naked and knotty...(warning clickbait!) russian olive bow

[superdav95]

Thanks fellas. 

[simk]

You did well on a tricky one Dave! And you were lucky with a new wood! From time to time you have the opportunity to try these rare mythical woods where somebody was talking about somewhere. In most cases they leave you dissapointed and you know why you stick with your osage or yew. Not so in this case....I think you were lucky. Bad thing is: We have no russian olive here around to try.
I lately tried the euopean buckthorn and was not dissapointed. But the mythical Purple plum for instance I only tried once....resilent, but heavy and sluggish, like most plum.
And today got mail from my indian horn supplier. he absolutely insisted to send me some of his local woods to try, free samples. well, I will laminate when the time has come, maybe after finishing my orders,.... All of these woods do not seem very dense, so my expectations are low....
However, I also got that berberry stave gifted by a friend....man this wood is so beautyful. Even brighter yellow than any osage! Lets' see....
Simon

[bjrogg]

Sure is a pretty bow Dave.

Bjrogg

[hammerstone]

Awesome work Dave on a tricky stave. Just wondering where the stave came from. Around my area we have tons of autumn olive and everyone calls it Russian olive. I have seen a couple Russian olive bushes but most is autumn.

[bjrogg]

Awesome work Dave on a tricky stave. Just wondering where the stave came from. Around my area we have tons of autumn olive and everyone calls it Russian olive. I have seen a couple Russian olive bushes but most is autumn.

Same here, but my mom planted a Russian olive when I was in high school. We had to dig it out when we added onto our house. I remember it actually had little olives on it

Bjrogg

[superdav95]

You did well on a tricky one Dave! And you were lucky with a new wood! From time to time you have the opportunity to try these rare mythical woods where somebody was talking about somewhere. In most cases they leave you dissapointed and you know why you stick with your osage or yew. Not so in this case....I think you were lucky. Bad thing is: We have no russian olive here around to try.
I lately tried the euopean buckthorn and was not dissapointed. But the mythical Purple plum for instance I only tried once....resilent, but heavy and sluggish, like most plum.
And today got mail from my indian horn supplier. he absolutely insisted to send me some of his local woods to try, free samples. well, I will laminate when the time has come, maybe after finishing my orders,.... All of these woods do not seem very dense, so my expectations are low....
However, I also got that berberry stave gifted by a friend....man this wood is so beautyful. Even brighter yellow than any osage! Lets' see....
Simon

Simon you are So right.  I did get lucky on this one.  The entire time tillering and then shooting it I expected it to blow up.  The knots and edge inclusion knot clusters and high crown too I was surprised it hasn’t failed yet.  I have no illusions that it will survive like my yew bows but will keep shooting it.  I did make it with a safety margin in the design to increase its survival somewhat.  The hollow limb and keeping most of the natural deflex out of the handle only to add a slight bit of outer and mid limb reflex kept gentle.  This I believe has helped it survive.  Time will tell.  By all rights from the looks of this bow it should have blown up by now.    This Russian olive does not grow around here to my knowledge and I got this stave from a fellow on primitive archery here named pierce Schmiechel.  I put a post out a year or so ago curious to get some and he answered and sent me this.  It was a challenge to build but it did go fairly quickly considering.  I kept the design profile basic.  It is a pretty wood but I don’t think this piece was ever destined to be a great bow.  The ring count is quite low and the heart wood is softer then yew although similar.  It’s not as springy either.  This could be due to the low ring count.  This may have been a better comparison with a younger yew sapling to do proper comparison.  I’ve got some lower ring count yew bows I’ve made and it closer to these.  Anyway nothing ventured as they say!   Thanks for your comments. 

[superdav95]

Awesome work Dave on a tricky stave. Just wondering where the stave came from. Around my area we have tons of autumn olive and everyone calls it Russian olive. I have seen a couple Russian olive bushes but most is autumn.

Thanks man.  Much appreciated.  I got this stave from a fellow pa member.  Pierce Schmiechel

[superdav95]

Awesome work Dave on a tricky stave. Just wondering where the stave came from. Around my area we have tons of autumn olive and everyone calls it Russian olive. I have seen a couple Russian olive bushes but most is autumn.

Same here, but my mom planted a Russian olive when I was in high school. We had to dig it out when we added onto our house. I remember it actually had little olives on it

Bjrogg

This wood had a smell to it actually.  I have no experience with it other then this one and can’t really compare it to much else but yew. 

[pierce_schmeichel]

Haha there it is! It really is Turning out amazing Dave! I've been waiting for this one I'm very glad to see you were able to make something with it..not only that but something functional and beautiful. Such an interesting wood, I knew you were gonna make something wonderful with it. Very detailed and skilled craftsman

[Bob Barnes]

That bow is amazing Dave!  It has tons of character, but still has the looks of a hunting bow.  You did another outstanding job.  Thanks for sharing it.