Congratulations to Gabe (??) from Humboldt County CA for winning May Self Bows!
http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php/topic,25651.0.html
From Gabe:
This plum tree at my mother-in-laws is 'the giving tree.' It has yielded 5 staves so far, just with normal pruning Smiley
Here's one I made from a narrow diameter (maybe 1.5") branch. I left the bark on and used it on the handle. The arrow pass is inlaid honey locust that I cut thin with the chop saw. Bow is about 40# @ 29 inches. I used dry heat to put some reflex into the tips however a horizontal tear started to form in the lower limb during the bending process so I stopped before reaching an equal reflex with the top limb. This made tillering a bit tricky, and also gives me some concern about the bows longevity. I super glued it and wrapped it with B50. We'll see. In the meantime she shoots very nice, hard and flat with 450 grain arrows at 20 yards. Hope you like it.
Gabe
Nice Bow Gabe! Here's some nice things people said about your Plum bow!
"that is probably one of the coolest bows I have seen in awhile. the bark left on is just awesome. love the bark left on on the belly handle area. reminds me of the purple plum bow by Baker on the cover of tbbIV. excellent job Ross. Oh ya full daw is a beaut." -Eric the Viking
"Very cool bow!" -Hobow
"That's a fine bow you made there. You're artistic sense was right on the mark on this one." -Gordon
"Agree with the others ,sweet bow it looks like a shooter you could shoot for hours and still be havin' fun with. Nice work" -Hammertime
"Great looking bow, I am starting to favor plum over osage. You did an excellent job on that one." -Badger