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Osage ELB

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JW_Halverson:
It has been a great while since I have fiddled about with this classic bow style. I seem to remember doing a few about 15 years ago, including one of hickory that rattled fillings in my teeth loose, busted up a kidney stone, and bruised my left heel with it's rather excessive hand shock. But the other day I was in Antler, Hide, and Claw down in Custer and happened to come across a nice pair of deer antler tips that are about the right size for making tips, so...

I think I will shoot for a nice, comfortable 45 lb draw at 28" and an overall length of 6 ft. The osage stave I am looking at does not have great thick rings, but the early/late ratio is not bad. It has a short back and forth snake in one limb, but I think I may pull out my Indian flute and charm it into straightening out some. Not much twist, and that is always easy enough to fix, too.

What say you, my merry band of mischievous bowyers? I want to stick to the classic lines, but I cannot find any of my books that detail the front profile. I seem to remember that they should not taper at first coming out of the handle area, but at some point on the limb begin a straight taper to the tips. And the classic dimensions are 5 parts depth of limb to width, right?

superdav95:
I would say del would be the one to ask here.  He would be able to get you off to hood start for sure.  He’s got lots of video posted as well. 

Muskyman:
I’m kinda hoping you’re going to do a build along with this venture JW. I’ve got a piece of Osage that I’ve thought might make a good ELB and I’ve never even seen one.
Either way, good luck with your build.

Kidder:
I agree - you need to make this a build along! I find a true ELB design to be extremely intimidating and as a result I’ve never tackled one.
This post will answer your questions pretty well - and as you can see from the consensus there are no rules per se.
https://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php/topic,70356.0.html
Have fun!

bassman211:
I built one from a not to dense piece of elm wood. I made it 70 long at 45 lbs. Turned out nice with very little hand shock, but to much for me to handle now. After not being satisfied when shooting it I cut a shelf in it. Not good for me with out a shelf ,and a string nock.  Not a replica at all now, but I sure enjoyed shooting it at one time. Good luck with your build.

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