After my recent little accident that's rendered me basically useless in my left arm (cant shoot bows, can barely hold stuff up) I had to find something to keep myself a little bit sane. Read somewhere on a thread recently that Rose gum look good (material properties at least) for a bow and having cut and slabbed a decent sized one about 2 months ago I decided to have a play around with it and see what happens..
Catch was the scrap I found to use for a test was both green and VERY short for an elb, at 52" ntn its a mini bow
![Big Grin :biggrin:](./images/smilies/icon_e_biggrin.gif)
I wanted to get some nice 2 tone happening with the sap and heart wood, like a yew bow, but the dimensions rendered that not possible so this little bow is sapwood only... However, it is made using basically a Mary Rose type profile (that I use on most warbows I make) just miniature. Came in pulling a whopping 18lbs at 22" so shes a bit of a brute...
Here's a photo of my best 14th C English Archers pose leaning on the beast
![Big Grin :biggrin:](./images/smilies/icon_e_biggrin.gif)
Next up I will look through the slabs we have cut and find a nice edge for a full scale version and hopefully get some heartwood into it as well. High hopes to as there was some serious bend in this one at 22 inches and it didn't go bang. Holding up with some serious weight will be another story tho but time and experimentation will tell. Will go 80" ntn, 35mm wide at the handle, 29-30 thick in the handle and 17mm thick in the tips to begin with and see how far it will go.
Cheers,
Colin