Thanks guys, appreciate that.
A few quivers and arrows I made for these bows. A fun hobby.
great looking bows dannyboy... osage and yew are 2 of my favorite bow woods as well...
are you interested in checking out the western states randezvous... it'll be in petaluma CA. this year.... memorial day weekend.... drop me a line if you're intersted, we can meet up...
Mike, I used to make it to the Western States but the last couple of years have been too busy. We will be looking at going this year. Yes, it would be fun to meet up! I see that we shoot much of the same equipment. :thumbup:
Dannyboy. Those are handsome bows. What diameter tree or limb are they made from?
Have you ever tried a bow from Honey Locust? Thats a sturdy wood and seems to grow straighter.
Two of the bows came from an osage log that started out at about 7-feet long, and about 14" across. I took the log and split it full-length in to four staves. I was able to make four bows from those four staves. My favorite bow, in the photo (has the leather handle trimmed with otter), was made from a limb on an Oregon osage tree. The limb still looked like the letter "C" when I finished tillering it out. After many thousands of shots, the bow still has 3-1/2" of setback and shoots amazingly fast for a #57 @ 27". Too, I backed the bow with sinew so that has helped maintain some of that setback.
Yes, I have used honey locust many times and have found it to make excellent bows. Osage, with all of its pin knots and weird characteristics, can certainly try any bowyers patience. Too, osage can really do a job on your cutting tools. I start my students off with some of the easier-to-work-with woods like, hickory, vine maple, ash, oak...some basic white woods.
