The "bucks only" (second bow) has already accounted for a deer. I was concentrating on making my own arrows and broadheads this year. The last picture is soon to be new selfbows.
(http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n274/JackSkinner/broadheads/Project%20arrows/PROJECTS034.jpg)
The arrows self nock arrows for selfbows
(http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n274/JackSkinner/broadheads/Project%20arrows/PROJECTS035.jpg)
Selfbows and soon-to-be selfbows
(http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n274/JackSkinner/broadheads/Project%20arrows/PROJECTS039.jpg)
My practice range
(http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n274/JackSkinner/broadheads/Project%20arrows/PROJECTS029.jpg)
And all for this. He was in my front pasture if I just could have gotten him to go by the blind.
(http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n274/JackSkinner/broadheads/Project%20arrows/PROJECTS008.jpg)
Great pic's Jack... Nice pet you have in your yard, too.... What is that a shepherd?
No I'm sorry that's Dinner, what was I thinking :banghead:
Thanks mysticguido
That lope likes to circle the house and drive the dogs crazy. But he is smart enough not to break the 30 yard barrier.
Crazy thing is he is in my front yard and my tag is for Rawlins 100 miles away. I do have a doe tag for the area around the house though.
Nice bows and arrows, Jack. Will you describe your self bows and arrows.
Beautiful country you live in. One of these days I'd love to see it for myself...and try to sling an arrow at one of those pronghorns.
Thanks for posting your self bows. I'm a sucker for beautiful all wood bows. Pat
Both of the selfbows are of Osage. The one is sort of a hyrid design I like it is narrow like a english longbow and even bends into the handle, it has a radius belly, it is 68" nocktonock. It is about 1 1/4in wide at handle to just past mid limb then tapers to 1/2in at the end. The "camo" is mud flag girl (rednecks should not be left without adult supervision). The other bow is more of a flat bow design but also bends right to the handle. It is about 1 1/2 inches wide to just past midlimb then tapers to 1/2 at the nocks. It is mostly flat on the belly, it is 66" nock to nock. It is backed with bullsnake. Both use floppy rest and either leather spiral wraped handle or I use 80lb test braided fishing line.
Arrows are ash that I made from a board. They are 3/8 at the broadhead end and taper toward the nock end. I sand all but the first 2 inches of the shaft till I get the spine I want. The feathers are from local birds turkey and goose split ground and burned by myself and one of my hunting partners. The broadheads are desgined after the griz 190 in tradepoint fasion from a saw blade with single left bevel.
Nice bows, Jack. Did you hand plane the arrows? Lately I have been using either sourwood shoots of cane arrows. I have a set of ash shafts that a friend is tapering for me now. Can't wait to try them.
I love Mickey's floppy rest. I've been putting them on most of my bows lately. Pat
I rip them down on my table saw, then run them past a router using a jig I copied from the how to section of this site. Then either hand sand or I have a jig I made to spin the shafts so I can sand if they are overly heavey. I have used a hand plane as well just stepped the process up a mite. I love ash it just seems to weigh and spine perfectly for my use out of my bows in the 55-60lb range selfbow or the Meland when I shoot it.
The floppy rest is all I use now, simplistic perfection.
Nice Jack! Mud flap girl... "Bucks Only" ... Now that's some original gear!!! :biglaugh:
Great job!
Thanks Molson now if I could only make it so. Shot a doe with it last season.