Help me build a bow

[RedTx]

Ok guys here is the deal.  I have some land that has been in my family for around 75 years.  In that time a city has grown up around it or at least partialy.  I still hunt out there quit a bit.

Its been up for sale since my grandparents died about 15 or so years ago.  I know sooner or later my father, aunts and uncles.  My father does not want to sell it, but some of the others do.

I started thinking about not being able to hunt this place anymore and to be honest it kind of gets me down.  There are a ton of Bois darc/Osage trees out there.  There are small ones and greta big ones.  I thoguht it would be cool if I could make a bow out of the osage out there.

Im asking for help because even in the how to I havent send how you pick out a limb and so forth.  Just wondering if any of you guys would be willing to walk me through it??

Anyways never hurts to ask.

[Mallardstacker]

The most important thing is to look for good straight-growing trees (ie - no wind twisting).  It should be easy to tell by looking at the bark.  I will defer to those dedicated self-bow builders we have here as I have only built a hand full in the last 5 or 6 years.

The care and preparation for curing the wood can be followed on several threads in the archive.

I would suggest though, if you decide to fell a tree, its not that much more difficult to do a whole slug of 'em!  That way, when you really get addicted to making shavings, you'll have a generous supply!    

Stacker

[Chisler]

Hey RedTx - you gotta get a book called Hunting the Osage Bow by Dean Torges.  go to bowyersedge.com     The Bowyers Journal is another great info/how to source.  There's gotta be some bowyers near by in Texas that want to share and help.  dryad bows ??  in Texas?

[Luke Vander Vennen]

I second Chisler's book recommendation, it's a big help for building osage bows. TBB 1 is a great resource as well.

Timo at one point had a really good tree-cut-along on here at one point. I would try get that off him, there were great pictures and instructions all the way through.

[RedTx]

Thanks guys.  I dont really want to build a self bow.  Looking to make a long bow.  I have tons of osage I just have to figure out the right way to harvest it.

Once again thanks for the replies

[Mallardstacker]

I forgot to add that Traditional Bowyers Bible (vol 1, I think) has A LOT of information about wood selection, harvesting and drying.  All three volumes should be on every bowyers shelf though!  


Stacker