Primitive Archer

Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: 4est Trekker on August 02, 2011, 10:52:00 am

Title: Osage English Style Longbow
Post by: 4est Trekker on August 02, 2011, 10:52:00 am
Here's one I finished for my brother-in-law from a slender belly split.  I've always had trouble with D-bellied English style longbows.  I'm not completely happy with this one, but overcame some problems I've had on previous attempts.  I would have like to dialed in the tiller a little bit better, but I'll let him shoot it in and then tweak it.  Anyway, it's 70" ntn, 52#@28", has zebrewood tip overlays, and goatskin lacing for a handle wrap (please pardon the ugly and out-of-place floppy rest!).  Thanks for looking!

(http://i984.photobucket.com/albums/ae321/isaacscr/Osage%20ELB%20for%20Kyle/HPIM5250.jpg)

(http://i984.photobucket.com/albums/ae321/isaacscr/Osage%20ELB%20for%20Kyle/HPIM5263.jpg)

(http://i984.photobucket.com/albums/ae321/isaacscr/Osage%20ELB%20for%20Kyle/HPIM5266.jpg)

(http://i984.photobucket.com/albums/ae321/isaacscr/Osage%20ELB%20for%20Kyle/HPIM5268.jpg)

(http://i984.photobucket.com/albums/ae321/isaacscr/Osage%20ELB%20for%20Kyle/HPIM5273.jpg)

(http://i984.photobucket.com/albums/ae321/isaacscr/Osage%20ELB%20for%20Kyle/HPIM5279.jpg)

(http://i984.photobucket.com/albums/ae321/isaacscr/Osage%20ELB%20for%20Kyle/HPIM5278.jpg)

(http://i984.photobucket.com/albums/ae321/isaacscr/Osage%20ELB%20for%20Kyle/HPIM5281.jpg)


Title: Re: Osage English Style Longbow
Post by: wvarcher on August 02, 2011, 12:08:27 pm
Nice one, 4est.  Thats almost 70 inches of working limb to tiller!  I think the tiller looks good.   
Title: Re: Osage English Style Longbow
Post by: cracker on August 02, 2011, 01:20:22 pm
Sorry 4est but I don't see anything wrong with that tiller job. I have a piece of osage that is screaming ELB and I recon I gotta get after it. I hope I can make it that nice. Ronnie
Title: Re: Osage English Style Longbow
Post by: ErictheViking on August 02, 2011, 01:20:57 pm
Dang you perfectionist types are hard on yourselves.  ;D 4est I have seen and admired alot of your work and that is a beauty. of course I'm partial to ELB. and I agree with WV. tiller is sweet as far as I can tell.
Title: Re: Osage English Style Longbow
Post by: bobnewboy on August 02, 2011, 03:31:51 pm
Drawn tiller and strung profiles look pretty durn good to me.  However, I was wondering if there is much in the way of handshock with an OO ELB ??  The wood is very dense and therefore could easily be heavy towards the limb ends.  Anyone care to comment?  I've made some backed Ipe ELBs and fortunately have had to use very little wood at the limb ends, but even then I got a bit of hand shock.  Most probably my tillering..... ::)
Title: Re: Osage English Style Longbow
Post by: Del the cat on August 02, 2011, 06:02:25 pm
Looks fine to me.
That back is V smooth and pretty and it's taken no set.
How does she shoot?
Del
(and yes, the floppy rest should earn you a ducking in the village pond ;))
Title: Re: Osage English Style Longbow
Post by: Dean Marlow on August 02, 2011, 09:13:28 pm
I like it very much. I have one real similar to yours that I shoot allot. What are your dimensions as far as width and thickness at your handle area. Thanks for sharing.
Title: Re: Osage English Style Longbow
Post by: Timo on August 02, 2011, 11:13:30 pm
Very nice clean work. Excellent !
Title: Re: Osage English Style Longbow
Post by: wvarcher on August 03, 2011, 01:03:15 am
Drawn tiller and strung profiles look pretty durn good to me.  However, I was wondering if there is much in the way of handshock with an OO ELB ??  The wood is very dense and therefore could easily be heavy towards the limb ends.  Anyone care to comment?  I've made some backed Ipe ELBs and fortunately have had to use very little wood at the limb ends, but even then I got a bit of hand shock.  Most probably my tillering..... ::)

     I am wondering the same thing about handshock.  Tim Baker wrote about this in a section of the TBB.  He seemed to think that the handshock would disappear if the limb tips are narrowed sufficiently, no matter how  heavy/dense the wood.
Title: Re: Osage English Style Longbow
Post by: Pat B on August 03, 2011, 01:12:39 am
Very nice ELB Curt. Clean!!!
WVArcher, I've built a few osage ELB style bows that ranged from 45# to 60# and had very little hand shock.
Title: Re: Osage English Style Longbow
Post by: soy on August 03, 2011, 04:56:25 am
Looks fine from where im sitting  ;)
Title: Re: Osage English Style Longbow
Post by: 4est Trekker on August 03, 2011, 11:22:36 am
Thanks for the kind comments everyone.  Regarding hand shock:  It pulls and releases smooth as butter and quiet as a mouse.  It doesn't appear so in some of the pictures, but the tips are thin and narrow (less than a 1/2".)  Also, shooting an arrow in the 10 grains-per-pound range really helps.  It transfers more of the energy that would be wasted (felt as hand shock) into the arrow.

I think folks often have trouble with hand shock on long English style longbows because of the long working limbs.  It's much harder to get nearly 70" of working limb to draw and recover smoothly than, say, 58".  Just my $0.02.

Del:  Yeah, that rest is an eyesore...kind of like putting lipstick on a pig, only in the reverse.  Nonetheless, with all the heat we've had here the past month, a dunk in the village pond would be more than welcomed! 

Thanks again, all.  :)
Title: Re: Osage English Style Longbow
Post by: seabass on August 04, 2011, 12:19:40 am
i think it looks awesome.you did a great job buddy,steve
Title: Re: Osage English Style Longbow
Post by: JW_Halverson on August 04, 2011, 12:30:08 am
I have a OO ELB in the "corner of shame" that came in at 55# with handshock that not only loosened fillings in my teeth but also loosened my bowels, caused a heart murmer, and shattered the toenails on my left foot.  I started shaving down the width of the limbs from midlimb to tips and re-shooting until it hit 45 lbs with whippy tips and it got worse!!!  AND I WAS SHOOTING 725 GRAIN ARROWS!

Congratulations on turning out a beautiful piece of work, very well done.
Title: Re: Osage English Style Longbow
Post by: BowJunkie on August 04, 2011, 01:11:25 am
Dude: That is SWEEEEET BOW.  I have always wanted to see an Osage Longbow.
Don't be so hard on yourself. Not a thing wrong with that tiller.
I have to wonder if primitive men actually put much emphasis on tiller.
I mean sure it helps but if it bends perfectly,
but if it has the poundage to drive home a razor sharp stone,
does it really matter if it doesn't have a " perfect tiller" ?
Title: Re: Osage English Style Longbow
Post by: Gus on September 02, 2011, 09:28:15 pm
Man,

This is a nice looking bow.

-gus
Title: Re: Osage English Style Longbow
Post by: Elktracker on September 02, 2011, 11:17:58 pm
Ya that looks pretty dang great to me, Well done!

Josh
Title: Re: Osage English Style Longbow
Post by: bryan irwin on September 02, 2011, 11:23:12 pm
very nice elb i like to make them also fun to shoot and i don't see anything wrong with the tiller. looks great
Title: Re: Osage English Style Longbow
Post by: Gordon on September 03, 2011, 02:48:13 am
nicely done - I really like the way you finished it off.
Title: Re: Osage English Style Longbow
Post by: Dazv on September 03, 2011, 11:28:32 am
very nice bow you have made there dose it have much hand shock???
Title: Re: Osage English Style Longbow
Post by: toomanyknots on September 03, 2011, 10:01:52 pm
Very nice bow. Once you get the hang of the way to form the d profile, and then tiller it, it gets like second nature. Just like making a flatbow but different. You get the little processes of it stuck in your head. I am sure you will master it, regarding the skillful bows you have posted and post on here all the time. I am still getting the hang of making d profile bows myself, but it's getting easier and easier, I just take the unworked stave, mark the 3 main alignment points, and rough it out real fat and chunky with a hatchet to remove most the excess wood. And then erase the two marks at each tip, so I can use my eye, by looking down the stave, to do the rest of the roughing out, (I go from hatchet to butcher knife, the butcher knife is what I substitute for where everyone else would be using a drawknife). I make it a square, just a bit more wood then I would need. And then lastly I work it down and round the belly/shape the tips, exc, with a farrier's rasp. I also round the edge's on the back just a bit. Then I floor tiller it by removing wood from the belly, and sides a bit. But mostly the bottom of the belly, as taking wood off the sides does not effect tiller as much. This part and tillering in general I do not find too much different than tillering a flatbow. Once the bow is floor tillered to where it I feel it is ready to put on the tiller to tree to see what it really looks like, I will cut temporary nocks in it. After it is tiller fully, I actually go and sand to as much as I am going to sand to, usually 600, (which can always effect tiller a bit sometimes anyway), and also burnish the whole bow, and then I will measure and put the horn nocks on. I do this because I hate accidentally scratching the polished nocks with sand paper.
Title: Re: Osage English Style Longbow
Post by: Blacktail on September 03, 2011, 10:55:47 pm
that is sweet...love the tiller and profile....if i may ask what is the measurements on it (the handle,fades,tips)i might have to try it on a peice of yew...thanks for sharing john