"Black Betty"

[Jesse]

great, i had that song in my head yesterday and finally got rid of it, now look what you did...whoa black betty, bam-a-lam...


Good lookin' bow too.

I got it in my head now too.           Great looking bow Kegan.       

[HoBow]

Great bow!  When I read you were listening to rock, first thing I though of was...obsidian, chert Primitive archery on my mind

[ken75]

very nice bow ,excellent finish!

[Kegan]

Thanks everyone . It is hickory, with a picture of the handle. It's about the only wood I'm using now, besides an ipe/hick D bow in the works. I can really cook it fast. I tried to get a picture of the tips, but for some reason it didn't come out right in the light. Either way, they're just plain pin nocks, I've been putting the same kind on my bows for a few months now, same nocks as "Imperfections" back in November/December.

Sailordad- I'm getting smarter about weight, this is about as heavy as I'll be shooting for a while .

Orkraider- It's 67" ntn, 68" overall. The top limb is one inch longer, to get a postive tiller on the top. The limbs started off 1/2" over the whole length, and I removed most of the wood just from the inner limbs. I wanted to get the tips stiffer to lighten them more, but this was the best balance I could get without flipping them. Handle sections is about 10" and 1 3/4" deep. Tips are a little under 3/8" or so.

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[Josh]

Looks good Keagan!  You did an outstanding job on this bow. 

[Gordon]

That will make a really nice hunting bow. Congratulations on a fine weapon!

[bowkee]

Totally cool

[Sanford]

Awesome looking bow! Really like the Hickory bows! What a great bow wood if made right!

Also, I'm new to this forumeand all but have seen alot of your work, and noticed you have a running history of heavy wieght bows, followed by disbelief from others that you would be able to draw them. Wanted to make a comment on that.

I'm a rock climber, and have noticed some things about what "strength" is. Many of the people I climb with, including women (who are often way better than me!) are very unassuming in stature. In fact, they look like an average healthy person. But man are they strong! I have a friend who can cank out one handed pullups like its nothing. Alot of times, big lifters will come into the gym ready to climb only to find that they can't make it up the wall without pumping out.

As another example, i worked construction for a few years, and those guys displayed some rediculous stregth, but were just like anyone else. I find that while lifting wieghts and having big muscles does get you strong, your strength is useless if you don't know how to activate your muscles to work together, in a real world application (ie drawing a bow)

So a "small" or "skinny" person can still be extremely strong and draw heavy wieghts on a bow, if they know how to use what they have. It involes your shoulder, back, bicep, forearm, tendon strength and the perfect firing of all your neurons.

Obviously you got that going for you (not syaing your small by any means, especially now). Like anything, you can over-do it and when your muscles give out it puts undue tension on your tendons and ligaments whch can lead to a bad injury, (rock clibing this happens alot) But by building these heavy bows and regulary firing them, especally from early on, i don't think that will put you at risks for bad shoulders as long as your smart about it. (ie: not shooting till your arm falls off)  If anything, it will strengthen you more, giving you longer lasting shoulders, so when your older you won't have the problems of bad shoulders.

So yeah, I have no disbleief when someone who looks as some would say "weak" display strength, as I have see what people are capable of.

Just my 2 cents....

[George Tsoukalas]

Very nicely done! Jawge

[sailordad]

sanford, some of us are built like him and 2-3 times his age or more
when i was his age i could pull moster bows back too and shoot them,still could if i really wanted too
heck  even have a 63# elb (gonna retiller that one a little )that i shoot yet.
but after many many many years of using my arms for a living and 2 shoulder surgeries later,i am unable to do it alot
i do believe that all that heavy pulling is going to eventualy have an adverse affect on his shoulders,but it will be years from now

heck i am only 5'9" tall,i weigh 174lbs,this is the biggest ive ever been in my life
i use to out arm wrestle guys 3 times my size,used out wreslte guys twice my size,kickboxed with guys twice my size
lifted weights(bench pressed 2.5 times my body weight) at that time
i still say all of these activities(plus others)along with a lengthy career in automotives is what destroyed my shoulders prematuraly

things like this is why we tell them young guys what we do(experience)

[HoBow]

Tim- your right. I weightlifted competitively for years. Most lifters focus on major muscle groups and not the connecting muscles that are developed in moving like in construction.

Sorry for jumping so far off topic.

Nice bow!

[osage outlaw]

Nice looking bow.  I have been wanting to make a dark bow.  I wonder if you can get osage that black.

[Postman]

Great bow, as usual Kegan!  Can't wait to hear about the whitetail that fails to pick that dark stick out of the backround


The muscles discussion reminds me of an Andy Capp cartoon -

Andy is walking away from a big bloke he obviously just destroyed. The guy's friend says : "What happened mate? He only comes up to yer chin!"
The guy on the ground replies: "He came up too often.."

[sailordad]

the osage bow i have is real dark,no stain just aged well
its not exactly black just dark

[Sanford]

postman- yeah haha it's the little ones you got to watch out for!

sailordad- completely agree that you should know your limits before injury and take precautions. Injury is know fun. I in fact tore my right labrum in my shoulder two years back snowboarding. Not fun stuff. Luckily I'm young and strengthening that shoulder back up wasn't a problem, but i have no illusion that that won't come back to haunt me as i age! Can't wait!