Lemonwood Build Along by Jawge

Tom Leemans · February 16, 2004, 09:31:00 AM

Nice bow and nice tiller Jawge. Used to be an old Belgian fella around here that made ELB style lemonwood bows. They turned a nice honey color as they aged. Wish I coulda got ahold of a few of them to hang on my wall. I know the club I used to shoot pop-n-jay archery at still has one or two of them hanging up.

George Tsoukalas · February 16, 2004, 11:05:00 AM

Thanks, Tom. I thought about an elb but the stave wasn't long enough and would have taken more than the 1.5-1.75 inch set it did take. Don't you wish we had some of these old timers to teach us? I do. I learned some from Bob Holzhauser who was taught from an old timer but most of what I learned was from trial and error.
Jawge

Tom Leemans · February 16, 2004, 02:26:00 PM

For sure Jawge. Those ELB's were all prolly pushing 72". Memory serves that most of the older bows he had were all sporting about an inch of set. Not bad considering the use they got. Watching that old guy shoot was a joy. I don't think he varied his impact point at the target more than 1/2" in all the time I shot archery at that club. He would methodically draw back and let 'er fly as soon as he reached anchor. His arras weren't as fast as the ones coming out of our recurves but, by God, I'd never bet against him.

George Tsoukalas · February 16, 2004, 03:43:00 PM

I hear ya, Tom. That's a special story. If you could relate what you remember it would be special.
jawge

cooter · February 16, 2004, 08:22:00 PM

Thanks Jawge, now quite making it look so simple. One question, how many hands does it take to strecth and clamp silk? Or do you get them feet of yours involved with the process as well?

Cooter

George Tsoukalas · February 16, 2004, 08:52:00 PM

Simple! You should go in my garden and see the tomato stakes. Damned if they don't look like BL bows.

cooter · February 16, 2004, 08:59:00 PM

Jawge,

IOTFLMAO,

Cooter

gifford · February 16, 2004, 11:05:00 PM

George; very classy looking bow, well done (as always). :-) Very different than I thought it would look like when I saw you commence.

First real bow was a lemon wood also. Guess a few of us still remember them fondly.

George Tsoukalas · February 16, 2004, 11:39:00 PM

Dan, thank you for the kind words. When I started this one I thought it was going to be a longbow. Then I figured a pyramid bow. Then I figured flat bow with a handle. Then I decided to let the handle bend. It turned out very different from when I started it.

Jawge