So, through the Gary Davis video and countless hours of lurking on TG, I've made a shootable selfbow out of osage. It's by no means perfect, but I'm proud of it for what its worth. The tiller is slight off, and by accident, the lower limb is stiffer than the upper, which from what I read is good. Couple of questions: I'm not sure on the poundage of the bow, but I'm gonna put it on the scales soon. What is an acceptable poundage that has killing power? I know states have restrictions. I normally shoot a recurve that's close to 60lbs....because of that, its hard for me to guage what lb this selfbow is...that recurve is unbelievably fast, and its like comparing apples and oranges(not fair to the selfbow). Also, I have some slight handshock, not bad, but a little. I haven't finished and narrowed down the tips yet. Will this take care of the handshock, and if it doesn't what do I look for next? Thanks for all this site has done for me. There is a lot of guys, just like me, on here that don't say much, but read everything they can. Thanks
lets see the tiller at full draw.... you'll get better answers if these guys can see it bend. can you post a pic?
I don't have any pics, but I'll try and get some.
just have someone get a pic of you drawing it somewhere outside maybe... sometimes the shadows from the bow make it hard to see, if the pic is taken inside close to a wall. If your outside, there isnt a background wall to cast a shadow on.... the profile can be seen easier, at least i think so.
I'll try and get that done tonight. Thanks
Congrats on your new bow!
The minimum poundage in our state is 40#. I think its 35# in some states. I guess it depends on what you're huntin and how far you plan on shootin as to what should be the minimum poundage. I usually shoot between 50 and 60# for whitetails. I have hunted with 45# bows but I dont think I would be comfortable shootin over 20 yards with that low of poundage.
Narrowing the tips will help with handshock and if that doesnt work the timing on the limbs may be off a little. Not a big deal to fix though.
congratulations on the first bow. It's an awesome feeling isn't it. Pics will help answer your questions too. Narrowing the tips will help with the handshock as will a ff string. Some guys shoot em without overlays, but I don't. You CAN, but I don't. Tip overlays are easy and just an insurance for me.
weight wise- I've killed whitetails with a 45 lb. selfbow and 65lb. recurves and I was happier with the more weight. 45 will do it, but I like more. I feel comfortable with mid fifties PERSONALLY. Shoot legal and what you feel comfortable with.
Isn't it wonderful to shoot your own selfbow !
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Here are some pics at full draw. Yes, it is a heck of a feeling to have a bow you've made and you can shoot. The poundage is a little low compared to what I'm used to, but I shoot it better than my heavier bows that I have.
Looks to be a little whip tillered and that may be part of your hand shock along with the tips. Looks great for your first bow.
From the looks of the pics it looks like your limb edges need rounded just a bit to prevent a splinter from lifting.
I definitely need to get out the sandpaper and put the finishing touches on it. Is there anything I can do about a whip tillered bow? I know the reason why its so whipped is because I had a hinge in one limb because I got a little too crazy with the band saw, which in turn, forced me to reduce the limbs to match...if that makes sense. I hopefully learned a lesson from that. If there is something I can do about it, that would be great.
You could scrape on the inner limbs to try and get them moving a bit. If it were me I would scrape or rasp from the fades out to about midlimb. You will lose some poundage doin that though and I'm not sure how much you have to play with.
NLester: I agree with the rest, it does look like it is bending very well from mid-limb out to the tips. Some of that could be cured by removing wood from mid-limb in towards the handle. The down side to that is that the closer to the handle you remove wood, the faster your poundage drops. It's something that might better have been done earlier in your tillering stages. Not knowing the weight of your bow (Yes, it is a bow!)and judging by the thickness of the limbs, you don't really have a lot of weight to afford losing. Honestly what I would do is accept the bow as is. Sand it, clean it up, put a nice finish, leather grip, sign and date it. You've done an excellent job on your first osage bow and you learned a lot. Now that the bow bug has bitten you, make another one. It will be better than your first one.
Needs to bend more at the fades but a good 1st attempt. Now you are hooked! You know your next bow will be better don't ya?
Thanks for all the positive feedback. Yes, it was a good learning experience. I'd say I'll be ready to make another one soon. :) It really is pretty exciting.
Question: Does brace height have anything to do with handshock? I wouldn't think it would, but I thought I'd ask. The handshock in my bow, is pretty minimal compared to some bows I've shot.
too low a brace height could cause it to feel a litlle shocky I guess. I agree with every one else. I would call it good and start another. I would also stay away from a bandsaw on you next one other than to knock off some meat. I use one very little if any. I know Joe (Osagetree) uses all hand tools.
To me there is something about the romance of building one with all hand tools plus it will really slow you down and make you look at your stave a little better. Once you get the hang of building bows you can have one shooting in a day with nothing but hand tools.
I'm looking forward to starting my next one. Now I'm in search of a good stave. Stiks n strings, I don't suppose you have any seasoned staves ready to work that you wouldn't mind selling, do you? I'm ready for round two!
Lester,
Don't you live up by Montgomery? Send me a PM with your # and a good time to call. I know where some osage is that needs to come down and it's a good possibility I may have some dry stuff. Also got some other wood stashed.
Seems like I remember talking with you about a year ago.
Stiks
pm sent
Well, the bow ended up being around 43-44lbs @ 28. It was 62 in length, but I reduced it down to 60 which added an extra 4-5#. It shoots good, and I shoot it well, so I'm pretty tickled right now. The only arrows I have are carbon GT 5575 that I used out of my recurve...honestly, they fly pretty decent out of it, but I'm sure there are better choices out there for me. What arrows do you folks recommend for me to try?
Could someone give me some suggestions on arrows? No woods please...too pricey for me
I like carbons myself. They fly good and hit hard. But I don't shoot anything but wood so I'm not going to be much help there. Stay with the carbons, tune 'em well, and enjoy your new bow.......Art
I like woods and used to shoot them all the time until they got so expensive. There is a tutorial on how to make a $0.92 arrow on here. Dowel rods from woodcrafter.com. My bow is roughly around 45lb. I was wondering if those dowels would work. I'd love to make my own arrows to go with the bow, and then ultimately kill a deer. What an accomplishment that would be!!!
Dowels work fine. Look for nice straight grained ones. Poplar, red or white oak are the most common ones I've used. Dowels from China and Brazil will work also. Depends on how heavy your like your arrows. Just beware, if you make some up, and they don't fly good or stay straight, there's nothing wrong with them. Means you'll have to put them back for next year cause the woods not seasoned enough for arrows yet......Art
Check out the nocking point Nathan. You can get a dozen shafts from Mike for about 35$. He's a sponsor here.
I'll check them out. Thanks man. A friend of mine owns an archery shop and he let me take several different carbon trad arrows home and shoot them. My GT 5575's still shot as good if not better than arrows that should be spined for my bow. I don't get it.
When I first got into trad shooting I shot gt5575's and they shot great from the 50# bow I was shootin at that time. Killed my first trad deer with one of them. The shot was a complete pass-thru on a small buck at 20 yards. Carbon arrows are pretty forgiving as far as spine goes.