Hey, all. Here's a little bow I've been working on. It's not finished yet, but I'd thought I'd show some pictures and share the story nonetheless. It's for my brother-in-law, who's a big hunter, has a generous heart, has given me lots of osage, and is expecting his first son in February. All that combined, I thought he deserved a custom bow for this year's Iowa deer season. Here's what I've come up with:
It's 60" tip to tip, has 5 1/2" ash siyahs attached with Urac and wrapped with a glue-soaked binding , and pulls 45# at 27". It holds 1" of reflex at the tips when static, and just over a 1/4" when first unstrung. I would have like a little less set, but this bugger has very short working limbs and is unbacked to boot. It's quick, smooth drawing, and quiet.
I surprised him tonight by showing him "my new bow" that I needed to shoot in. I shot it a little bit, then asked if he wanted to give it a go. He put about 50 shots through it, grinning the whole time. I asked how he liked it, to which he grinned some more and said it drew smooth and was quick and light in the hand. I said, "Good, because it's yours." Wish I had a picture of his face, but these will have to do. Again, it's a work in progress...
(http://i984.photobucket.com/albums/ae321/isaacscr/Justins%20Custom%20Osage%20Siyahed%20Static%20Recurve/HPIM4344.jpg)
(http://i984.photobucket.com/albums/ae321/isaacscr/Justins%20Custom%20Osage%20Siyahed%20Static%20Recurve/HPIM4347.jpg)
(http://i984.photobucket.com/albums/ae321/isaacscr/Justins%20Custom%20Osage%20Siyahed%20Static%20Recurve/HPIM4341.jpg)
(http://i984.photobucket.com/albums/ae321/isaacscr/Justins%20Custom%20Osage%20Siyahed%20Static%20Recurve/HPIM4349.jpg)
(http://i984.photobucket.com/albums/ae321/isaacscr/Justins%20Custom%20Osage%20Siyahed%20Static%20Recurve/HPIM4350.jpg)
(http://i984.photobucket.com/albums/ae321/isaacscr/Justins%20Custom%20Osage%20Siyahed%20Static%20Recurve/HPIM4338.jpg)
Nice gesture 4est, beautifull work as well, looking forward to finished pic's.
Thanks for sharing.
Regards.
Bert.
I like it. As always beautiful work 4est.
Great looking bow. I'm jealous. Pup
Great looking bow. I'm jealous. Pup
Awesome work 4est!
Cool looking bow.....
Thanks for the kind words, folks. I'm looking forward to a nice backstrap when he gets a deer with it. :) I hope to post some finished pictures soon.
Nice work. I like the neat work at siyahed.
Hell yeah 4est! That bow looks gorgeous and fun. As always, the craftsmanship is spot on, and the design is top notch.
I have been pondering a horse-bow (must be the Arab in me) since maybe March, and I have gone through builds in my mind over and again. Most of which revolve around the attachment of the Siyahs to the limbs. My question to you is this:
Did you use any tenon and lap joints under that perfectly wound binding, or is it all butt jointed? In my mind's eye, I see a tenoned siyah acting against a dadoed limb for my horsebow, but if the binding and glue are enough to about 60#'s, I can avoid (even though I bet it would look bad aze) the elaborate jointery.
Only other question I have is how do you get such a great looking binding bro? Is that leather or hemp or what? Do you dye your glue? Can you dye your glue? Do you just use that TBIII and water mix I've heard you mention?
Freakin gorgeous bow. Can't wait to see her finished. Your brother comes from a great family from what I can tell, may he have many dawn to dusk's with that bow. And if he lets you come along, you too!
i love it too , and judging by those thread wraps , id say you have done a little fly tying ....
awesome , never got the whole siyah thing , but i love that...
-hov
Ha ha! Yes, Hova...I tie all of my own flies. :) Good guess!
4est, Do you have any dimensions for the bow that you can share with the rest of us? I would like to try to build one like it.
Chris
Here's some finished pictures of the bow. I'll post some finished specs when I have time. Ended up with 1/8" positive tiller, which was just right at full draw (see pic in first post). I made the arrows to get him completely outfitted. They're tipped with 125gr/ Zwickeys. Thanks for looking!
(http://i984.photobucket.com/albums/ae321/isaacscr/Justins%20Custom%20Osage%20Siyahed%20Static%20Recurve/HPIM4469-1.jpg)
(http://i984.photobucket.com/albums/ae321/isaacscr/Justins%20Custom%20Osage%20Siyahed%20Static%20Recurve/HPIM4462-1.jpg)
(http://i984.photobucket.com/albums/ae321/isaacscr/Justins%20Custom%20Osage%20Siyahed%20Static%20Recurve/HPIM4451-1.jpg)
(http://i984.photobucket.com/albums/ae321/isaacscr/Justins%20Custom%20Osage%20Siyahed%20Static%20Recurve/HPIM4449-1.jpg)
(http://i984.photobucket.com/albums/ae321/isaacscr/Justins%20Custom%20Osage%20Siyahed%20Static%20Recurve/HPIM4456-1.jpg)
(http://i984.photobucket.com/albums/ae321/isaacscr/Justins%20Custom%20Osage%20Siyahed%20Static%20Recurve/HPIM4458-1.jpg)
(http://i984.photobucket.com/albums/ae321/isaacscr/Justins%20Custom%20Osage%20Siyahed%20Static%20Recurve/HPIM4460-1.jpg)
(http://i984.photobucket.com/albums/ae321/isaacscr/Justins%20Custom%20Osage%20Siyahed%20Static%20Recurve/HPIM4461-1.jpg)
Absolutely stunning 4est. I really like osage, and you do it more than justice.
great work!!!!!!
A few more pictures:
(http://i984.photobucket.com/albums/ae321/isaacscr/Justins%20Custom%20Osage%20Siyahed%20Static%20Recurve/HPIM4452-1.jpg)
(http://i984.photobucket.com/albums/ae321/isaacscr/Justins%20Custom%20Osage%20Siyahed%20Static%20Recurve/HPIM4453-1.jpg)
(http://i984.photobucket.com/albums/ae321/isaacscr/Justins%20Custom%20Osage%20Siyahed%20Static%20Recurve/HPIM4466.jpg)
(http://i984.photobucket.com/albums/ae321/isaacscr/Justins%20Custom%20Osage%20Siyahed%20Static%20Recurve/HPIM4465.jpg)
(http://i984.photobucket.com/albums/ae321/isaacscr/Justins%20Custom%20Osage%20Siyahed%20Static%20Recurve/HPIM4463-1.jpg)
Great looking bow 4est
Excellent job 4est!
I can look at that thing all day long.....
Great job 4est ! You're a lucky guy 4est to have a brother in law that supplies you with plenty of osage and he's also a lucky guy because you really know how to use it in an appropriate way.
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Andy
Nice work!!! That is a beautifull bow.
Bert.
Great job !!!!! As Bert said beautiful bow.
Wow!! You have the gift- that is one cool bow, great job.
Great looking bow!
Question on tillering.....
Do you do any of the tillering before gluing on the siyahs or is it complete before you start bending it?
Great question, AKmud...I actually began with the stave around 64 inches. I tillered on the short string until about 24 inches, never pulling beyond my intended draw weight (45#). Then I trimmed it down, added the siyahs, and tillered it out from there.
Thanks for the kind comments, everyone! :)
Nice end product..
Man I like that! Very nice.
Great looking bow, 4est! could you give a bit more detail on attaching the siyahs to the osage, and how the process of finishing the bow went after that stage?
and i am having you make me a knife?i think you need to make me a bow too LOL.sweet bow buddy.you are going to make him one happy guy.thanks for the look,steve
Thanks, gents! John, I simply prepared both the limb tips and siyahs bottom on the belt sander, being careful to keep the surfaces such that the siyahs would be situated at perfect 90 degree angles. I angled the surface on the limb tip to help smooth the transition, avoid bulk, and increase the gluing surface area. I then roughed the mating surfaces up a bit with a hacksaw blade and glued them using Urac. You can cure Urac at room temp or with heat. That's all there was to it. :)
Thanks for sharing such a creative and impressive example of bench time well spent, and the secrets to making it happen. Just another question if you don't mind... Can a college graduate enlist in your shop class? A friend of mine asked me to ask.
Real nice and I bed the joints are as strong as the rest of the limbs.
4est are you a lefty? Noticed you back quiver is on that side.
Thanks, Joe. Actually, no, I'm not a lefty. I do write and eat with my left hand, but do almost everything else, including shooting, with my right. My quiver is a side quiver that rides a bit like a back quiver.
Gotcha...
Ya got nice penmanship on your bows too!