Primitive Archer

Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: huntersim on February 23, 2008, 06:17:35 pm

Title: ugly and a wannabe with cherry bark
Post by: huntersim on February 23, 2008, 06:17:35 pm
Hey everyone.

Wanted to post a few photos of the first two bows I've had a chance to wrap up since the start of 2008. One is an osage branch bow that is about half and half sap wood and heart wood. Its about 58" long, 1 1/4" wide and is 67 lbs. at 27". I wanted to make it look like a branch that fell out of a tree. Backed it with some cherry bark I bartered from Joe K. AKA 330bull (thanks Joe!). BTW, the lower limb has a bit of twist that for the most part refused to come out. I also had a heck of a time trying to get the limbs tips to line up. I finally gave up after i decided to let good enough be. Every time i would try to correct this thing it would spring right back. I've never had this with osage so i wonder if it was due to the large amount of sap wood in it? Any one experience this with osage sap wood?

The other bow is a total wannabe of a Grumley deerslayer. It isn't even close but i was able to learn a few things from it. I'm gonna build another now that i know what it will take. My next one will be a much closer version. It scales in at 52 lbs at 27" and is 63" NTN if you measure around the recurves.  It was cobbled together with scraps of osage, hickory, bullet wood and also has some cherry bark. Anyway, thanks for looking.

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Title: Re: ugly and a wannabe with cherry bark
Post by: huntersim on February 23, 2008, 06:20:22 pm
Couple more photos.

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Title: Re: ugly and a wannabe with cherry bark
Post by: Pat B on February 23, 2008, 06:23:08 pm
Very nice bows. I have successfully heat straightened osage 50/50 heart/sapwood bows. Might be that particular piece that is stubborn
   I love your brush nocks. I need to try that. They look very cool and are practical, especially where I hunt.     Pat. 
Title: Re: ugly and a wannabe with cherry bark
Post by: jamie on February 23, 2008, 06:28:37 pm
both are excellent . i really like the grumley . awesome
Title: Re: ugly and a wannabe with cherry bark
Post by: Hillbilly on February 23, 2008, 06:45:15 pm
Both are excellent looking bows. Great work!  8)
Title: Re: ugly and a wannabe with cherry bark
Post by: Justin Snyder on February 23, 2008, 06:49:22 pm
Great job on both bows.  Justin
Title: Re: ugly and a wannabe with cherry bark
Post by: medicinewheel on February 23, 2008, 07:29:47 pm

WOW, great bows!
more details??
frank
Title: Re: ugly and a wannabe with cherry bark
Post by: 1/2primitive on February 23, 2008, 08:45:04 pm
Very nice! They each look great for their 'category' of bow.
    Sean
Title: Re: ugly and a wannabe with cherry bark
Post by: huntersim on February 23, 2008, 10:22:49 pm
Thanks everyone, I appreciate the complements.

Pat...thanks, I wasn't sure. I had suspected it was just the branch but havent done a lot of work with the sapwood on osage. It reminded me of some red cedar i tried to bend with heat one time. About the time you think you have it, it pops right back into place. It corrected some but not much.

It supprises me more people dont build brush nocks. They seem to serve multiple pourposes and you really can get the weight down in them so they dont weigh much more or even the same as a standard static tip.

Frank, I'll give you all the details you want. Pictures or just stats?
Title: Re: ugly and a wannabe with cherry bark
Post by: mullet on February 23, 2008, 10:25:50 pm
  I like them both, very unique. Is there any hand shock with the Grumley ?
Title: Re: ugly and a wannabe with cherry bark
Post by: huntersim on February 23, 2008, 10:36:28 pm
Thanks Eddie. No handshock at all, kinda surprised me the first time i shot it. Like i said though, you can get the weight down quite a bit, especially by the time you flute them.
Title: Re: ugly and a wannabe with cherry bark
Post by: Dustybaer on February 23, 2008, 10:44:45 pm
mullet beat me to it. i like them too, but still have a question: do you notice any loss of speed because of the brush nocks?  i mean, is it noticeably slower than a comparable bow with regular recurves?  the reason i'm asking is because i was always intrigued by the looks of brushnocks but never dared make any because i was always told "keep your tips as light as possible".
Title: Re: ugly and a wannabe with cherry bark
Post by: david w. on February 23, 2008, 10:46:42 pm
great bows,perfect tiller,love that bark.


330bull wanna trade?
Title: Re: ugly and a wannabe with cherry bark
Post by: medicinewheel on February 23, 2008, 11:09:58 pm
....
Frank, I'll give you all the details you want. Pictures or just stats?

well closeups (best on MACRO/focus-on-spot position of the camera) especially of them grumley nocks would be fantastic; but also the handle sections and tip details of both bows i would love to see. - i always learned from pictures...  :o :o :o
thanks, frank

ps: the arc of both weapons looks F A N T A S T I C !!!
Title: Re: ugly and a wannabe with cherry bark
Post by: cowboy on February 23, 2008, 11:46:28 pm
Two great lookin bows - am leaning toward trying some brush nocks myself, after huntin the brush this past year..
Title: Re: ugly and a wannabe with cherry bark
Post by: huntersim on February 24, 2008, 01:16:26 am
Dustybaer, I really dont have a good standard of my own to go by as far as the speed on this bow. It seems to shoot pretty good for being just over 50lbs. I want to make my next one around 65lbs. Then i can compare it to some other hunting bows I have. I say give it a try. It will definitely hunt. Look at all the old deerslayers that Nels built and all the deer taken with them. And like anything, I'm sure you can have you're extremes....too large or very small. I could have thinned these down more but i wasnt really after a blazing fast bow either.

Cowboy, give em a try and thanks.

Frank, here are a few more photos for you. I'm not very good at this and i dont have a nice sunny day to take photos. The tips on the static are about 1/2" wide. The tips on the branch bow are closer to 3/8"

Again, thanks for the complements.

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Title: Re: ugly and a wannabe with cherry bark
Post by: medicinewheel on February 24, 2008, 05:21:51 am

hey thanks, very nice!
frank
Title: Re: ugly and a wannabe with cherry bark
Post by: Dustybaer on February 24, 2008, 07:43:06 am
man, your grumley nocks are a piece of art.  excellent workmanship.  thanks for the pics.
Title: Re: ugly and a wannabe with cherry bark
Post by: DanaM on February 24, 2008, 08:27:50 am
Both bows came out nice and you should be proud of em. Well done.
Title: Re: ugly and a wannabe with cherry bark
Post by: a finnish native on February 24, 2008, 01:47:15 pm
very neat indeed. love that recurve.
Title: Re: ugly and a wannabe with cherry bark
Post by: OldBow on February 24, 2008, 02:01:33 pm
Hmm -what is the core wood for your Grumley?
Very nice bows - excellent tillering. Are the osage tips siyahs or did you plan ahead for one-piece construction when you shaped the wood?
Anyway -pretty impressive and we'll look at both again next week for Feb Self Bow of the Month (there are now 30 Bows entered!)
Title: Re: ugly and a wannabe with cherry bark
Post by: AndrewS on February 25, 2008, 07:39:50 am
Two very nice bows. Well done in every detail.
Title: Re: ugly and a wannabe with cherry bark
Post by: Pappy on February 25, 2008, 08:06:18 am
Very nice job on both,I like them a lot. :)
     Pappy
Title: Re: ugly and a wannabe with cherry bark
Post by: Woodland Roamer on February 25, 2008, 09:29:57 am
Both of those are very nice bows. Good work.

Alan
Title: Re: ugly and a wannabe with cherry bark
Post by: huntersim on February 25, 2008, 01:01:28 pm
OldBow, the core is just some extra parts of bullet wood and osage spliced together in the middle. No siyahs, the osage slat was just bent like a normal static and then it is backed with hickory. The brush nocks are glued on the belly side of the tips. 

Thanks everyone, i appreciate it.

Title: Re: ugly and a wannabe with cherry bark
Post by: Ryano on February 25, 2008, 01:19:57 pm
Nice work. Is that that thunderbird epoxy finish? I like the dull textured look of it.
Title: Re: ugly and a wannabe with cherry bark
Post by: huntersim on February 26, 2008, 12:06:33 pm
Thanks Ryan.
I have some thunderbird but i didnt use it this time. I used clear coat epoxy from system three to fill everything in and build some depth. Then i sprayed them with some spar varnish. The epoxy doesnt have any UV inhibitors in it so you have to cover that with something that does. The textured look is just the way I spray the last few coats. I like a really flat finish.
Title: Re: ugly and a wannabe with cherry bark
Post by: snedeker on February 28, 2008, 06:08:30 pm
Great bows Matt.  A dark look on the branch bow.   Recurves are really lovely on the other.

I always wonder about bark backing.  Why doesn't it decrease the integrity of the back?  For example, on an asiatic composite, you've got that sinew back, and then they put bark on it.  I can't figure why it doesn't counteract high tension backing?

Dave
Title: Re: ugly and a wannabe with cherry bark
Post by: koan on February 28, 2008, 07:31:05 pm
Matt, those are Incredible....Brian
Title: Re: ugly and a wannabe with cherry bark
Post by: Marc St Louis on February 29, 2008, 03:11:35 pm
Very nice bows. I like brush nocks and used to make many of my bows with them.
Title: Re: ugly and a wannabe with cherry bark
Post by: huntersim on February 29, 2008, 10:24:44 pm
Thanks Dave, good question. I suppose it's like any decorative backing or a finish that lays on the surface of the wood. It will stretch just enough without breaking. I would think there are others on here that could answer that better than I could. I do think that cherry bark may actually give a bit of protection but I have no proof....it seems relatively tough.

Hey Brian, thanks for the complement. I saw your boy was working on a bow but I lost track and cant remember what his screen name was. Did he get it finished?

Thanks Marc, you are one of the few i have seen that have routinely used something similar to brush nocks. One thing I thought that was interesting when i built this bow was that brush nocks or bridges effectively lower the brace height on a bow, or at least the brace felt by the limbs. Not by much, but a half inch difference in the brace height, on a bow strung all day can add up IMO.

Title: Re: ugly and a wannabe with cherry bark
Post by: koan on March 01, 2008, 11:28:54 pm
Matt, His name is knapperderg. Havent worked on it lately, to many things goin on but hoping to get to work on it Sunday. Its got some wind shear, not sure if there is a bow there or not.....Brian