paper backed poplar selfbow

[josef2424]

About a year ago, a friend of mine brought over a short and very rough looking stave saying he was tired of hacking away at it with a hatchet and thought I could do something with it. He said he got the wood from a tree in his yard that he thought was a water oak or a poplar, but I'm almost certain it's poplar. I saw deep gouges in the back that violated a number of growth rings in different areas, and even deeper gouges in the belly of the bow. I accepted the stave mainly to be polite, but this summer I got the hankering to at least experiment with what looked to be an explosion of splinters waiting to happen. It had a pretty extreme propeller twist in the limbs; so i thought i'd, for the first time, try to remove the twist with a heat gun and was very satisfied with the results. I then decided to not waste my sinew on backing this bow but wanted to experiment and see if a simple paper backing would keep the wood from splintering up. I cut up a home depot brown paper leaf bag and used TB 3 to slap it on without much to do. Luckily while thinning the limbs and handle area, some of the gouges went away; but the most extreme ones remained. Well into the tillering process, I was pleasantly surprised to see that the limbs were holding up just fine and not taking much set for being such a short, non reflexed, not sinew backed bow made of "inferior" wood. All in all i was quite satisfied with the aesthetic results after staining and sealing the wood and painting a design on the back. It also shoots much better than expected. I cant notice much hand shock at all; and with it being a bend-in-the-handle bow, that surprises me. It also penetrates my reinhart sphere target with authority and groups well at 15 yards with unmatched arrows. It is 49" nock to nock. 36# @ 23" with a 6.5" brace height. It took 1.5" of set after tillering and 2" right after shooting but then returned to around 1.75".
 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

please feel free to tell me every single thing you dont like about the bow...tiller etc. compliments are nice, but advice is golden. Also, how do you think I should protect the back. Spray on shellac? Thanks gang

[josef2424]

sorry for the large pictures. this is my first time posting pictures...i didnt realize how huge 600 pixels wide is.

[Osagetree]

Well executed Sir! I love primitive and that bow screams the meaning of such. The pattern is also fitting to the bow as well as the string knocks. I can find nothing at all I could be critical of or give advice on.
Great save and your patience has paid off big time!

[okie64]

That is a sweet looking bow! That design you painted on the back looks awesome! Looks like the limb on the left is stronger and has a slight flat spot in it about mid-limb.

[twitchstick]

[josef2424]

Yea the left limb in the tillering pictures is my bottom limb, and I left it a little stiffer because I shoot two under. Thanks though

[KellyG]

Well if it is a poplar there goes that none bow wood out the window. I am truly beginning to thinks some of you could glue old newspapers to gather and make a hunting bow.
Great work.

[Dave Bowers]

Very cool

[red hill]

Nice bow, Josef. I really like the backing designs.
Stan

[josef2424]

Well I ended up using spray-on shellac for the finish on the back of the bow, and I'm confident the paper is protected and highly water resistant now.
 
 

[Shaun]

Slightly stiff in the last third or the top limb. Not sure this is poplar but hard to tell. Is there a stain on the belly? Close up of grain would help with wood ID. Poplar is very soft and easy to tool, oak varieties tend to be much harder and heavier.

enough of the critique; in general this is an amazing bow... very authentic native style, back artwork, tiller, draw length and weight. You done real good!!!