Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: Gordon on March 13, 2009, 11:45:09 pm
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Here’s a little D-style bow that I made from a hazelnut sapling that I found at my local archery range. It’s 58” ntn and draws 50# @ 27”. It’s 1 ¼” wide at the handle and tapers to 3/8” at the tips. The nocks are reinforced with tropical hardwood overlays and the tips are stained with black leather dye. The handle is dyed elk-hide with a Strunk style wrap. I used black and red serving for the wraps on both ends of the handle. The bow is sealed with Tru-Oil. No arrow rest because the bow is meant to shoot off the hand. I made the bow lower weight because I’m finding that I rather enjoy shooting lighter bows. I hope you enjoy the pictures.
(http://i793.photobucket.com/albums/yy217/gferlitsch/HazelSaplingBow/hazel_0001.jpg)
(http://i793.photobucket.com/albums/yy217/gferlitsch/HazelSaplingBow/hazel_0006.jpg)
(http://i793.photobucket.com/albums/yy217/gferlitsch/HazelSaplingBow/hazel_0009.jpg)
(http://i793.photobucket.com/albums/yy217/gferlitsch/HazelSaplingBow/hazel_0011.jpg)
(http://i793.photobucket.com/albums/yy217/gferlitsch/HazelSaplingBow/hazel_0032.jpg)
(http://i793.photobucket.com/albums/yy217/gferlitsch/HazelSaplingBow/hazel_0023.jpg)
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Gordon, I am ever impressed with ,not only your ability to build a very fine hunting weapon, but your great attention to detail.Those wraps are killer.Really nice work,It shows your appreciate of fine things. Love all those colors.Great job!
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Another beauty Gordon.
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What a sweet bow. Beauty!
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LOOOKING GOOD!!!!
N welcome to the droppin bow weight club.LOL
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wow, your bows are simply beautiful. they inspire me to stick with it and muddle through. :)
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GREAT LOOKING SHOOTER...now dont let keenan on here.hes going to get you on some thing...lol...hes cross eyed dont you know.LOL...john
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As everyone says: really very nice; nice details, nice arc!
F.
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Nice bow! seems to be a fast one
acker from germany
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Beautiful as usual, Gordon. I would like to know how you get the serving wrapped so tight. I know that it's not that easy. Any way, nice bow! :)
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Real fine. Love the way that light string color sets off a contrast. Tiller is killer as usual. Inspiring.
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Another nice looking stick you got there Gordon. :)
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Very well done Gordon, I especially like the unbraced profile.
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Ho-Hum! Another skillfully-made and beautiful bow from Gordon ;) Bookmarked, too!
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Thank you for the compliment Tim. I’ve been admiring a lot of your work lately.
Thank you for the nice words Pat.
Thank you Bob. That is quite a compliment coming from a connoisseur of fine bows as yourself.
Thank you Traxx. I still have to maintain my ability to shoot higher poundage bows for hunting elk, but for just having fun it’s hard to beat a light 50 lbs D-bow.
Troutbum, absolutely stick with it. I messed up a lot of bows in the beginning, but once you get the hang of a few key principles building bows from sticks is fairly straight-forward. If I can do it, so can you.
Thank you John. Keenan is a skillful bowyer and could easily find the flaws in my work – but he is too polite to ever do that. ;D
Thank you Frank. I’m pleased that you like the tiller.
Thank you acker. I removed every bit of excess mass I could from the limbs so it seems to shoot fairly fast for a 50# bow.
Thank you bd. It’s not that difficult to get the wraps tight – it just takes a bit of practice.
Thank you David. I never really noticed the string contrast until you pointed it out. That does look kind of neat.
Thank you for the compliment Ryan. How is that vine maple bow coming along?
Thank you Dano. I am quite happy with how the profile turned out.
Thank you Don - that's funny. ;D
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She's a beauty Gordon! Curves in all the right places. I too, like the sapling bows. Your a man after my heart. A man from Ohio, named Sonny Inman caught my eye with osage limb or sucker shoot bows in the late '80s. I have made 3 myself an adult size and 2 kids for my boys. I love them. Hope i can learn something from you and the fellas on here! Have you ever use any osage saplings?
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How do you people do this...!?! You take a piece of wood I wouldn't use as a tomato stake and make something awesome. I've already messed up four bows since I joined this forum and they were all nice clear grained wood.
Oh well, I learned alot each time. Maybe if I make another hundred or so I'll figure it out.
Keep inspiring the rest of us... please.
LUK
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I don't know how you keep makin 'em better Gordon... but you do! Awesome job on this one.
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Beautifully tillered! What an attractive bow. Nicely done. Jawge
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Thank you Bullitt. Fashioning bows from saplings is wonderful for a number of reasons, not the least of which saplings are so abundant. I've not made a bow from an osage sapling because I do not have ready access to osage where I live. But I am confident that osage would yield excellent results.
Wakosama hang in there, I broke several bows before I began to figure it out. I'll mention one insight that has contributed greatly to my improvement as a bowyer that I learned by observing John Strunk. John does not utilize a tree to tiller his bows. In between scraping sessions he assesses the tiller by running the limb thickness between his finger and thumb. What he is doing is ensuring that the limb is tapered evenly along its length. I began using this method a little more than a year ago and have progressed to the point where I no longer need to view the arc of the bend to know that the tiller is correct. In fact, I am for the most part, only using the tiller tree for exercising the limbs between wood removal. Now I only pay close attention to the arc during the final stages of tillering. I have found this method superior to the commonly employed method of trying to tiller using primarily visual cues (i.e. looking at the arc of the limbs). The reason is that the bend of the limbs if often deceptive during the early stages of tillering, particularly with selfbows, and will frequently change as the bow settles in. The other problem is something I call "arc fatigue". For me, at least, the longer I gaze at an arc, the harder it is to discern the details. It takes some practice to get a feel for this method, but once you do you'll find that hitting tiller, profile and weight becomes much easier.
Thank you for the nice words Okie.
Thank you for the compliment George. That means a lot coming from you.
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Thanks, Gordon. I agree that the bowyer who uses only his vision in tillering is missing something. Hearing, vision and touch can all be used as you described. Jawge
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Another beauty Gordon, great craftsmanship as usual.
Alan
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Another awesome bow Gordon, nice work!!!
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Nice one Gordon. Good job 8)
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Thank you Alan, I appreciate the nice words.
Thank you Joe. Your fine hazelnut bow inspired me to pull this long-forgotten stave out of my pile.
Thank you Jesse.
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Another fine bow Gordon ;D
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Another great looking bow Gordon, your finish work is always inspiring!
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Thank you Brian. It's good to hear from you again.
Thank you Greg.
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Beautiful bow Gordon!!
I love that style of bow. I made my second bow by basically following your tutorial and I can't thank you enough for that. I just broke the back of my third bow and first recurve attempt; the thing I learned was to slow down and "feel" the continuous taper with my fingers. I'm doing that now with my second recurve attempt and its currently working so far :-\. Thanks for all the hot tips and sharing your awesome work! ;D Joe H
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Gordon, your quality and attention to detail is something that is always a constant in every bow that you make. I would have to look with a magnifying glass to find a flaw I'm sure, and even if I did I'd be a fool to try to pick apart your work.
I think John was referring to the the thoughts that it's probably just to short for you and that you should find someone who can truly appreciate a short 58" sapling beauty such as that ::) >:D
You sure are mastering those sapling bows ;)
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I'm always anxious to see your work.You never disapoint.Awesome bow.tradrick
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Another great bow Gordon. I would like to get a closer look at some of your new bows, one of these Saturdays that you are around the house working on bows let me know, I will bring the elk backstrap. Greg
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great to see you shootin' off your hand. And a fine bow I might add.
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Great looking bow Gordon!
The finish turned out wonderfully.
I can't wait to see how she shoots.
Bryan
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Thank you for the compliments guys. She has been a fun bow to shoot.