Primitive Archer

Wow! You really dug deep into your trick bag to pull this off! Nicely executed and just enough lipstick on the pig to show her off without looking gaudy.

Yes, sir. This bow is definitely my cup of tea!

Nice one

If you happen to have some more black locust to play around with, my fastest ones out of this species have strong trapping (narrower back than belly, so the limb is trapezoid shape-ish) and strong heat treatment on the belly. I usually hang some weight on the end of the limb to give it some reflex while tempering and use a wet towel to make sure the back doesn't get to hot, takes some time to get the heat deep enough into the belly. Makes ridiculous fast bows in my experience.

Basically, it hardens your belly enough to the point where it can make the back do all the work, and Black locust is phenomenal on tension. I like to leave the last sap ring on (given its been dried properly, black locust sap is pretty much an indestructible backing), makes for a very nice play of colours

All of this has been done with German grown BL from an area with great soil and phenomenal water balance properties, so as always, take with a grain of salt

I have had other bowyers tell me that with proper treatment (as you described) black locust exceeds osage in performance. I have avoided it like the plague because of the terrible (and well earned) reputation for being intolerant of less than perfect tillering. Trapping so that you have less back and more belly, plus a heat treatment is a great way to mitigate the compression problems.

Nifty trick using the tape to create an above ground swimming pool for the epoxy.

Very nicely done. That is one great looking bow. As others have said, I really like the handle.

So, the 2025 junior bow trade is about to wrap up and will have taken nearly a year start to finish.  This is not a bad thing, the junior trade was set up to be an easy going, no pressure learning experience, giving all the participants the best chance to build/ push themselves/experiment with new techniques.  I always run on the ohana principal - no-one dispatches until everyone is done, which means there's no need for an emergency bow when someone has to pull out - life gets difficult sometimes and things can derail the process, even for the admin...Anyway, what do you all think about the format for this year's junior trade, I would welcome feedback before I launch the 2026 trade. Come one, come all, please, past participants future participants, interested observers, let me know.
Andrew