Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: wizardgoat on February 11, 2015, 04:09:31 am
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Last spring I saw a post on C-list from a lady who was cutting down three 50' black locusts trees in her yard. I called her as she was literally watching the 3rd come down. The first 2 had already been cut up.
She sent me a couple quick pics, looked like a lot of wood so that same day after work I grabbed my passport and drove down to Bellingham. I had only been making bows for a few months then, it was my first time splitting and hauling wood. I was by myself, so I could only take a few hours of it. I filled my truck, gave her 50$ to help pay for the tree cutting, and ditched all the wood at my parents cabin.
Since then, Ive gone down every few weeks, debark, split, seal, and bring a load back to Vancouver. Its alot of work, you Osage guys must have strong backs!
I ended up with about 25-30 staves of varying quality.
This is my first go with black locust. Id always heard it frets very easily, so I went real slow, and made sure to never create a weak spot to worry about.
Im mostly a yew dude, but I gotta admit, this stuff is snappy. A possible choice for the bow trade, but I got plenty of time to crank out some more
I roughed it out green and clamped it to my caul for a while. It kept about 2" of reflex. It ended up being board flat, but after shooting it in it took a little more set. No heat treating, but on the next one I will.
56" ntn, 40# @ 26" slightly trapped back
horn tips, salmon skin off cuts. built up leather grip with hemp wrappings in the Strunk pattern. 10 strand fast flight. tru oil finish
thanks for looking
(http://i1370.photobucket.com/albums/ag255/wizardgoat/IMG_2284_zpsepbqzvny.jpg) (http://s1370.photobucket.com/user/wizardgoat/media/IMG_2284_zpsepbqzvny.jpg.html)
(http://i1370.photobucket.com/albums/ag255/wizardgoat/IMG_2973_zpszblapgqo.jpg) (http://s1370.photobucket.com/user/wizardgoat/media/IMG_2973_zpszblapgqo.jpg.html)
(http://i1370.photobucket.com/albums/ag255/wizardgoat/IMG_2975_zpskxwrgl8y.jpg) (http://s1370.photobucket.com/user/wizardgoat/media/IMG_2975_zpskxwrgl8y.jpg.html)
(http://i1370.photobucket.com/albums/ag255/wizardgoat/IMG_2976_zpsncy7cpmf.jpg) (http://s1370.photobucket.com/user/wizardgoat/media/IMG_2976_zpsncy7cpmf.jpg.html)
(http://i1370.photobucket.com/albums/ag255/wizardgoat/IMG_2977_zpsh5b6fq9l.jpg) (http://s1370.photobucket.com/user/wizardgoat/media/IMG_2977_zpsh5b6fq9l.jpg.html)
(http://i1370.photobucket.com/albums/ag255/wizardgoat/IMG_2978_zpshow10g8i.jpg) (http://s1370.photobucket.com/user/wizardgoat/media/IMG_2978_zpshow10g8i.jpg.html)
(http://i1370.photobucket.com/albums/ag255/wizardgoat/IMG_2984_zpsfa2ffpy9.jpg) (http://s1370.photobucket.com/user/wizardgoat/media/IMG_2984_zpsfa2ffpy9.jpg.html)
(http://i1370.photobucket.com/albums/ag255/wizardgoat/IMG_2979_zpsoktarlpl.jpg) (http://s1370.photobucket.com/user/wizardgoat/media/IMG_2979_zpsoktarlpl.jpg.html)
(http://i1370.photobucket.com/albums/ag255/wizardgoat/IMG_2994_zpszegziwwp.jpg) (http://s1370.photobucket.com/user/wizardgoat/media/IMG_2994_zpszegziwwp.jpg.html)
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I like your style, very nice bow and a cool two fletched arrow >:D
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Good looking bow, love the finish work and the tiller looks very good. :)
Pappy
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That is very nice.
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Man, you have just been cranking them out recently. Great looking bow. I really like the accent around the skins.
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Very nice locust bow, looking forward to seeing a bunch of 'em from you. With all those staves drying it sounds like you'll be into the stuff for awhile. ;)
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I agree with Adam89 , i really like ur style. Nice bow
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Looks good wizard. $50 and some work is well worth it for 25-30 staves if you ask me.
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Simple and clean. Bet its snappy for a 40 pound'er.
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If that's your first BL bow, you definitely should build some more......fine looking bow. I like it all, especially the tip overlays.
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Very nice clean curves right there, very nice.
rich
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Sweet bow. Love those picks in the woods
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Nice one. BL is my nemesis. I am working on one now. I had to take a break for a while but now I'm back around to it. I love the skins. You've been putting out some real nice bows.
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Cool bow! Nice looking woods too
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Man dude if you've only been building bows since last spring I am impressed. In fact I would be impressed if you been doing it for years. You got the tiller down and building that one a little wider was a great move. Nice score and save on the BL too. Danny
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You crank out bows so fast and they are all beautiful. :D Do you make your arrows too?
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nice congrats :)
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That is a CUTE and menacing little recurve. And I love how even a straight BL stave is never QUITE straight.
Don't worry, BL is almost as heavy to carry as osage, so we're tough, too. BUT, BL is a heck of a lot easier to split, in my limited experience with osage.
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Now that's using your locust! ;D
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Another beauty! When do you sleep? ;D
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Thanks for the kind words guys.
Badly Bent- you will be seeing some more BL bows in the future. Its hard to not grab another yew stave though ;)
PD - very snappy, i'll aim for 50-60# next one
Sidewinder - building bows since last winter, not spring ;) Making sticks bend has been at the top of my priority list since. She's 1.5" at the widest. Could of probably been narrower
Shaneisneato - Yup, I love making arrows. got ALOT easier and faster with a nocking jig and 6 feather fletcher.
GB - A full time job and 3-4 hours in the shop every night sleep comes pretty easy!
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Nicely done!
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Tiller looks spot on. I also like the effort you go to to photograph your bows. Hard work, and art needs to get that kinda respect.
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Nice work. I like the style 8)
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You nailed that one. I like how snappy BL is. Great bow .
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Nice lookin bow man....nice work saving that BL from someone's fireplace!
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Very VERY nice!
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Thanks guys.
Sasquatch- not much effort! It's our usual shooting spot, these smart phones take pretty nice photos though. Not the greatest light, but I think bows look best photographed in natural settings.
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You did nice work on that one. I especially like the skin and the handle wrap.
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Another wonderful piece Wizardgoat, I like the salmon skins and the choice of hemp for the Strunk wrap
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Awesome bow you have there and great pics as well!!...nice to see green this time of year-Hammertime
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Good looking bow and pix!
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Very nice work Ryan ! Black locust is one of my favorites
Tracy
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That's a good looking bow. Nice work!
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Thats one sweet bow!
I'm gonna add this one to my eye candie list for certain.
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Thanks guys, feels odd putting down the yew bows for this one, but I'm really diggin it.
Maybe those black locust guys are on to something ;D
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Hey wizardgoat, you said something about needing your passport. Any trouble bringing wood across the border ? Ive wondered about doing that myself with a stave or two. Great bow, as usual. :)
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Bubbles- Ive brought back wood many times across the border. The bark must be removed.
They usually pull me in because it's pretty unusual, but always let me go. I tell them it's debarked, seasoned and sealed.
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Ok, good to know. I always wondered how much sass i would get from canadian customs having a stave.
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SWEETTTTTTTTTTTT
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I was really glad to see your black locust bow very nicely done. This fall I also came across a nice black locust tree and split it up and have about 20 or 30 states drying. Seeing your bow makes me want to get a piece out and start de-barking it.
Nice job!
Ed
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Thanks Ed. It's for sure a good bow wood, don't be shy to dig into that stash
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Looks fantastic man, and tiny!
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Looks very balanced and nice even bend...Great work all around, like the skins 8)
Don
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Very nice bow Wizard.It looks great. God bless
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That is one sharp looking BL bow. Great job on it. Can't wait to see what you make with the other staves.
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Very nice Ryan! But I'd be surprised if it wasn't coming from you. Josh
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Goat,
I did take the bark off and a couple of staves and had to reseal them with glue on the back , they were still pretty wet. I will let them dry over the summer and maybe start to do some work this winter.
I may take a couple of staves the Tennessee classic next week just to see what people think . I've never worked with BL before so I can't gauge if this is good quality or not. The rings are wide but I don't know what is summer wood,,, the dark or light?
I will try and post a pic so you can take a look.
Ed
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Thanks guys.
Ed, that looks like a pretty nice piece. The late wood is the darker stuff with thicker rings.
Like osage you want more latewood than early wood which you have here.
I'd chase down 3 or 4 more rings till you get to that fat one. It's hard to tell how big the stave is though and how much meat you have
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Hey Goat, the stave is pretty chunky, no problem getting down to that nice ring. Thanks for the feedback. I'll let you know how things progress.
I will take a couple of stages to the TN classic next week, I know Greg " badly bent" will be there and he makes some great bows with black locust, so I'll pick his brain a bit.
Thx, Ed