This was my first attempt at fuming an osage bow. Many thanks to Simon and Leonwood for their advice on the fuming process. The bow was fumed for 6 days with 10% ammonia I purchased at the local hardware store.
Last year my brother and I planned a Quebec spring bear hunt for June of this year to celebrate his retirement from the working world. Since this is going to be a special hunt I wanted to make a "special" bow for our adventure. I picked out an osage stave from Texas that was cut in 2015. This stave had a perfect wiggle about midway that would allow for an "almost" center shot bow. After laying out the bow I realized the top limb was going to be 1 1/2" longer than the bottom limb in order to locate the arrow pass at the wiggle. I glued up some purpleheart and yellowheart on the handle to give me the depth for a contoured grip. All corrections and reflex were done with dry heat.
After tillering and 10 days worth of shooting in the bow I was thinking I wanted to darken the bow but didn't want to use a dye or stain. I decided on fuming. The fume produced a rich brown color with black grain highlights. I am very happy with the results.
The tip overlays are purpleheart and spalted maple. Following Simon's advice, nock overlays and handle were glued using a two part epoxy so the fume process wouldn't have any adverse effect on the glue. Grip is burgundy dyed elk leather stitched with kangaroo lace. Arrow rest is cork and side plate arrow pass is dyed beavertail. Bow is finished with 8 coats of tru oil then polished to a satin sheen with pumice.
Thanks for looking.
Specs:
51# @ 26"
61" ntn
1 7/16" wide at fades
7/16' nocks
Asymmetrical
8 strand 8190 F string
20200304_152900 (3) by
Steve Woodruff, on Flickr
20200304_152840 (4) by
Steve Woodruff, on Flickr
20200304_152340 (3) by
Steve Woodruff, on Flickr
20200304_152230 (3) by
Steve Woodruff, on Flickr
