My OJAM Selfbow

[The Vanilla Gorilla]

I reckon its pretty much finished!  

I know the photos aren't really all that great, and I apologize for that.

The bow was shootable by the time I left OJAM that day, but I was shooting off my hand, which didn't work out too bad, but I prefer shooting off a shelf.

I'd first like to thank the academy!  And I'd like to thank Doug (Rocdoc) for talking me into doing the bow, and for his guidance in helping me put the finishing touches on the bow (grip stitching, shelf stuff).  Also, I got a lot of good advice and help from Mike Hames, The Ferret, Todd Weldon and a whole mess of other people that I may have forgotten your names, but I haven't forgotten your guidance!

When all was said and done, she measured out at 66" tip to tip, and 48lbs @ 28".  I was shooting for 45-50lbs.   The bow is almost totally silent, except for when that cedar arrow blasts that hardback Cabelas catalog at the back of the garage!

The only remaining thing I have planned for the bow is a beavertail wrap. But I gotta wait for it to get warm before I start on that.

I havent' gotten any word from the camera guy at Outdoor Oklahoma since OJAM, but they still want to film me shooting the 3D course at McAlester AAP in August, and film a hunt with the bow this fall.  The episode is planned to be shown around the time of OJAM next year.

Sorry they couldn't have filmed someone better looking! I offered to do some nude modeling, but everyone declined. EVERYONE.   :eek:  

Here's the bow and the sexy spokesmodel, me!

 

 

 

[Shakes.602]

Looks Really Good there Partner!! I Like the Way You Did the Grip & Little Arrow Shelf. It Ought to be a Sweet Shooter!!

[Frenchymanny]

Great work!

F-Manny

[MAC]

Nice looking bow!

[gordonf]

That bow looks great. I bet she's a sweet shooter.

[the Ferret]

It was a pleasure meeting you Cameron and a joy to see what became of that quarter split you first started working on. Excellent job!  

In case you forgot where you started (stave at bottom of pic)

Vanilla Gorilla (Cameron Graham) with Roc Doc (Doug Rutter) at Ojam 07

 

[the Ferret]

Just goes to prove my old saying, "there's a whole lot of wood in a quartersplit that ain't a bow" doesn't it? ha ha

BTW in the background is Todd Weldon talking to Raplph Conrad (knapper extraordinare)

[Shaun]

Fine work and great looking bow! It has the look of a real meat maker.

[HumbleHunter]

Hey Cam,
That baby's sweet looking!
Nice job bud!

Have a good one, HH

[Dano]

She looks great Cameron!!

[shawnee]

Looking great.  You are a trooper.  If they would have stuck a camera in my face and asked me to leave it there all weekend, I probably would have packed up and went home, or at least hid out.

You sure got a lot done in the short time we were there.  Maybe I'll get to be in Big Mac when you are, and see you make meat with it.  That would be awesome, and a great ending to the show.

[Pat B]

Ain't nothing better than a plain ole osage selfbow.  You did a nice job with it, Cameron.   Pat

[The Vanilla Gorilla]

Thanks for the kind words, everyone!  I'm proud of the job and the help I got with it. I'm also wondering if I wear any other clothes than overalls??

Shawnee...Yeah, to be honest with you, its a little odd having a camera in your face for 10 hours and having to be serious. I can act a fool in front of a camera and have a good time, but its diffrent in this situation! That guys got a lot of editing and censoring work ahead of him!

I've put in for the drawed pronghorn hunt out in the panhandle, so if I get drawn, the camera guy will go with me.  I doubt a cameraman would be allowed in the AAP hunt if I were to put in for that!

Again, thanks for the kind words! Hope to see everyone again next year or sooner!

Cam

[BodarkOkie]

Hey Cameron,

You put in some hard work under pressure for that.  The bow looks great.    

Gene

[Mike Bolin]

Cam, the bow looks great! Sorry I headed home before the 'jam, but it is great to back at the house. Keep in touch ole friend! Mike

[RainCrow]

For those of you that weren't there and haven't heard of this, the State of Oklahoma produces a show called Outdoor Oklahoma.  Mainly it is a locally produced hunting and fishing show.  Last August, a few of us that put on OJAM were asked to demo bow making at the yearly Wildlife Expo.  I believe that Tommy Leach was first approached about filming a bow being born, while we were there.  Next thing we know, we had a video photographer filming for two days at OJAM this year.  Ralph (KsBow), Doug (RocDoc), myself and a few others were also filmed talking about Traditional Archery and OJAM.  Hopefully, we all won't end up on the cutting room floor.

Cameron had asked Doug to help him build a bow, and with OJAM only a couple of months away, he was a perfect person to film.  

He worked HARD on that bow, and really stayed after it.  I bet they shot 10 miles of video tape recording everything.  Sometime on Saturday, the photographer told me that he was coming back next year to build his own bow.

Terry

[Ralph Renfro]

Cameron, your bow look good and I'll be it shoot the same way. I think it's Mike Hames aka Mike-OK. Now go kill something with it Dude. Ralph

[George Tsoukalas]

The bow looks great. Well done. Jawge

[Aeronut]

That bow looks great Cameron.  It was a pleasure meeting and talking to you at OJAM and from what I saw, you did a good job in the spotlight.

Dennis

[Tommy Leach]

Cameron - The bow looks great, that stave came from at tree that produced enough wood for 48 bows. Ralph has a couple and I've made quite a few. This tree was a "sucker" that was over 50 years old. Next you have to make some cane arrows for it. You never know someone may send you a stone point so you can be totally "primitive".
Tommy