I've got one that was his Ocelot model and it is my number one "go to" bow. Mine is 66" long, fairly pronounced reflex/deflex almost to the "hybrid" point and will pull smooth to about 33 or 34" of draw. I pull it to about 32.5".
I got my first one at the Texas State Longbow shoot years ago and it was the prettiest longbow I've ever seen then or since. Zebrawood limbs, Macassar Ebony riser with stripes, horn overlays. But the limbs.... the wood grain was simply amazing. Unfortunately, the bow started to show signs of delamination on the belly sides at mid limb. Little white spots popped up under the glass. I called Ralph and he immediately said he had been worried about that bow. It was the only one he'd ever made with zebrawood in the limbs and after selling it, he'd been talking with a few other bowyers and they'd had problems with delamination on bows they'd made with that wood. He said to send it back and he would replace it but not with a bow that had zebrawood in the limbs as he absolutely didn't want any future failures of his bows. Since I was a sucker for a purty piece of wood and loved a lot of grain/figure, he suggested curly myrtle and that's what I went with. Not quite as pretty as the zebrawood bow was but certainly beautiful in it's own way.
I later learned that zebrawood is commonly used in bow limbs but not usually as a working part of the limb unless it is cut with the grain facing a certain way or as a veneer. On the bow I had, the laminations were cut on a bias across the grain with a lot of "run-out" which is why the grain was so amazingly figured. It looked like marble. Basically, if you looked at the edge of the limb, you could see the edge of the lamination and the grain coming in on the bottom edge of the lam and running back out the top side about 1 to 1.5" up the limb so it's no wonder it didn't work.
Regardless, all the lonetree bows I've seen and shot were VERY well made and designed. About the only thing I'd change would be the size of the tip overlays. They are very nicely done but longer/thicker than they need to be. But that would be nit picking at best.
If you paid under $400 you probably got a heck of a deal. I don't know what his prices topped out at but mine cost me I believe $480 back in about 1999 or 2000. Honestly I'm not sure what year I bought it...
Topic: lonetree archery... (Read 647 times)
