Vine Maple sapling bow

[gordonf]

Here is a bow that I made for a friend of mine. Brad had surgery on his shoulder and will be unable to pull the 60-70 lbs bows that he is accustomed to for some time. While visiting Brad at his cabin in the Oregon Cascades I spied a vine maple sapling on his property that looked like it would make a lightweight bow in the primitive bow style that he prefers. I showed Brad the tree and he quickly agreed to my plan.

The stave started with a little bit of reflex, but after I roughed out a bow and let it dry it took on a whooping 7” of reflex.  But that’s vine maple for you – it grows naturally with a tremendous amount of tension on the wood and when that tension is released by splitting and drying, it will often curl up on you.  A lot of that tension induced reflex will come out as the bow is tillered, but it makes things interesting at first. The bow settled in at 2 ¾” of reflex after tillering.

The bow is 59” ntn, pulls 42# @ 28” and bends through the handle slightly. The width is 1 ¼”, 1 3/8” and ½” at the handle, mid-limb, and tips respectively. I used a combination of green and light brown leather dye for the stain. I left splotches of cambium on the back to create a sort of camo effect. There are no tip overlays or arrow rest because Brad wanted a bow that he could use for primitive shoots. It is finished with 9 coats of Tru-Oil and has a Strunk-style handle wrap.
 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[trashwood]

fine looking bow.  

rusty

[Focusource]

Nice bow and gesture.

[bushytail]

That`s a good looking bow.Are you going to submit it in the bow of the month on Primitive Archer?

[StickBender55]

That is some fine work!!!  

[Shaun]

If you keep this up, I am going to come to Portland and apprentice.

[4runr]

Another beauty! Well done Sir!

[K.S.TRAPPER]

You are truly a Vine Maple master Gordon  

Tracy

[Nate1990]

...WOH!

that is fantastic! holy cow its a beauty! wonderful job well done!

[wisconsin wood butcher]

oh gordon    do you need more friends vine maple staves are now on my NEED list

[gordonf]

Thank you for the compliment Rusty.

Thank you Jeff. It’s hard to beat giving something you made to someone who really appreciates it.

Thank you Harold. The bow is posted on the Primitive Archer site which means it will automatically be entered into BOM

Thank you Anthony.

What a nice compliment. Thank you Shaun. And if you are ever in the Portland area, please call me.

Thank you Kenny.

Thank you for your nice compliment Tracy. If you are in the Portland area please call me and I would be happy to help you harvest some wood.

Thank you for the nice compliment Nate.

Thank you Steve. Let me know what you need - I'm sure we can work something out.

[Mark Baker]

Always love seeing those vine maple beauties you build, Gordon!  Another fine example. - Mark

[pine nut]

That's a beauty!

[non-typical]

That bow has a subtle beauty about it. So very nicely done.

[Osagetree]

Love the color and character. Funny thing; I didn't look at the author first, just went for the pic when I saw the title... I guessed it was Gordons work right off!  Always the best!

[gordonf]

Thank you for the compliment Mark.

Thank you William.

Thank you for your kind words Tom.

Thank you Joseph. I guess my style is starting to get recongnizable. I may have to switch things around some.  

[Osagetree]

No, it was meant as a compliment! Great style!

[gordonf]

Thank you Joseph. I did take your words as a compliment.