Another bow falling out of the sawdust pile

[Ray]

...

Nearing completion. Osage, Hickory and yew handle.

about 65lbs @ 28 inches and OAL 70 inches.

[markts]

Very nice. What finish do you put on them . Mark

[ribka]

Very pretty and looks well designed. I love osage. Lots of character
Where do you get your osage staves?

What type of glue for the handle lams?

What tiller typically on a bow like this?
Sorry for so many questions

[Datbowhunter]

Very cool!!  do you make many bows? Where do you find your materials?

[Ray]

Tru Oil is what I am going to use for finish. I put a little coat on last night.

I got this osage stick from http://3riversarchery.com but you might also be able to get them from http://raptorarchery.com

The glue I used for gluing this up was Smooth On EA 40 Often times if it's a less oily wood like Ipe I will use a cheaper glue like Nelson Urac 185 by the pint. Urac 185 is real good stuff and it comes with a powdery mixture. Don't get any on your skin. I think it has some real bad stuff in it.

What I have been doing is using a belt sander to remove a great deal of wood from the handle and limbs. Then I will use a simple cabinet scraper to tiller the limbs. For the arrow rest I used a combination of a belt sander, a hand file and sandpaper.

[ribka]

Thanks for the info
Ever try gluing on some type of horn on the limb tips?
Put snake kin on the limbs? I tried this once and had a difficult time keeping the snake skin glued to the limbs

Again nice work

[Ray]

Never tried snake skins.

What is on this bow are actually real horn tips.

[bow4elk]

Thanks for the info
Ever try gluing on some type of horn on the limb tips?
Put snake kin on the limbs? I tried this once and had a difficult time keeping the snake skin glued to the limbs

Again nice work

My buddy Joe in Oregon does snake skins on his vine maple selfbows, and they turn out really well.  PM me if you guys want to get in touch with him.  He's spent some time with John Strunk and picked up some great tips/tricks.

Nice work, Ray!!!  I need to get back into it this winter!

[Ray]

Some guys put sturgeon skins on too.

You could check out Primitivearcher.com there's a lot of bow builds there. Including by the step snake skin and sturgeon skin instructions.

[bow4elk]

I think my buddy Joe did the snake skin build-along out there.  I used to live on that site before I found this one 

[whacker1]

Ray, you are getting into the several bows a year mode - how many bows will be enough?  Or is it the same as guns - no amount is too many?

[Ray]

One for each digit.

[Hornseeker]

Right on Ray! I am about to start working on a boo backed ipe and a boo backed osage 3 piece! Pretty excited about it...never really spent any time working on non glass/carbon stuff!

Hey... there is a "Joe St. Charles" here in Billings... and is some sort of archery guy... is he related to Jay?? Brother???

Ernie

[Ray]

Thank you Ernie.

Yeah that is his brother. Joe is a nice fellow. Went shooting in Loring with him about 2 seasons ago.

For some reason I am a little bit cautious about working with bamboo. I just don't feel comfortable with it too much yet. I would build a fiberglass bow but I simply do not have enough money and resources to invest into that yet. I guess one day when I get a larger place it will happen.

I'm going to see if I have time to shoot the bow on friday. I might post some updated photos tonight as I did some minor tidying up already. Put on the finish and a leather arrow rest pad.

[Ray]

Got a string on it. Wow this thing is hard to string up. I feel like a sissy.

It's done cosmetically. Next stop... The Range