Ozbow

Thanks for your comments again Glenn, I will try to explain a little better what I meant, it will hopefully make more sense (I can be very confusing when explaining things so bear with me :) ). You possibly haven’t read carefully enough the assumption from my post: “Assume two bows of t...

Thanks for your comments Glenn, could you please clarify what is not true, item by item so we can discuss.
Lou

I agree with Dave on most of things in his post but here are my views. Good bows can be made with limbs of all sorts of different length combinations, yumi probably being the most extreme one. The essential thing is that they are tillered well balanced so that the bow doesn’t have a tendency ...

If there is enough wood in the stave you could cut it off at the knot, split it longitudially, Z splice it and end up with a nice long knotless stave.
Lou

Very nice outcome Graeme, the bow looks realy nice, nice eaven tiller too .
Lou

Thanks Steve, the lynx is magnificent!
Lynx is nowadays so rare in Europe, almost extinct. Only a few lucky people in Europe have actually seen one. It is great that you can see them in Alaska.

Lou

A much nicer job than the old one !
Lou

Sounds like a nice set of instructions Grahame! I like the best the capucino part !
Lou

Isn’t it funny: The kid that fetches the coffees and sandwiches owns the company that makes the world buggiest operating system and becomes the world richest man :lol: . The whole thing is so logical that it’s funny. I figure that their programmers are being paid by the number of bugs ...

The kid at the front was in charge of fetching the coffees and sandwiches .
Lou

Thanks iktomiwicasa,
This bow is a valuable and rare piece of history, it’s a pity that it is so neglected. It should be seating behind the glass in some museum.
Lou

Graeme, Councils often cut elm and maple branches when pruning parks. Entire elm trees are often fallen when attacked by elm beetle. It could be worthwhile talking to the councils, that’s how I got my elm. A couple of months ago during the lunch break I saw some workers pruning maple branches...

Getting yew from the US is a better bet than from Europe. I know at least a few countries in Europe where it is protected. It has mostly been blown on bows in the past centuries. A couple of years ago I ran into a pile of US yew boards on a Melbourne timber yard. The problem was they were all rough ...

Thanks again, for the botanical names too
Lou

G’day Dan, My primitive bows don’t have shelves or rests, I shoot them off the knuckle. My glass recurve has a felt rest, my target recurve has a plunger button and a flipper rest (and I sight, stabilizer etc……). My compound has a flipper rest with a side spring. I prefer s...

Graeme, the bows look impressive, very nice designs and nice workmanship. Thanks for the pictures!

What species of bamboo did yuo use and what is the finish?

Lou

Jeff,
A new colour scheme with more outdoors oriented colours could be a good idea. As a suggestion a combination of some gum leave gray-greens and bark grays with some redish earthy colours could be an option.
Lou

James,
Do you already have some bamboo on your plantation or are you preparing to plant some. What species is it?
Lou

Jeff,

I also like the site as it is but there is always some room for improvement. A couple of things could be to spruce up the front page and as poppy suggested ad a chat room. Jasel could do a wonder job with the front page and he is keen too .

Lou

Guys, glad you like the pics, I have some more just don’t want to get Erron irritated :lol: (just kidding). Jindy I think you are correct, I looked like the weirdest mushroom I’ve ever seen. Wondered what smoking it would do to me :lol: ? Dave, looking forward to hearing more about the...

Thanks Anysia, well done gif! Good shooting there Mayland, Is it thumb draw or Mediterranean?
Lou

Nice workmanship and good tiller Graeme, even though the weight is not quite what you were after. I'm sure the next one will be spot on .
Lou

I thought it would be a good idea to show some pics from West Tassie where I got the horizontal for the bow from .
Lou

Thanks Dave, I'd love to see some more done . Plum and cherry should both be good bow woods.
Lou

Thanks David, the bow looks good unbraced too.
Lou

Guys, thanks all for the kind words :D ! Sharing the experience with you just made it more enjoyable so I thank you too. The final weight of the bow is about 50# at 30” draw. I could have made it about 60# from the stave, after the heat treatment, but had to play it safe having some minor pin ...

OK, I've finished the bow . I enjoyed the whole process, from planing to find the wood during Tassie holidays to shooting the first arrow. I’m very happy with the bow and in my opinion Horizontal is reasonably good bow wood. Anyway, here are some pics:

Lou

Great work David!
What weight is the bow and as Jeff said, could we have unstrung picture please?
Lou

I was hoping for about 7# but it looks like more than double this. I am afraid to fully draw it at present state. Has to be thinned. It is all fun .
Lou

I have heat treated the bow, reflexed it by 3 inches, stained and waxed. The handle is ready to be fixed. It looks pretty but the treatment has increased the weight by A LOT :shock: and I am now afraid it will break if I try to draw it to full draw. I will have to retiller :roll: it again this weeke...