First bow: 66" osage selfbow

[geraldius]

I'm totally new to archery and bow-making -- this is the result of my first attempt.

I want to thank members of this board for the valuable bow-making tips and advice that I found through searching and reading numerous threads.

Here are pictures of my first bow build. It's a 66" nock to nock osage selfbow, tillered to 50lb @ 28".

I first got interested in doing this after my wife suggested we get a bow for my adult son for Christmas a couple years ago. We couldn't find one available on short notice, but the search exposed me to the idea of making one. Being a crafty guy, I dove in headfirst. First I researched it to the point of knowing that I wanted to make an osage selfbow. Forums such as this one were invaluable in the process. Anyway, on to the bow:

I started out with a somewhat 'challenged' bow stave that I won on **** for about $40. It still had the bark and was roughly split. When I got it I discovered that it had a significant dogleg at the center of the stave. Since this had to be the grip area, it seemed a natural way to have a center-shot grip design.

As this is my first post I'll start out with a single photo to see if I can post it properly. Will follow up with more details and photos.

This is my son on Christmas day trying the bow out for the first time in the back yard.
Shooting a 30" arrow.
 

[geraldius]

The stave had a lot of pin knots that I had to work around. The worst was a large pin knot cluster at the edge of one of the limbs. So I had to thicken that spot quite a bit to limit flex there. As a result the tiller may appear to be 'segmented'.

 

 

 

[geraldius]

The grip is of course a locator style. Because of the dogleg in the stave, it turns your wrist a little clockwise with a bit of forward tilt, but it seems to feel comfortable.

 

 

[geraldius]

We were taking turns shooting. Here son-in-law just released a shot at our improvised target from about 40 yards. You can get a good view of the grip angle and near center shot arrow rest.
   

We practiced shooting from anywhere between 30 to 60 yards.
Son made this shot from about 60 yards.
 

[geraldius]

Tip overlays are from wild pear wood. I made the 14 strand Flemish twist string from B50 Dacron.

 

Thanks again for letting me share.

[Mad Max]

NO FLETCHING on arrows
You need feathers, when the feathers hit the handle on release.

The fletching is to hard and kick's the arrow around.

Really nice job on the first one

       

Your picture are to big, that's why the page is to wide.

Nice work

[geraldius]

Thanks Max. I reduced the size of the larger photo, hope that helps.

By "No Fletching" did you mean no plastic fletching? Is this a preference or a rule for longbows? I did notice a bit of tail wagging on some shots. Is that why?
There is also a fuzzy velcro 'rug' on the arrow rest.

[oops sorry]

Wowie! Not only beautiful bow but an excellent layout of the grip. Often times vanes (plastic fletchings) are considered too stiff to get through paradox without kicking on a bow that does not have an elevated rest. If I was hitting a pumpkin at 60yds, I would not be too concerned.

[die_dunkelheit]

Yes, he means no plastic fletching. Feather fletching collapses when it hits the shelf, plastic ones do not. Regardless of a nice shot at 60yrds you should still switch to all feather fletching. You WILL notice it shoots better.

Feathers are better in all aspects of fletching but one anyways. They are lighter and still work if half of one is missing. The only negative is that they are a little more expensive. Plus, nothing looks better on an arrow than a 5" shield cut.

Well done on the bow, it's beautiful. I also really like the cant of the grip.

[scrub-buster]

Great job on your first bow!  Do you have a wood working background?  Your finish work looks very nice.  Good job following the grain in the handle.  I'm hoping you will post more of your work.    

I agree on the other comments about using feathers instead of plastic vanes.  Also, you might try using wood or other natural arrow shafts.  Shooting carbon arrows out of  a wood bow never seemed right to me.  I started out with modern arrows but quickly moved on to bamboo and cane shafts.  A properly spined wood arrow with feathers will fly great out of a selfbow.

[Pat B]

Very nice work on your first osage bow.

[JEFF B]

now thats a real nice job indeed we look foward to seeing more well done Buddy          and tell ya son nice shooting

[Lighterknot]

Very clean looking bow!  The pic of your son-in-law releasing the shot makes it look like the string is tracking left of center quite a bit.  Or it could be an optical illusion.  If it is, I believe i'm going to run into that on the bow I'm making.  Did that cause any issues for you?  Tillering, handshock, bow wanting to twist when drawn, etc?

[inksoup]

good work...

but... as i remember, we have forbid such a bow making for the first try. please keep in mind that...LOL  :D


best.

[geraldius]

Thanks everyone for the compliments!

I no longer have the bow in my possession -- son has it now. But I'll pass on the suggestions for feathered arrows.

 

Originally posted by scrub-buster:
Great job on your first bow!  Do you have a wood working background?  Your finish work looks very nice.  Good job following the grain in the handle.  I'm hoping you will post more of your work.    

 

Being an old geezer (58) I do seem to have accumulated a fair bit of woodworking experience. Having plenty of woodworking tools in my general purpose shop helps too. The finish is very shiny since I sprayed an automotive grade polyurethane clear for its fast drying characteristics -- I was in a hurry to get it done for Christmas. Otherwise I might have tried a more traditional tung oil which I've used on gun stocks for a nice satin finish.

 

Originally posted by Lighterknot:
Very clean looking bow!  The pic of your son-in-law releasing the shot makes it look like the string is tracking left of center quite a bit.  Or it could be an optical illusion.  If it is, I believe i'm going to run into that on the bow I'm making.  Did that cause any issues for you?  Tillering, handshock, bow wanting to twist when drawn, etc?

I see what you are referring to in the picture. Looking straight down the belly of the bow the string does line up pretty well, but because of the snakyness in the grip area it looks deceiving. When I shaped the grip I adjusted the contours during tillering to where the hand position matched where the grip wanted to find its own center while drawing. You can hold it loose with an open palm while drawing and it doesn't want to twist. Then you close your grip and it just fits (my hand at least).  

We each made dozens of shots with it and nobody mentioned hand shock. I certainly didn't notice any that would have arose to my attention. But that may just be my inexperience. It could also be that the B50 twisted string is a bit stretchy and forgiving. It does release with a nice single quiet "thump" and is weight balanced at the grip pretty well. Also we were not drawing to full draw, probably only about 24" most of the time.

 

Originally posted by inksoup:
good work...
but... as i remember, we have forbid such a bow making for the first try. please keep in mind that...LOL    :D  
best.

Thanks! I will try to do worse on the next one.    

I do want to have my own bow, now that I have had a taste of archery... and it just happens that I have this extra osage stave that has been seasoning for a couple of years. It's about 80" long x 2 1/2" wide and looks to be straight and free of knots.
 

[Igor]

Very nice - thanks for sharing!

[kenneth butler]

Geraldius. I love the bow. Good job of working with what the wood gives you in the handle. I don't mean this to be critical,I could never do as well. I do have an eye for detail. In the last picture,the close up of the tip,see how the string is pushing a slight angle in the string.It seems like the string would hit hard there. If the bottom corner of the groove was angled or rounded a little more ,wouldn't it lessen the contact? Run that by some of the bowyers on here. Maybe it doesn't make any difference Ken

[Roy from Pa]

Very well done.

[geraldius]

Originally posted by kenneth butler:
Geraldius. I love the bow. Good job of working with what the wood gives you in the handle. I don't mean this to be critical,I could never do as well. I do have an eye for detail. In the last picture,the close up of the tip,see how the string is pushing a slight angle in the string.It seems like the string would hit hard there. If the bottom corner of the groove was angled or rounded a little more ,wouldn't it lessen the contact? Run that by some of the bowyers on here. Maybe it doesn't make any difference Ken

Thanks Ken. I see what you mean. Sounds like you are concerned about string wear? Honestly I don't know if there will be a problem. I think it may just be that side view that makes it look like a sharp angle. I don't recall any abrupt corners in the groove. It was cut using a rotary tool with a 1/2" disc shaped diamond bit about 1/8" thick with a radiused edge. I used an arc-like hand motion while cutting the groove all the way around to try and get a continuous curve.

[geraldius]

Originally posted by Igor:
Very nice - thanks for sharing!

Originally posted by Roy from Pa:
Very well done.

Thanks Igor and Roy! Good to hear from the experienced guys.