Vine Maple D-bow

[gordonf]

Lately I've been making most of my bows in the 60+ pound range. While I can shoot a bow at that weight with no problem, I wanted something a lighter that I could comfortably handle all day and use for primitive shoots. I ended up with a D-style bow that I fashioned from a short vine maple stave that was about 3" in diameter – not a sapling. The bow is 58" long ntn, pulls 55# @ 27" and bends through the handle slightly. I'm starting to favor this style because I can create a hunting weight bow and still keep it short without putting undue stress on the limbs. They also look kind of cool and are fun to shoot. The bow is 1 ¼" wide at the handle, flares slightly to 1 5/16" mid-limbs and then tapers down to 3/8" at the nocks. I wanted narrow tips on this one so I glued on overlays to reinforce the tips and ensure that the sting is securely held. I stained the limbs with a combination of green, red and yellow leather dye and finished with 9 coats of Tru-Oil. The handle is built up with leather, covered with natural elk-hide and finished off with a Strunk-style wrap. There is no arrow rest so I shoot it off my hand. The tips were flipped up with dry heat to give the bow a slightly better profile. The bow holds about 1 3/4" of reflex at rest. It's nothing fancy, but I kind of like it – I hope you do too.





 

 

 

 

[WINDTALKER]

Now thats a fine looking bow right there! How do you find straight pieces of vine maple everything I find is horribly twisted.

[4runr]

WOWSERS!!

[razorback]

Love the  look of that bow, lots of character in the limbs. What are the limb lenghts. Photos make it look like the bottom is longer than the top and what is the positive tiller.

[gordonf]

Art, I look at a lot of trees before I find one that I like. Thank you for the compliment.

[gordonf]

Photos make it look like the bottom is longer than the top and what is the positive tiller.

Actually the top limb is about 1 1/2" longer than the bottom and has about 1/4" positive tiller.

[Shaun]

I'm humbled again. Nice one Gordon.

[Shinken]

Nice work Gordon!  Those tip overlays are slick.  That bow should last almost forever!

[Bjorn]

Nice work!!

[DEATHMASTER]

Love the little tip flip. Good looking bow.
Tim

[BMG]

Originally posted by 4runr:
WOWSERS!!

my thoughts exactly

[Osagetree]

looks like a screamer!

[Tom Phillips]

That is a piece of art  !!!   Great job !!

[wisconsin wood butcher]

" it's nothing fancy" if so that's why its so FINE

[SteveD]

Beautiful Gordon another beautiful bow

[K.S.TRAPPER]

 As always Gordon, She's a dandy

Tracy

[ron w]

Thats a nice one, well done.

[drewsbow]

Very nice :0)

[Ol'school]

Beautiful! Love the tip overlays

[gordonf]

Thank you all for your nice comments. I very much appreciate it.