Author Topic: northern catalpa selfbow  (Read 16028 times)

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Offline Josh B

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northern catalpa selfbow
« on: March 20, 2016, 07:22:35 pm »
Northern catalpa harvested in northern Missouri a couple years ago.  It has a bit of character here and there and it was only a 2" thick sapling so it ended up having to be pretty long and narrow to compensate for the ultra light weight wood.  It's 71" ntn and 40#@26".  Featherlight in the hand with exceptional cast.  I haven't finished it yet as I want to see how its going to hold up over time first.  So far there's no frets and very little set after a hundred arrows.  Hopefully it will hold up because catalpa wood grain is gorgeous when properly finished.  Thanks for looking!  Josh

Offline Josh B

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Re: northern catalpa selfbow
« Reply #1 on: March 20, 2016, 07:24:04 pm »
Oh yeah...the overlays are Russian olive.  Here's the money shot.  Josh

Offline Swampman

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Re: northern catalpa selfbow
« Reply #2 on: March 20, 2016, 07:30:31 pm »
Very nice use of wood not normally used for bows.  I like that one a lot. 

Offline Parnell

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Re: northern catalpa selfbow
« Reply #3 on: March 20, 2016, 07:43:47 pm »
Looks like nice wood.  I've got one about tillered.  Hope to post soon.
Glad to see you post and looks like a great bow.
1’—>1’

Offline osage outlaw

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Re: northern catalpa selfbow
« Reply #4 on: March 20, 2016, 07:47:20 pm »
That reminds me of the hemlock bow at the Classic Josh.  Nice work getting a bow out of that wood.
I started out with nothin' and I still got most of it left

Offline turtle

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Re: northern catalpa selfbow
« Reply #5 on: March 20, 2016, 08:14:39 pm »
Sweet. I never would have considered catalpa to be viable bow wood.
Steve Bennett

Offline bubby

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Re: northern catalpa selfbow
« Reply #6 on: March 20, 2016, 08:29:59 pm »
Heck i never even heard of that wood before can't wait to see her done
failure is an option, everyone fails, it's how you handle it that matters.
The few the proud the 27🏹

Offline okie64

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Re: northern catalpa selfbow
« Reply #7 on: March 20, 2016, 10:34:55 pm »
Looking good so far! I never would've figured catalpa for bow wood but the worms are great catfish bait. I'm anxious to see how it holds up for ya.

Offline PlanB

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Re: northern catalpa selfbow
« Reply #8 on: March 20, 2016, 11:05:29 pm »
Gundoc, if you just built that this month, maybe you can enter it in Sleek's odd wood bow contest! I always thought catalpa was considered "out" of the raange of possibilities as a bow wood. But then again, I'm building one out of eastern cottonwood.....
I love it when a plan B comes together....

Offline phyankord

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Re: northern catalpa selfbow
« Reply #9 on: March 20, 2016, 11:58:38 pm »
is making bows from young trees a common thing? cus im not so sure if i will be able to find some very big bow trees where i live xD

Offline wizardgoat

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Re: northern catalpa selfbow
« Reply #10 on: March 21, 2016, 12:58:12 am »
Nice work Josh. I always love seeing bows made from uncommon woods

Offline Pappy

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Re: northern catalpa selfbow
« Reply #11 on: March 21, 2016, 06:20:27 am »
Nice so far, looking forward to seeing it all finished up, the grain does look beautiful. :)
 Pappy
Clarksville,Tennessee
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Offline Aaron H

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Re: northern catalpa selfbow
« Reply #12 on: March 21, 2016, 07:40:48 am »
Very nice Josh. Great to see some bows coming from our trucker friend.  Can't wait to see it all shined up.

Offline PEARL DRUMS

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Re: northern catalpa selfbow
« Reply #13 on: March 21, 2016, 09:15:48 am »
I drive by them all the time, never considered a bow. Are they in the maple family, trucker?
Only when the last tree has died and the last river has been poisoned and the last fish has been caught will we realize we cannot eat money.

Offline rps3

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Re: northern catalpa selfbow
« Reply #14 on: March 21, 2016, 09:25:41 am »
Never heard of it either, but it sure looks good.