So, I have been tinkering with the reissue 59 Kodiak and its really nice but I sold off most of my bows and am waiting on a Wagstaff longbow. So I was browsing **** and say a listing for Old Mountain Longbow. Price was cheap and some looking around it seems these are made by the same factory as Samick bows. for the price I figured if I didn't like it, I'm sure my nephew or my wife would like to have it so it arrives today. Out of the box, there's no string and no shelf plate or strike pad.
Fit and finish is typical for the price but the grip feels good and it has nice lines. So the problem is I have no string. Then I remembered a spool of B50 in the garage I bought a couple years back when I was trying to carve a bow from an Ash stave I cut few years back. So off to the internet to learn how to make a string. I found plans for a string jig. When that was finished I started and the first string was too long as was the second and third. The fourth was too short. Then I figured out how to actually use the string jig and the last string came out perfect. The flemish twist isn't too hard to learn but does take practice. I never served a string before either and I have a serving tool and a spool of red serving thread. So that took a few tries before I was successful. After a couple hour of tinkering, I have a string that looks like I bought it from a store, with a nice tight serving.
So I put a nock on the string and take a few shots in the garage with the bow braced at 7 1/2". Not too bad. Its a 68" long 40# bow so at my draw its probably closer to 50#. It shoots a full length ICS Bowhunter 340 with a 100gr insert and 125gr point pretty good maybe a tad stiff.
All in all, its not a bad bow for the price. A little hand shock but I'll keep messing with it and see how it works out.
What I am really excited about is that I made my first strings and it worked! Now I figure I can just build my own strings at will rather then buy them.
Now, maybe Ill try to kill a turkey next month with this bow.