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First Osage self Bow (progress) (Finished up 05/12)

Started by ber643, February 19, 2008, 12:19:00 PM

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Tique

Great job so far; keep it comming. I'm really enjoying this.
Untested ideas are not facts.

ber643

Thank you, both, for reading and for your kind comments. i really enjoy reporting on it.
Bernie: "Hunters Are People Too"

Ret'd USMC '53-'72

Traditional Bow Shooters of West Virginia (Previously the Official Dinosaur Wrangler, Supporter, and Lifetime Honorary Member)
TGMM Family of the Bow

Chris Surtees

Looking good Bernie. Cannot wait to see your bow when it is finished.    :clapper:

ber643

Well I did get to go over and Work on my Osage Bow today for a few hours but again I'd like to show you the progress Mike has made on his real snaky stave that i showed you at the begining of this thread. He is pretty much at the point I am on mine (or a little further) but close to floor tillering. In this pic you can really see the character running rampant in this osage and the three (count 'em three) knots that come all the way through (holes) - small one near the top, large one in the center, and medium near the bottom. It is a beaut though and I'll bet is going to be a fine shooter in the end.

 

Now back to my First Osage Self Bow. Today, using Sure Forms (flat and curved), 4 in Hand File, Draw knife (as scraper), and Ka-Bar, (as scraper) itook the sides of my stave into the outlines of the Bow shape I am looking for. Here is a couple of pics (not much difference in them - except the flash spot) of how the stave has (perhaps miraculously) turned into a Bow Shape. Now the bow is ready for belly wood removal to get it bending for Floor Tillering - next session. I really enjoyed this session too, BTW - most satisfactory use of tools and results.



Bernie: "Hunters Are People Too"

Ret'd USMC '53-'72

Traditional Bow Shooters of West Virginia (Previously the Official Dinosaur Wrangler, Supporter, and Lifetime Honorary Member)
TGMM Family of the Bow

Linc

Look'n'good Bernie.   :thumbsup:  I'll have to check in more often.
Lincoln E. Farr

T.J.

Lookin great! I'll be following along till the end    :clapper:
"...Watching a buck turn back seeing his form melt away, a hunter will feel an inner smile. There's no other place he wishes to be and never does he feel more alive..."

~Gene Wensel (Primal Dreams)


TGMM Family of the Bow

ber643

Thanks, Linc and T.J. I think (hope) changes will start coming pretty fast now, if all goes well. It's all interesting and exciting to this ol' hoss but it is really getting more so now - LOL.
Bernie: "Hunters Are People Too"

Ret'd USMC '53-'72

Traditional Bow Shooters of West Virginia (Previously the Official Dinosaur Wrangler, Supporter, and Lifetime Honorary Member)
TGMM Family of the Bow

BMN

Compton Traditional Bowhunters
Professional Bowhunters Society
Prairie Traditional Archers
TGMM Family of the Bow

The most frightening thing you are likely to encounter in nature is yourself.

ber643

Bernie: "Hunters Are People Too"

Ret'd USMC '53-'72

Traditional Bow Shooters of West Virginia (Previously the Official Dinosaur Wrangler, Supporter, and Lifetime Honorary Member)
TGMM Family of the Bow

vermonster13

Very nice Bernie. Don't know how I missed this one before.
TGMM Family of the Bow
For hunting to have a future, we must invest ourselves in future hunters.

James Wrenn

Go for it Bernie.  :D  One of these days if I find the time I am going to try to build a selfbow that won't hit me on the head.  :bigsmyl:  So far all I have produced is lumps.  :(
....Quality deer management means shooting them before they get tough....

ber643

Bless your heart, James - quit trying to pull them so far, so soon   ;)  

Thank you, VTm.
Bernie: "Hunters Are People Too"

Ret'd USMC '53-'72

Traditional Bow Shooters of West Virginia (Previously the Official Dinosaur Wrangler, Supporter, and Lifetime Honorary Member)
TGMM Family of the Bow

brettlandon

Now to play the 'stringed insturment' like a Strativarius.  Scrape a little, bend it some, scrape a little, bend some more, scrape a little, string it.  And so on.  Keep them pics coming.  I love a good string serenade!

-Brett
Excellence is achieved, not purchased.

ber643

LOL - nice play on words there, Brett. (I love words, and their uses)
Bernie: "Hunters Are People Too"

Ret'd USMC '53-'72

Traditional Bow Shooters of West Virginia (Previously the Official Dinosaur Wrangler, Supporter, and Lifetime Honorary Member)
TGMM Family of the Bow

Walt Francis

The broadhead used, regardless of how sharp, is nowhere as important as being able to place it in the correct spot.

Walt Francis

Regular Member of the Professional Bowhunters Society

ber643

OK - Onward and upward (I hope). Mike and I were finally able to get together at his shop again, yesterday afternoon. the plan of the day was to take belly wood off the limbs of my Osage self bow to try to get the limbs bending for a suitable floor tiller. I used my draw knife but more often as a scraper than as a draw knife. I was haveing to be careful that I paid attention to following the caracter "whoopties", in regards to consistant thickness. It was a good feeling to find myself becoming more and more comfortable with this process as I progressed. a most enjoyable and productive 4-5 hours. We did get satisfactory floor tiller on both limbs but the bottom limb can stand a little more thickness removal in a couple places before we move on to tree tillering. Baisically just refinement though.

Working it out - first (presumably upper) limb:



Bow switched around in vise to start on second limb:



A pic down the length of the first limb, after floor tillering:



This pic taken at some point during the floor tillering. I couldn't bend it quite as well as Mike could when he tried it. He figured we are probably at about 60 - 65# ... (at about 20" - LOL) but that's down qite a bit from 100 plus. It's looking more like a bow at every stage.



At the end of the floor tillering of both limbs (and the session) I could feel the difference real well and also that both limbs were bending in nice, relatively even curves. We are seeing now that we will have to induce a little more reflex into one of the limbs at some point soon.

After my last sessions posting, one of the folks watching along asked me what stats we were shooting for. I had to admit that, not having a memory for figures and facts, I would have to write them down at the next (this) session. I did that but please remember it's all pretty much only figures to me. I am not into "bow design" (yet anyway, and maybe never - LOL), so don't nail me to the barn door. However for those who like, or can visulize better with, facts and figures. Here is what we are shooting "more or less" towards (depending on "It" being in agreement).

A Sort of Plains/NA Flat Style bow (w/character) 4" Handle (so C bow), w/ about 1 1/2" fades. Limbs are 1 3/8" wide at the fades and tips will be under 5/16" (or close) wide at finish. Most of the width taper will take place in the outer third of the limbs. Tip to tip length is 60 3/4". That's about "It" (the name of the bow - so far because I think it will be - LOL). Thanks for looking.
Bernie: "Hunters Are People Too"

Ret'd USMC '53-'72

Traditional Bow Shooters of West Virginia (Previously the Official Dinosaur Wrangler, Supporter, and Lifetime Honorary Member)
TGMM Family of the Bow

BMN

Compton Traditional Bowhunters
Professional Bowhunters Society
Prairie Traditional Archers
TGMM Family of the Bow

The most frightening thing you are likely to encounter in nature is yourself.

LEOPARD

Nigel Ivy

"The more I practice, the luckier I get...."

Osagetree

>>--TGMM--> Family of the Bow

Shakes.602

Ya Got Some Fine Work There Bernie!! Great Job!!
"Carpe Cedar" Seize the Arrow!
"Life doesn't get Simpler; it gets Shorter and Turns in Smaller Circles." Dean Torges
"Faith is to Prayer what the Feather is to the Arrow" Thomas Morrow
"Ah Think They Should Outlaw Them Thar Crossbows" A Hunting Pal

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