hi rusty

a couple years ago, you had a neat thread about making pony osage bows using 1" masking tape for a template...could you quickly refresh me on that?  about how long/thick/tip width etc would you think for a 45-50#@26 bow?  i have some osage that is dying to be made into a bendy little bow, and remembering this thread roused my curiosity,

thanks rusty!

stan

Stan - oh about 1" wide.  thickness depends on how high the crown is.  if the bow is bend thru the handle (and a pony bow would be), ya can build one twice your draw length plus one or two inches.  If you build build one about 54" for example, the thickness is gonna end up some where between 9/16" (pretty heavy draw weight) and 7/16" (maybe 40 to 45 pounds).  tiller the bow as a part of a circle.  each inch of the bow is gonna bend as much as another inch does.

tiller the bow slowly don't force is to the string to early.  Ya can set the bow pretty badly if ya rush it.  lots of floor tillering before long string.  lots of careful scraping on the long string.  work the knots and flat spots out early.

if ya threw some sinew on the back of the bow ya can build it 2 X your draw.

rusty

the pony bows I have studied didn't taper much if any down the limb toward the tips.  the nocks were cut into the limbs at bow width.  The thicknes tapers a little to get the shape I wanted but the thickness does not taper very much either since we are tring to work every inch of the bow the same amount.

rusty

I measured the width across my nocks on a pony bow I like alot.  3/4" across the hat top looking thingy.  I'll post ya some pics tonight or tomorrow.

rusty

thanks rusty

i just want a short litle bow to hunker down in a honeysuckle thicket about 12 - 15 yds froma doe highway next year, and i think a bow like this will do the trick.

stan

well sir it will do the job.  Years ago Wingnut (Dryad bows) built a pony bow for his first selfbow in August.  Take a doe with it in Spetember.  Jason did exactly the same thing.  As i recall that was their first tradbow deer.  

here is a pic of a ponybow top nock.  I put some javalina fur on it instead of horse hair.  I took a tom turkey (jake) with it shortly after I was done.
 http://sites.google.com/site/stringwalkerbowhunter/ponybow  

rusty

thats cool...i'will keep ya posted on my progress.thanks for the help-

stan

Yep Rusty that little bow is still around here somewhere.  Both Jason and I finished our bows during the summer, shot them a lot in August and September and both took does openning weekend in October.  Haven't hunted with anything but trad since.

I took my tips down to 1/2" on mine and put horn overlays on it.

Fun little bow to build and shoot.  If I remember right it is 55 @ 28 and is 57" long.

Mike

Rusty or Mike, I'm also interested in building this bow. Do you have any more pictures? I have a short osage stave that would be perfect for a pony bow.I did several searches and there is not much info. available.
Thanks,Dan

Dan,

I'll see if I can find the bow I was talking about and take some measurements and pics.

Mike

i had a little pony bow obtained from another person that was made by mickey lotz. it really sparked my interest in selfbows...it had a special history, so i returned it to him and he made me another to take its place.  it was just a little 58" NTN sliver, but man it had cool mojo and shot like a dream.  can't wait to try to make another.

by the way, anyone heard from mickey lately?

stan

Yep Mickey's bow was made from the same tree as mine.  I think all and all there were 11 pony bows built from that tree Rusty cut.  

Mike

i did not know they all came from a genuine rusty tree...that is pretty sweet!