First osage in progress...Reduced weight

[Pappy]

Looks great all dolled up. Love the handle.
  Pappy

[DEllis]

Thanks guys.
Darcy

[HatchA]

Damn that's beautiful...

78# out of such a slight piece of wood!  Unbelievable.

Well done man.

[ErictheViking]

I'm with Hatch, always amazes me how much weight you can get out of a piece of osage.  beautiful bow btw. love the leather handle and arrow pass.  nice full draw shot.

[DEllis]

Getting the weight was the easy part.......I can't see how guys make 40#ers out of osage wider than this.........must scrape them about 7thousandths thick
Thanks,
Darcy

[HatchA]

Maybe it has to do with the ring thickness..?  I see at your tips you're at 3 thick growth rings. 

Either way...  impressive bow!!

[John K]

Very nice, i like everything about it !

[DEllis]

Thanks guys,
I tried to get built up to this weight but it was starting to mess with my form .......so out with the rasp and scraper . Took it down to 73# at 26" without changing the tiller any.........much easier for me to handle now. Strange that a mere 5# could make such a huge difference. I was really struggling with 78# but 73# is quite easy I had to redo the markings as they were mostly removed in the reduction of the belly. I like the arrow through the name better now too. Here's a pic of the belly with the new text........I didn't bother with a full draw as it looks exactly the same as before.
Mass is now just a hair over 22oz
Darcy

[fishfinder401]

how did you mark it, it looks burnt in, and by the way, that bow is beautiful and it nice to see higher draw weights, i personally think that is around the perfect weight for everyday use, not overly excessive, but still allot of power behind it, and with that 5lbs, it might be more of a mental thing, making yourself think its easier
enjoy that bow, you did a great job
noel

[eagleone]

nice looking bow! man - you work quick!

[DEllis]

Thanks fellas.
Noel, Thanks for the comments. The text is wood burned in. I can assure you that my back muscles are positive it is not a mental thing . Also, ideal draw weight has a lot of variables........I live where we have more moose than deer. It is nice to have a little more power when a 1300# animal is standing at 15 yards.........if I lived where my biggist game was a 200# whitetail things might be different. Also draw weight is only a piece of the power puzzle.........tiller and design as well as arrow weight and many other factors come into play. Limb tip weight may be one of the biggest factors in a normal length bow.........light, stiff tips add speed and reduce shock greatly.
Darcy

[fishfinder401]

Thanks fellas.
Noel, Thanks for the comments. The text is wood burned in. I can assure you that my back muscles are positive it is not a mental thing . Also, ideal draw weight has a lot of variables........I live where we have more moose than deer. It is nice to have a little more power when a 1300# animal is standing at 15 yards.........if I lived where my biggist game was a 200# whitetail things might be different. Also draw weight is only a piece of the power puzzle.........tiller and design as well as arrow weight and many other factors come into play. Limb tip weight may be one of the biggest factors in a normal length bow.........light, stiff tips add speed and reduce shock greatly.
Darcy

i guess i was wrong about it being mental, everyone is different, personally though, against a moose, i would rather have a tank, but that bow would work i think and trust me i know about heavy bows needing to be effective, i have a 140lb bow that is just for strength training, that shoots only a little farther than my 50#, although if i may say, i did a pretty good job with that one
enjoy that great bow
noel