Bowskin Longbow

[Squeeze]

Does anyone have experience with their Solid Hickory Longbow? Thinking this bow may give me an idea of what the performance of a selfbow may be like. For $185 I know I have made worse decisions before.

https://www.bowskin.com/72-finished-hickory-longbow-with-shaped-riser/

[McDave]

I'm anything but an expert in self bows, but I have owned and shot a few in my time.  In the beginning of my interest in archery, I considered making self bows, but after my first experiment flopped, I decided I didn't have the patience for it.  That said, I don't believe hickory is considered to be a top tier wood for making self bows, like yew or osage is.  I have a yew self bow listed for bid in the upcoming St Jude’s auction that was made by John Strunk, one of the top self bowyers in the country.  Why don't you consider making a bid on that?  Maybe you'll get lucky.

[Honest Jon]

Squeeze,
Can’t speak to the performance or even the quality of these nice looking Bowskin Selfbows. I have built perhaps 30-40 selfbows from Osage and hickory and I’ve been very pleased with the hickory bows. I hunt whitetail with a 45#  64” long hickory self bow and have never felt limited by “performance”. I get pass through and the deer are dead.

My comment would be that I think you’d find a 72” bow might seem a little sluggish depending on draw weight. Unless you require such a long bow because of your height or arm length, I think a bow of 64-66” is more manageable and will provide all the performance you need, depending on how you define “performance.”

Nice thing about a 72” bow is that you can shorten it if need be depending on your ability and draw weight required. I love selfbows and don’t feel at all limited by their performance.
Honest Jon

[Pat B]

A hickory bow in Aiken SC might not be your best choice as far as a selfbow wood is concerned with the high humidity in that area. They can be kept out of high humidity by storing it in your home with a/c.or in a hot box.  Hickory is very hygroscopic, meaning it takes on and releases moisture from the atmosphere. If you were making a hickory selfbow there are things you can do to help alleviate the problem by adding back set and heat tempering the belly but I wouldn't do that to a selfbow that someone else made. Hickory preforms better at 5% to 6% M/C, most other woods prefer 9% to 11%. In Aiken it would probably be hard to have a M/C of a hickory selfbow of 18% to 20% which would make the bow sluggish.
 I have made and hunted with hickory selfbows in coastal SC and middle GA so it can be done. I don't mean to discourage you using a selfbow but want you to know the drawbacks you may have to deal with. McDave's John Strunk's yew selfbow would be a better option and there is a chance you could get it for the same price of slightly more.