Hazelnut Selfbow with Snakeskins

[Hillbilly]

Wow, that's a fine looking weapon. I've heard that hazel is good bow wood, but I haven't seen a piece here big enough to get a stave from. Great job!

[GregB]

Your bow turned out really nice, alot of great detail work! First Hazelnut bow I've seen...

[OldBow]

I like it all. Got you bookmarked for May Self Bow of the Month.

[Justin Snyder]

Beautiful bow there. I love the transition from skins to overlays.  Justin

[a finnish native]

good going Stan! I like my bows so that they have 1-1½" of follow. makes them more accurate and steady for me, and still shoot great. distance bows are a different thing then.. and sinew backed ones also of course. I just can't stand seeing a sinew backed bow with string follow..

[heavybow]

Very nice bow Stan. marlon

[Pappy]

That's a sweet looking bow you done a mighty fine job.
    Pappy

[jkekoni]

How did you dry it?

I mean hazel is nice to work with, but not nice to dry. I have seed perfectly straight stave to curve up while drying.

Checking and horisonal splitting are also not uncommon. The problem is the worse the wood is thick.

[StanM]

Lost Arra - Sorry I missed your question earlier.  The handle wrap is some nylon twine I found at Bi-Mart for $1.99.  I wrapped from the bottom up.  I wrapped over the bottom of the leather strike plate for a few turns and then I wrapped under it at the top so that the leather would take the wear of the feathers instead of the wrap.  Finished it with a good dose of TiteBond before I put Tru-Oil over the whole bow.

jkekoni - I air dried this bow wood.  After I cut the tree, which was 3 1/2 inches or so in diameter, I ripped it down the middle with my bandsaw.  I left the bark on and covered the ends in glue, then let it air dry.  I still had two small checks on each end, but they did not go deep into the wood.

Thanks again for the nice comments.

Stan

[DCM]

Really nice Stan.  That full draw pic says it all.

[BryanB]

Stan-
Your bow turned out really well. 
I can't wait to see it laying next to a nice deer or elk this fall.
Bryan

I found the perfect hazel nut orchard and just cut a bunch of staves.  I have 15 split and drying right now. 
I can't wait to start my first HZN bow.
Bryan

[AndrewS]

Fine, fine, fine. You have done a good job

[Jbell]

Wow! Nice stick! Tips are super cool, and the tiller looks superb. Congratulations.

[NOMADIC PIRATE]

Nice arc on that bow Stan !!

[jignfrog]

Very nice bow. I especially like the way you did the tip overlays. You done a great job.

Ron