Just not long enough. That was amazing. I went up there with a roughed out piece to see if I could do anything with it. After a little scraping it was found the rings were way too thin and curved up and down. I bought a nice piece of Osage that had beautiful thick rings on it and started on it Friday morning.(These are ALOT of work!) I took two thick rings off to get down to that ring I wanted and roughed it out a little. It resembled a bow that night. Saturday I worked on it more and did the tillering, the real work. I actually got the tillering done that night. Sunday morning I went down and shaped the handle and got it to the point I could launch some arrows. ALMOST SHOT BETTER THAN MY RECURVE!! With a little tuning I think I can get it shooting really good. I got a little more work to do, some final shaping of the handle and finishing work, got to wrap the ends with sinew some little cracks on one tip. It had a narly cow horn twist on one end I straighened out a bit, but the bow shoots awsome. Oh ya, I am going to put some tips on it, but it looks like if I do the tip would be too big for the string loops. Do I just make it really thin on the tip pieces for the string to slide over them? I'll post some pics of this bow later.

jmar yeh i seen you scraping your heart saturday the bow looked good on the tiller.  

I just finished final sanding. Looks alot better now. I shaped the handle up too, and it fits PERFECT. I'll do pics. tomorrow. Still not all the way done yet though. I took the sanding to 320, think I should go to 400 or higher? Also, I was thinking of sealing with linseed, is this a good choice?

Yep there were a lot of osage selfbows built this weekend.  From my booth I got a birdseye view of the tiller trees and at times just couldn't stand it and waded in.  LOL

Had a stave that I just couldn't keep my eyes off for a whole day.  Finally someone bought it and I wondered off.  A few hours later, a young fellow came up and asked if Jason and I could help lay out a bow with him.  Yep in his hand was that stave.  We spent the better part of Saturday and yesterday morning coaching him to get it almost there. His tiller is dead on but he's only at 22" on the weight, so he's got room to work now.

It was a fun weekend but dang I'm beat and now I've gotta go to work and build some bows.

LOL

Mike

Another great one guys, the Rutter family is awesome to let this happen at there place.  Number IV was the best in my eyes, couldn't get away from the bow bench:)

With the way the weather blew up last night (Sunday) it's probably better it didn't go any longer.    

We drove like maniacs Friday night so we could spend all of Saturday at the event.  My whole family had a great time.  Kids spent the day running around and fishing with their new friends.  We kept tabs on them by walkie-talkie.  The girl caught a bass using a dandelion as bait, here I've been wasting good money on chartruesse Power jigs.  Wife made some new acquaintances and enjoyed shooting the course and clout shoot.

I enjoyed seeing several OK boys I've met at MOJAM, the barbecue pork, and seeing the primitive firemaking demo.  I couldn't stand seeing all the osage bows being built so I broke out a stave I'd brought, chased a ring and got a bow cut out.  Its still green wood so I didn't go any further, it satisfied my urge to have yellow boogers though.

Saturday morning I took a fox pelt I'd tanned and made it into a Lakota-style quiver for the clout shoot.  I tried to copy the style of a nice lady named Barb who made some fantastic  quivers.  May she rest in peace.  It was the first pelt quiver I've made, I wasn't all that satisfied with my work but learned a lot.  I was proud that the clout shoot winner chose it as his prize.  Must have been some really good booty along with it.  It was cool that he was shooting a selfbow.  Apparently there's no big advantage to glass.

I managed to poke a couple of arrows in the clout shoot target.  That was amazing.  My prizes were embarrasingly numerous and excellent.  My co-favorites were a Helle knife blade from Dryad, and a cool arm guard from Pine Hollow.

Thanks to everyone who put on the event, it looked like it took a whole lot of hard work to make that happen.  And thanks to the Rutters for their hospitality.

It was my first time at OJAM and I have to say that I was really impressed and I wish I had been going all along! I'm really fortunate to live as close as I do.

My nephew came with me. I introduced him to traditional archery when he came to live with us last year. He had a blast. We sat and watch a beautiful arrow head emerge from a tomahawk sized stone. That was truly amazing. I never knew that there was so much to it! We shot til we were wore out on the fun course. We lost a few arrows and broke one cedar of his but it really helped him improve. I bought a Helle knife blank and the latest copy of TTBB from the great folks at Dryad. I asked lots of questions and realized I had even more once I saw thier beautiful biows up close.

Over all it was a great time! Hey Wingnut I sent you a PM full of questions for when you get caught up.

Whewww!!!!  MAN I'M BEAT!!     :p

What a great time though.  I sure met a lot of new people there.....I promise I will remember your faces, though probably not your names.

We had an estimate of between 400 and 500 people on Saturday.  

I can't start to thank everyone who helped with this event!  For sure I want to thank the guys who spent countless hours helping people with their bows!  Ralph Renfro, as always, spent almost every waking hour teaching.  Tommy Leach, Mike Hames, JD Jones, Shane Cordell, and MANY others, donated their time and sweat to help beginners and experienced bowyers with their projects........THANKS GUYS!!!!

I also want to thank Casey Jones, David Bond and Casey's bro-in-law Jared, for all their help in getting the place ready for the event.

Sure enjoyed the music on Saturday night provided by Chad Shlagle (sp??) and Sandy Biles.  We'll try and provide a little better concert location next year, so the die-hard bow builders can still work on the power tools if they want......you could see them patiently waiting by the band saws during the music, almost jumping out of their skin wanting to work on bows.    

We will try and hold next years event over the last weekend of spring break, like usual, surely Easter won't be THAT early again for a while!

Just to clear up one issue concerning the location....Ojam WILL BE HELD AT THE SAME PLACE IN THE FUTURE!  I had several people tell me that they heard it was going to be moved....it's not!

Hope you all had as much fun as I did!

Look forward to seeing everyone again at Mojam!!

Doug.

Wow, what a great time. This was my first OJAM but defienetly won't be my last. I met a lot of great people. I want to thank Mike, Tommy and Shane for all the help finishing my bow. I will post pics tonight of it.
JD, I will be trying your style of handle wrap and let you know how it turns out. (I'm sure it won't be as easy as you made it look.)
Thanks to the Rutters and everyone else who made this such a great event.
Can't wait till next year.

I had to leave Saturday night, who won the bow????

John

I would like to thank Deep Fork Archery Club for having their trad shoot at OJAM this year.    

Doug--I heard that Easter will not be this early again until 2061.  I think we can stay on  spring break schedule!  My family had a great time at OJAM.  It is really great to get to spend with old friends and make new ones.  Everyone take care.      Shane  "Coach"

Should read "spend time" with old friends.  Still a little tired!  Coach

Okay, here are some pics., still not all the way finished.

This was also my first and had a great time.  Even got the wife out to shoot some.  We plan on going next year and bringing the camper (and dog!)and staying a few days.  Also will bring the flyrods and spend some time on the pond.

 Doug, you and your family did a great job hosting it.

I can say that I've been to all four jams and they keep getting better every year.  If it keeps getting bigger Doug may have to rent part of the neighbors property.

Dano did take some time off from the lolly-gaggin demos.



Thanks for the Snakeskin demo!  


Mike Hames


Ralph....excuse me..Uncle Ralph.


J.D. Jones


Coach..Shane Cordel


The Singing Bowyer....That was some great tunes.

 

Can't wait till next year.

Dennis

http://s96.photobucket.com/albums/l200/62tomsawyer/OJAM2008/

A few more photos at this address.  Sorry they almost all have me in them, the wife was wielding the camera and he is pretty sweet on me.  hehe

What an AWESOME TIME! Best thing there was that everywhere you looked, there was someone making their first selfbow. Most all of them were pretty challenging staves at that. Time went by too fast, as everyone, including myself was busy daylight to well past dark. The 3-d shoot was awesome also, and I hope they will be back next year. I was also very happy that the concession stand was there, a much needed addition to the event.
 Lennie, that fox quiver has brought alot of positive comments from everyone that has seen it so far. You did a fine job on it and I am proud to have it. My daughter, Amanda, wanted it really, really bad. I was very lucky to have won it, because there were some very good archers in that clout shoot.
I learn so much from so many different folks there every year that it is hard to remember all the names, so I would like to say a general Thank you to all in attendance. I believe that I something is to be learned from each and every one of you, regardless of your experience.
A special Thank you to Doug and the Rutters for putting on this event.
It was great seeing all of you again and I can't wait til next year. JMar, you should be very proud of that bow, it was a real challenge for your first, and you did a fine job on it. That bench will be there next year, if ya want to use it again.
I'll try to get a few pics posted later. I actually caught Ralph Renfro LOLLY GAGIN, if ya can believe that! I think Dano was rubbin off on everyone.......Terry

Here's some pics of a couple of bows I worked on at OJAM.
The first one I started at home and took it to OJAM for some expert advice on the tillering. I was shooting for 50lbs and it came out 47. It shoots great.
The second bow is one I started 10 years ago and just gave up until recently I got it out of the attic and started working on it again. I got a hinge in one of the limbs and had to take it down further than I wanted to. Also the handle split off and it cracked coming out of the fade. I thought it would have to be trashed but Shane had hope for it and told me how to sinew it and after everything had dried, it too shoots great. I named it "2nd Chance".
I still have some final work to do on them but the hardest parts are over thanks to everyone for the help.
This pics aren't great but most of my pics came out blurry.

John

Terry my oldest daughter is named Amanda.  She's 26 and I didn't get her interested in archery in time.  She's still the apple of my eye.  Was it your daughter who hit foam in the clout shoot?  I was sorry she didn't make the final ten.  You probably ought to share that quiver with her until you get your own made.