Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: Josh B on October 02, 2011, 02:02:08 pm
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This was a 4" black walnut tree I harvested in IN last winter. I started out just trying to see how far I could push the limits of this wood, but soon fell in love with the way it handled and shot. It's decrowned, flat and wide, 2 1/4 at the fades, narrowed working handle with a scrap of beaver tail rawhide for a grip that was leftover from resoleing my mocs. 52" ntn, 60# @ 26". It was lacking in character, so I put some burled walnut tips on it, but the pictures were to blurry to see. I realize the brace height is a smidge to high, but I made the string out of b-50 and was allowing for stretch. I obviously overlooked the fact that short strings don't stretch as much as the longer ones I'm used to. The tiller may look a little uneven, but if you look at the unbraced photo, you will see the deflexed limb I had to work around, thus explaining the odd appearance of the tiller. Thanks for looking,
Josh
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Walnut+no backing+52"+ 60#s@26"s !!!!!!!!! Wow I think you tested the limits.... and it's still in one piece!!!
Great work, I didn't think Walnut had that kind of strength but I'm pretty new at this. What a great little hunting bow :)
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Thanks Coaster! This just goes to show you, even a blind hog finds an acorn once in a while!!! ;)
josh
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Here's a few more pics.
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beautiful bow , one of the most overlooked woods.ive used it in about a dozen bows i love black walnut. excellent job gun doc
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Thanks Ken, means alot coming from a short bow master such as yourself. Josh
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Wow that is very impressive. 52 inches unbacked and drawing 26" could only be done with a perfect tiller and that is exactly what your full draw shows. You just pulled off something that most only dream of. Great job on a perfect "D" bow. Congratulations
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Great looking bow, nice job.
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What a beaut! Love the sapwood edges.
Very impressive stats, too!
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Sweeeeet full draw n lovely colors. I bet she's light as a feather too :D
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NICE i really really like that little bow i bet it hits hard.
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Very nice ! Like Black Walnut ;D
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Great bow :)
Now go stick a pig with it !!!!
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Awesome! Nice job. Beautiful bow!
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Pretty wood Josh. I don't think it lacks character
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Josh you nailed that one. Super nice.
Lane
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That is very nice. Impressive little bow there. Decrowned and unbacked...wow.
George
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Josh, I REALLY like this bow...I have a couple 4"-6" Black Walnut "trees" growing along the road here that I think will end up cut, split and put up in my basement for a future project. Great stuff and wow, sexy wood!
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Wow, doc!!!! The blend of heart/sap made one beauty of a bow .what a cool looking bow :o
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WOW, awsome looking bow. That's a lot of bow from a small piece of walnut...
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Good work man...
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How wide is the handle?
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Add me to the list of people loving the look of the bow and impressed with the drawlength.
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man thats impressive .. how do you decrown a stave ? i have a good candidate for one but not exactly sure how.
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A beauty!
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black walnut just doesn't seem like it could bend like that. seems too brittle. shows how little i know! you've got an awesome bow there. it has a ton of character.
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Thank you very much everybody!!
Turtle creek- I didn't measure the handle width, but I would guess it at 1 1/2".
SA- Decrowning this one was easy, if you look at the back of the bow, you can see a darker stripe running the length of it. That stripe is the first heartwood ring peeking through. I used it for a guide. It's alot like chasing a ring, except you only chase it in the center for a reference. It only works on really straight grained wood with no twist, otherwise it will violate the grain.
Once again, thank you for the kind words everybody!!!
Josh
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So it seems that this would make the bow "quarter sawn" in effect. Rings run back to belly. Nice job and opened my eyes to some possibilities. Not sure I can carry it off with the skill you did. Thanks for the pics.
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Very nice looking bow,love the looks of Walnut,tiller and finish work very nice as well. :) :) Congrats on another good one. :)
Pappy
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Yes Sir,
That's a beauty indeed.
Like may others here I like Black Walnut a lot.
-gus
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Pappy, Gus, Thank you.
Kpete- it's technically closer to flat sawn, but on this narrow of a stave, the outside edges would be like quartersawn I guess. I'm just happy it held up and shoots as good as it does. I fully expected it to fail at about 24" of draw. I'm quite happy that it proved me wrong.
Josh
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Oh man, she's gorgeous, I just love that almost semicircular tiller.
And you made her a nice black lace up corset too :-*. ::)
Great bow, I'd love to have a few shots with that baby.
Del
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Very nice job Josh,
I'II have to keep a lookout for BW would like to try your decrowning method. Keep up the good work.
Chuck
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Fantastic bow!
I think you make use of every fiber in that one ;)
Really pretty too with the light sapwood framing the dark heartwood.
/Mikael
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Very nice bow. I really like the way you laid it out using the sapwood.Very unique. You have a lot of nerve to finish her up without even a light backing on that decrowned back.Hope she holds together. Beautiful wood. God Bless
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Del- I almost spit my coffee on the screen when I read you're post!!! :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
Chuck- thanks for the kind words, I've been admiring you're work with RO. Picked up a 3" sapling in UT last week to try it out. I would appreciate any insight you have in regards to this wood. I'm planning on trying a English warbow, but I don't know how tension strong RO is. Especially considering the high crown I'll be working with.
DBB- Thanks
PeteC- Testing the limits, so to speak, was the idea behind this bow. Sinew, rawhide and the like are all well and good, but unbacked is the true test of limits. I spent about three hours putting arrows through it this weekend, within an hour after unstringing, it returned to the unbraced profile I started with. It seems to be holding up much better than one would expect. I would like to start bragging here, but the truth is there was a lot more luck involved than skill. It's all good though, I'll take luck over skill anyday!!! ;) Thanks for the kind words,
Josh
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gundoc,
Yeah, I see that it would be like flat sawn, but it seems like the rings would work like quartersawn since the back goes across the whole limb. I sure like the looks of it and the way you made it work. I am thinking about doing that to some other saplings and branches. Good job.
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Kpete you do have a point. Probably half the width would be close to quartersawn. Perhaps Halfeye's observed principle's of quartersawn wood is at work here. I believe I'm going to have to do some more experimentation with quartersawn wood. Once again, thanks for the kind words,
Josh