Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: superdav95 on July 14, 2025, 02:38:37 pm
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Hey guys, I got this russian olive sapling stave from Pierce schmicheal here on pa about a year or so ago and decided to do something with it. the pics shown are some progress pics over last couple days. I went with the hollow limb design due to the high crown on this one. there was also a pith that i wanted gone too in working limbs. its quite knotty and and laid it out as best as i could to avoid as many of the edge knots but inevitably there was some. Its a very pretty wood this olive wood and after smearing some tung oil on it really popped! I put some shots through it and its very light in the hand. Ive not got out to full draw quite yet but figured id post my progress thus far. so far its around 55 to 60lbs at approx 27". its 66" long ttt and about 1.5" or just a hair over width out the fades and then tapering. The stave had a pronounced deflex out the handle which i figured i would just go with. I heated in a tiny slight sweeping mid limb reflex after the deflex. If i was to describe this wood I would say it similar to pacific yew but not quite as dense or springy. the sapwood on this one has a 2 tone aspect to it which is kinda neat. anyway Ill post a fully draw in next day or so when my wife isnt so busy. I may get a short video clip uploaded too. Ive got one last youth camp to do then will be home and sleep in my own bed for a change! thanks for looking.
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Very handsome bow, does look very much like Yew!
Del
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Wow, that's a lot of knots and a beautiful bow. Top notch work, Dave.
Mark
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Beautiful bow, love the character, can’t wait to see it all finished up. Pappy
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Beautiful. I live in the land of the Russian Olive. Birds love the fruit; deer love the leaves; deer love to rest in their shade; they make for a great ground hide if you can get enough room and limb clearance to draw and shoot....and the wood is as beautiful to look at it is off-putting to smell. I've always wondered if any type of decent bow could be fashioned from a log...if I could ever run into a 65' piece that wasn't horribly twisted and crooked. I'm really hoping that this bow will hold up and not take too much set, because it is even more beautiful than I imagined one being...and it has inspired me to possibly brave the process of harvesting a stave...oh yeah...almost forgot to mention how much blood I've spilled and how many pus-inducing thorns I've had to squeeze or dig out of my body from just trying to hide in those bushes! Please keep us updated regarding performance. Beautiful bow!
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Very kind. Thanks guys. Did some 3/4 draw shooting yesterday to get a feel for it and how it will settle. This bow will be interesting if it survives as it is similar to yew but lower quality yew at that. It’s quite soft and this particular piece has a lower ring count which is less than ideal. It was a sapling about 2.5-3” diameter that tapered to about 2” at smaller end. The pith in the center was another issue I had to deal with. Anyway. I’m hoping to get a bow despite its character flaws with all the knots on the edges and everything and feel I’ve given it its best possible outcome with the design chosen. We shall see. More to come. Thanks for looking and commenting
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heres a couple pics showing a comparison color difference with yew bow. its similar style in that its also a semi hollow limb bow and notice the tighter ring count of the yew bow compared to the russian olive. this will vary wildly from tree to tree depending on a lot of factors. this particular yew bow seen here for comparison happens to be a sinew backed yew bow from a stave that was about 4 or 5" diameter. fairly high crown also so went with the hld design. anyway i thought it might interest some with the comparisons.
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A stavelikethat will definitely try your patience and skill level. Both of mine would have sent that piece to the burn pile.
You really turned out a great looking and unique bow out of it. Can’t wait to see the full draw as I’m sure it will look as good as the photos leading up to it. Hopefully the wood itself will prove to be durable for you.
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Nice comparison pics showing the the Yew along side.
Del
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Thanks guys. Much appreciated. It didn’t take too long to build this bow actually. I’ve made a number of bows using the hld or semi hld now and once you get the hang of it it’s not too bad. I had this bow brace in a couple days really. I got lucky here I think with my layout I was able to avoid some potential catastrophic issues with this one. I just did more shooting to 27” which is where I dare to go with it and it’s pretty snappy! I don’t have my chrono with me at the moment but will try and get a vid up when done camp. No handshock and very light in the hand. It took 1/2” set only so far after shoot in more today. Prior to shooting it the tips were dead even with the back of handle with a balanced deflex/reflex. The tips after shooting only lost about 1/2”. Not too bad really. Expected it to be worse. I put about 100 shots through and no noticeable issues. Still early yet I guess. It feels like shooting a yew bow. I have been wearing safety glasses to get to full draw as the whole time I’ve been waiting for it to just explode. Not a good feeling. Anyway so far so good. I’ll get a full draw pic done soon. Sorry for the wait fellas just been sorta scattered with gear last week or so.
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OK guess I ant in the know, what is hid or semi hid , is that hollow belly ?
Pappy
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OK guess I ant in the know, what is hid or semi hid , is that hollow belly ?
Pappy
Hld (hollow limb design). I should have explained that. The semi part of this is just meaning it’s less pronounced of a hld. It’s a great option for bow staves with higher crown or sapling builds.
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That is a beautiful bow, Dave. Some nice character in it. Best of luck with it the rest of the way.
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that is a beauty!
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Thanks Dave, yes I use that on saplings just our high crown staves also, just never heard the term hid 😉😊Pappy
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Thanks fellas.
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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
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Sure is a pretty bow Dave.
Bjrogg
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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.
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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
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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.
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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
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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.