Finished Up A New Selfbow

OP
Ddog

Ddog

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Looks great. I finally purchased an Osage stave, still haven't made a bow with it.

I've been working on a hickory static recurve. It had a blemish in the limb that I became rightfully concerned about. It broke during tillering.
I haven't tried hickory yet. I had a neighbor give me a big log that I cut, split and sealed but it had sat outside too long and was powdery wood. No good for bows. So all that work for smoker chunks lol
 
OP
Ddog

Ddog

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That thing looks great.
Thank you! I've been shooting it a lot at my deer shabin 3D course and it's a nice, well balanced shooter. Pretty fast, I'm happy with how it worked out. Might be my go-to for turkey and deer this year.
 
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Osage static, 66" (64" NTN) 49#@28"
Back and belly stained with vinagroon, Canebrake rattlesnake skins, beaver tail grip, walnut/whitetail antler tips.
Home-rolled PO Cedar arrows. Great shooting set.
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Very nice man, just started my first with a nice osage stave. I've got a beaver tail or two froze how can i make a handle out of one?
 

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OP
Ddog

Ddog

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Joined
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Messages
371
Location
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Thanks! Nice chunk of gold you have there, should get you a nice bow out of that for sure.

As for the beaver tail, it depends. I have a rawhide one tanning with the orange bottle stuff but I've only used already tanned ones I find on Etsy, eBay, etc. if it's a whole tail, there's some good videos on the tube I watched on skinning and prep, plus a couple that included tanning. Looks pretty simple. This rawhide tail came from pinehollowlongbows and I just followed the instructions on the bottle.

Sorry I'm not more help, it's a great grip material. Here's the stuff I ordered from Amazon that people mentioned works good.
 

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Joined
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Location
MI
Thanks! Nice chunk of gold you have there, should get you a nice bow out of that for sure.

As for the beaver tail, it depends. I have a rawhide one tanning with the orange bottle stuff but I've only used already tanned ones I find on Etsy, eBay, etc. if it's a whole tail, there's some good videos on the tube I watched on skinning and prep, plus a couple that included tanning. Looks pretty simple. This rawhide tail came from pinehollowlongbows and I just followed the instructions on the bottle.

Sorry I'm not more help, it's a great grip material. Here's the stuff I ordered from Amazon that people mentioned works good.
I've got a bottle of that stuff already too. I'm just trying to decide what length to go with for a bow. I plan to put a little reflex in the limbs , want it for hunting so don't want some huge long bow
 
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Ddog

Ddog

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I've got a bottle of that stuff already too. I'm just trying to decide what length to go with for a bow. I plan to put a little reflex in the limbs , want it for hunting so don't want some huge long bow
I've carried bows up to 66" for many years without any problems, even shooting from trees while sitting down. With that said, I prefer something in the 62-64" range nowadays. I only draw 28" but the extra bow length is smooth-drawing and accurate for me. Less of a butt pucker factor while tillering too, IMO. There's a mathematical formula to figure out what length to go with depending on your draw length, which of course can be tweaked once you get a couple few bows under your belt. I believe it's draw length x2, plus handle and fades. Which in my case are 4" handle plus 2 X 2" (8") fades added to the 56" for draw X 2. So 64" is ideal for a 28" draw accordingly. Nice safe way to go for the first couple builds I've found. Good luck with your build, good to see other guys making shavings.
 
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