About 7 or 8 years ago I met a guy online who was looking for a selfbow and I happened to be looking for a black walnut stave to try. He knew where a tree was and offered to cut it down, split and mail it to me if I made him a bow from one of the staves. I accepted and awaited the staves to arrive. never cutting bow wood before, Dax (the guy in mention) must have picked the most twisted and knotted tree he could find and sent it to me. Somewhat discouraged, I still managed to save 2 short, knotted and twisted staves but I knew I wasn't up for the challenge at that point. I told him that the staves likely wouldn't yield a bow but I offered to build him a bow from elm anyways. I mailed the bow out (he still has it to this day) and upon receiving it, Dax invited me to hunt deer or turkeys in alabama as a good faith trade for the bow. I accepted and so a friendship began that has taken us to at least 1 -2 hunts together each year between, FL, AL and MT. A few years later I picked up the best (relative term) stave and made a short recurve from it and shot it a little while. I sent it home with Dax one day as I knew it would likely mean a lot to him as the stave came from his late grandmother's land. Last month I found myself looking at the last stave that had a huge burl, a small burl and about 90 degrees or solid twist. I knew a bow was in there, but just didn't know if I could coax a decent bow out of it or not. Not liking the sapwood color of Walnut, I chased it down to heartwood and began carefully eliminating wood that didn't look like a bow. Once reduced, I steamed and bent as much twist out as possible. The stave was short but I knew it would accommodate my 22" short draw nicely. Once cool and dry I continued with the chopping and scraping until I came up with this as a final product. Perhaps not my "best" bow, but I am very pleased considering the stave it came from and also the story behind the piece of wood. Now, just as planned several years later, we both have a black walnut bow from the deal and the trade is complete. I have gained a valuable friend and hunting partner along the way. We used to joke that those Black walnut staves were bad luck b\c of a couple failed attempts early as well as a bow breaking that had tips made from that tree. Turns out it was good luck all along.
Now that you have heard the story behind the bow, here are the specs of the bow itself. 54" long ntn 58# @ 22". The tips are strengthened up with walnut overlays. I don't normally name my bows, but this one has pretty much adopted the name "Burl" obviously due to it's physical attributions.
