Black Locust

[blackhawk]

     ..lol guy 

[Atlatlista]

Would you like us to make the bow for you as well?     

Would love that!  I'll send you free staves and money, you send back finished bows - I would reckon it ideal. To paraphrase the great English archer Roger Ascham - Let not the archer begin with the making of the bow, but with the buying of the bow.

I have no illusions about my capabilities. I've been lurking on these forums for quite a while now, spending a ridiculous proportion of that time drooling over your Osage works of art.  Could I ever make anything that nice?  I dunno. I kind of doubt it, but it wouldn't come without a prodigious investment of time and dedication and passion and love. Unfortunately for me, my passion is shooting. I shoot an hour a day no matter what. That lends to good accuracy but lame building skills.

[Poggins]

Don't sell yourself short , the same dedication and heart you put into shooting can carry over to building bows .
I've seen people at OJAM that had never built a bow little on shoot a traditional bow build one in less than three days ( they did have someone around to help out when needed ) , last year we helped a young girl with a bow and she was shooting it the next afternoon , her father was building one and she wanted to build one also , the stave she got wasn't the best . after watching her work on it and not give up I went to my pickup and got her a good stave and gave it to her , her father had a half a day head start and she still had her bow shooting before he did.
A little patients and when you have a question and ask then fallow directions and you can pull it off , but hurry and push through it and you could be making firewood .

[Atlatlista]

I appreciate the kind words, Poggins. Realistically, I need to fail (and maybe even succeed) at some board bows before I start tearing up nice staves. However, the black locust does need controlling here, and if I got good prep instructions I wouldn't mind donating staves to needy bowyers with the skill sets to really get the most out of them and do them justice.

[Buckeye Guy]

We don't know any needy Bowyers with skills to do that , and the prep  work is actually the hard part !
So cut some and bring them over to Marshall MI. Memorial weekend and someone will trade you out of them !
Between blackhawk, Misslemaster , Pearly, Paulsemp,and a few others ! somebody might have enough skill to show you a thing or two ,and you may even go home with a bow !
While you are there you can teach them how to shoot !
They need the help !!

[Atlatlista]

We don't know any needy Bowyers with skills to do that , and the prep  work is actually the hard part !
So cut some and bring them over to Marshall MI. Memorial weekend and someone will trade you out of them !
Between blackhawk, Misslemaster , Pearly, Paulsemp,and a few others ! somebody might have enough skill to show you a thing or two ,and you may even go home with a bow !
While you are there you can teach them how to shoot !
They need the help !!

Now that I live in Wisconsin, I may just take you up on that.  I'll be back from Africa by then, and a traditional archery rendezvous is my idea of a great time.

[Poggins]

Just remember that every failed bow is one more lesson learned , every broken bow , henge , or missed weight mark will teach you what not to do on the next one .
I stepped out of my comfort zone of working with osage and worked with other woods , the first was chittamwood , had it close but had a spot about three inches long that was stiff on one limb that needed scraped some more , I pulled it back one too many times before working that spot out and it blew , I'm fighting a Kentuky coffee tree now , string doesn't want to line up center of the handle even when I've heated it , one limb is getting away from me on the tillering tree , I had heat treated the bow and was trying to even the tiller up and a couple of passes with the scrapper and the limb that was too stiff suddenly went soft and now looks whip tillered , lesson on this one : be sure the wood you are working is dry enough to be worked , had the stave in the house for two months , cut it down to shape and a straight stave began warping on me , bought a moisture meter and checked one of the other staves and the moisture was still over 24% . Got another with some bulk removed and drying now but still haven't given up on the first one yet ( also have another chittamwood ready for the tillering tree , after looking a little closer at it I may have an idea of how to get it to work out ) .

[blackhawk]

Here's a link to my favorite locust I've done to date...you'll have to ask willh how it shoots as its in his possession ...sorry..no pics...I know I know..its soooooo hard to click on a link...lol 

http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php/topic,36920.0.html


Locust is in my top three all time favorite woods if that tells ya anything ...n yeah...come on out to some shoots..I'm sure someone can help ya out n I can guarantee you'll have a blast...they're a lot of fun...if you enjoy this forum you'll enjoy the shoots tenfold ..and make some great new friends as well...which in this hobby is key,because of "hook-ups"

[Atlatlista]

Here's a link to my favorite locust I've done to date...you'll have to ask willh how it shoots as its in his possession ...sorry..no pics...I know I know..its soooooo hard to click on a link...lol 

http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php/topic,36920.0.html


Locust is in my top three all time favorite woods if that tells ya anything ...n yeah...come on out to some shoots..I'm sure someone can help ya out n I can guarantee you'll have a blast...they're a lot of fun...if you enjoy this forum you'll enjoy the shoots tenfold ..and make some great new friends as well...which in this hobby is key,because of "hook-ups"

I was using the search feature this morning, I knew you'd be so proud.

Thanks so much for the link, BH.  I've seen a lot of your bows on this forum, I thought Scorpio's sting was my favorite, but now it's that one, actually.  My dream bow for next year's national traditional target archery championships in the trad longbow division is a slightly-recurved Molly.  It would sneak in as a longbow under the rules but probably give you enough FPS to leave the ELBs in the dust.  It'd be great for IFAA outdoor world championships this year in Yankton, SD too, in the "historic bow" division.  It's definitely a design that's on my short list of best "primitive target bows."  Adb's osage recurve, and mikekeswick's BL and osage recurves are right up there too.

[blackhawk]

Wow..using the search engine...I'm impressed   

If you are into target shooting and competing seriously I'd stretch out the design to something real similar to this one..

http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php?topic=36860.0

I know its not locust ,but you can pretty much do the same dimensions as that with locust at that length....I don't have that bow anymore either(I have a habit of giving the good ones away),but I could shoot bulls eyes allllllllllll day long with that bow....it has everything you want and need in a bow for serious target shooting....I love shooting just as much as I do making them,and I could stand there n shoot that bow for a long time before putting it down,and I'd walk away when I was done with a big ole grin on my chin....

[Atlatlista]

You made a long holmie with a riser for target-shooting?  I've been suggesting that as a competition longbow on like six different forums.  That's awesome!   I think that bow would clean up in the longbow division in just about every major governing body.  The D-shape makes it totally legal, but the levers give you cast that other people aren't going to get with Howard Hill type designs.  That's a super-exciting bow.  Yew is my favorite wood too, though it doesn't seem to grow much around the Wisconsin area except in the form of shrubs.

Edit: Just realized that's one piece and not a glue-up.  Jaw is on floor.

Edit: And the grain pattern on the belly...

If only it weren't made backwards with the shelf on the wrong side, it would be perfect.