Ozbow

Forgot to mention, it's easy to glue in reflex as you're making these. Place a block under each end of the stave twice the height of the reflex you want to end up with, and clamp the limb down 12-15 inches from the ends. It pays to clamp down the centre of the stave as well. I tie the glued-up stave...

Pretty well anything in the craft line you buy from 2 dollar shops that's made of wood like little boxes or the like will be pawlonia. Very like balsa, very light and brittle. I wouldn't use it for anything that requires resistance to stress.
Cheers,
Ian

G'day guys, I've had a great deal of success building what I call "Bunnings Bows". Take a large diameter bamboo garden pole, split down one side, then split off planks at the width you need. I flatten them off with an angle grider/sanding disc. I've been using Brazilian Redwood, or Masaran...

Hiya Rodlong, I've just harvested four staves from a Black Mulberry growing on a vacant lot just down the road that had been sawed off just above a major fork about two foot off the ground. It has at a guess around twenty shoots from inch and a half to three inches diameter that have grown pretty st...

Hi guys, I've read the FAQ's and answers in the photography forum, and messed about for two hours and can't get the hang of posting pics. I've put in image codes, URL's and done everything except write on the screen hoping it would load by osmosis. All I get whether trying to load from Photobucket o...

Just remembered, I've also seen an aboriginal guy using a very basic stickbow to hunt freshwater prawns in the Katherine River for barra bait. Whether that was a traditional thing or not I do not know. I do know however that indigenous people are very very good at taking in ideas and concepts that a...

I don't know about the returning type of boomerang, but I have seen aboriginal people in the NT making and using the non-returning type for hunting. A friend who was the aboriginal liaison officer for National Parks and Wildlife has even seen one used by an old boy to clobber a younger man who'd bee...

This was my first trad shoot, had a ball. Went round with Dale, Lorraine, Cleve and Perry, what lovely people. Got lots of bow building inspiration too. Neils, that God Bow rocks!! I will not rest easy until I've built something that gets close to the way that thing performs. Congrats to all, hope t...

Sounds good mate, I'm working 6 days a week atm so time's a bit short. The bloody lawn isn't though. Stay in touch, a meet'd be good,
Cheers,
Ian

Hiya Jeff, yeah mate, we're at 18 Ferry Lane, just behind the Lamington Hotel, in fact our driveway basically opens onto their carpark. I like Maryborough, we moved here in '92 from the Territory and really enjoy living here. I've only been messing with bow building for the last year or so, and the ...

Wow, this post's been a doozy. Just wondering if anyone has had the experience of having to react quickly to a situation they'd been trained for, but never had to do for real? I've had to do it once or twice in situations that were potentially life threatening. Each time my conscious brain just disa...

Hey, you'll get no argument from me mate, listening to other people's point of view is the best way I know to open your mind to new concepts and ideas. Plus learning better ways of doing things of course. I guess what does annoy me at times are the diehards who've taken a position that they'll defen...

Hmm, yes, sorry about that, I do tend to wax a little inappropriately philosophical at times. I guess what I'm getting at is the depth of thought and passion that go into this subject, and many others, has people making accusations that the opposing viewpoint has the inability to understand where th...

Dennis, you mention not being comfortable focussing on the "nothing" when gap shooting, and also the fact you never see your arrow. I've found that I focus on the target, seeing the arrow with peripheral vision as just another input of information required to make the shot. Kind of the rev...

Cheers Chase n' Nocks, I certainly have no argument with your point of view, if we were all of one mind about everything what a bloody boring world it would be. The biggest thing I have gained from this discussion is a re-evaluation of my shooting technique that has actually improved my accuracy. I ...

Hiya Gidget, I used to use Bostik epoxy from the hardware as it was the cheapest 2-part glue I could find, took 24 hours to set but only had to be warmed with the heat gun to get them off. They stayed stuck really well. These days I just use ordinary ol' Aquadhere PVA glue for points and nocks. You ...

Still following this thread with interest. I put a hundred or so shots through my longbow this arvo after work, about half using the method described in my last post at 20 yards, then half using my "point n' shoot" method over the same range. After correcting an initial tedency to shoot hi...

Thanks for the kind words, the bows I make are very much according to the KISS principal, nothing there that doesn't have to be there. I just had the Black Wattle split a little one end while I was getting a bit of twist out of it, so it's down to 61" now, still got lotsa reflex, and I've alrea...

Reading this thread has caused me to analyse my own shooting method. I've been pottering around this year learning how to make woodbows, made a lot in native timbers that didn't work, then went to masaranduba decking planks from Bunnings in Hervey Bay ripped into three staves and backed with bamboo ...