It's been a long time coming, and some of you knew about this, but I can't punish Dave (LMCHIEF@WORK) anymore by not posting about the Selfbow he showed me how to build.
I'll start at the beginning...
I came to Iowa for a summer job with the DNR. Upon moving in, I decided I wanted to learn archery (because the guys I live with bowhunt). I had a brief instructional session with a local compound dealer, but decided I wanted to shoot traditional instead. After a lot of help from the kind folks of Tradgang, I met Dave and his family (all trad-shooters living just a mile or two away from me).
They toted me along to a shoot in Lakeville, and on the way home the conversation turned to selfbows. Dave asked if I was interested in building one, and how could I not jump at the opportunity? Remember, at this point I'd only been shooting for about a month.
A couple of weeks pass (and I bugged him a bit about his offer) and finally I got my first session with the osage stave.
The rest is pretty much history. I scraped and rasped and sanded (like dave said "You take a piece of wood, and then you take away everything that doesn't look like a bow"). Put over 40 hours into the pretty thing. Didn't get a single splinter (though Dave did every time he touched the unfinished stave). Would you believe the thing didn't blow up? (however, it was pretty ornery about getting down to tiller and weight.
The finished bow is 40# at my draw length of 27"
We reflexed the limbs backwards over a call (8"). Immediately afterwards, this appeared to make the bow gain 10# or so, but after leaving it strung overnight is was basically back to finish weight.
I overlaid the limb tips with walnut, and Dave taught me how to make a bowstring, add the serving and nocking point, even how to fletch my own arrows!
Can't wait to try my hand at hunting with the beauty this fall (I've never hunted before - with anything - in my life).
I can't thank Dave and his family enough for putting up with me these last couple of weeks (Dave is helping me build a knife too!). The kindness they've shown to me (a complete stranger) has been mirrored by many others on this forum. You're all great people, and you make it easy for someone like me to love this sport. These skills and lessons are priceless...but you already knew that. A big thanks also to everyone who gave me advice or supplies, you people are great and I can't wait to pay it forward.
About the only problem we ran into was that I put the rest on the
wrong side of the grip...good thing I shoot lefty! :D
So traddies, please give a warm welcome to Meadow Sweet! You can view the full photoset of my adventures in bowyering (with full commentary)here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/paintpoppy/sets/72157606423073592/ 
Thanks for looking!
Topic: Sarah builds a selfbow (Read 8306 times)
