Last spring me and the wife had a short vacation in the Okanagan valley. Its British Columbias desert, my family used to go there alot when I was a kid.
I knew Rocky Mountain Juniper grew there, but very small and gnarly. We drove to the top of a mountain, and started to find some usable wood.
Every stave had super thin growth rings, would put my best yew to shame.
This bow is by no means a replica, but was greatly inspired by the west coast styles.
Made from a 3" diam branch, and roughed out just a few days after being cut. It had a small natural set back handle, and a fairly flat back.
I reverse braced it and laid down a layer of sinew. After a week, the string was no longer tight, so I added more tension and laid down one more layer.
I regret not recurving the tips, or setting the handle back a little more, but I sort of dove into it, I only had 5 or 6 bows under my belt at the time.
It sat in the corner until recently I picked it up and finished her,
A small roller coaster in the top limb, but other than that it was pretty problem free to tiller.
Cherry bark grip, sinew wrapped tips and a 2 ply sinew string.
She's 51" t2t, and pulls a bit over 50# at 25"
unbraced photo is right after shooting, it creeps up to about 2" after a while.
I "weathered" it with model paint inks and powder pigments. Was going for a "heavily soiled just found in a bog" look, haha, not sure if I'll do it again but
I had fun experimenting.
Bow number 20 for me, Thanks for looking guys, cheers
Taking care of business...
