Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: Keenan on November 20, 2008, 02:09:21 pm
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Service Berry Character Bow 55" NTN nd 53# at 25" This one is all natural shape,(no heat bends). All natural color and mountain ash leaves on the back for design effects with water buffalo horn tips. There is three knots just below the handle and two in the upper limb about 8 inches from the tip.
The stave started out almost straight with little or no reflex and ended with about an inch of set. I had originally only tillered it to 24" and then went down to the range with some of the trad guys to let Juniper Junkie shoot it a few times. He loved it and was impressed with the speed and strength of such a short, light bow. A very stout man named Buffalo came up and wanted to try it out, so Dave handed Him the bow while looking at me for approval. Knowing that Buffalo has arms like a gorilla and the strength of Sampson I cautioned that it was only a 24" draw. ::) he pulled and held at about 26" as I cringed expecting to here a fatal death sound. He released then shot a few more arrows as I held my breath. It survived the test. After getting the bow back I did notice a slight drop in poundage and a slight increase in set but I'm glad to know that it's a surviver!
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Here are a few more. The one knot was so prodominate that I has to improvise ;D My wife said it looked like an eye ball or something else ::)
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Now that is a character bow! Looks real nice. Those leaves a very unique never seen that before, truely natural camo. I am guessing that that you glued them then applied a finish over top?
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Cool bow. It definetly has character.
John
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Nice! ;D I've never seen such a bend in one limb like that.
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Keenan your passion for ugly wood is obvious :) Have you ever thought that just maybe your addicted
and perhaps a intervention is in order ;) :o Incredible bow and a unique backing.
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Yah Brother Keenan! Join B.A.A. (Bow Aholics Anonymous). Join our little group!
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Beauty. I never let anyone overdraw a bow of mine. I give 'em short arrows.
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Thanks everyone.
Rich; having such a short draw as I do, even a child could overdraw some of my bows ;D but it survived the test so all is weel
Tiller; Most of the time it's the doc or therapist that need the most help ;D
Dana: Having a serious liking for narly, twisted, distorted and otherwise wodd that most sane people would pass on makes gathering staves much more easy. Everything is a Bow ;D
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Thats a beauty Keenan ! Nice job ! Love that upper limb :o
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I hear ya Keenan, I find myself oddly attracted to the mishapen and disfigured wood more and more.
I will still make the nice straight clean ones but every time I'm in the woods I have my eye open for
the gnarly staves :)
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Plenty of character in that bow :)
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Very very cool bow!!! 8) 8) 8) You are the character king for sure Keenan. ;) I love the leaves on the limb. Will you tell how? The tiller is excellent also. Very cool bow! Pat
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Super Job, Keenan! Bookmarked, too. This is a great incentive for folks to try serviceberry. I've had good luck with it. It is super common around here with hundreds of 2-4" stems. Including right in my back yard.
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Nice looking bow the leaf decor really sets it off not to mention all that character.Ron
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Cool! ;D
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That's just terrific work Keenan. I'm continually amazed at how you can see a bow in a piece of wood that the rest of us would just shake our heads at.
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Thanks again,
Don; I definitely will be building more from this wood. As you said about 2-4 inch sizes are perfect and I'm really impressed with it. JJ and I were discussing it yesterday and he said he had read an article stating that it was excellent bow wood.
From the testing that I did it seemed to be very even for tension and compression. When it would finally break it would kind of splinter, but it never just explodes like yew or some of the other woods, Seems the crush factor is about at the same point that the tension failure is.
Pat; I made a kids bow years back that I used leaves as well and liked how it turned out, and wanted to do something unique with this one and so I thought I'd try it on an adult bow. It's fairly easy. first collected a fair amount of diffrent sizes and colors. making sure they weren't to dry and crumbling. Most had just fallen off or were about to. Laid out pattern and sizes and then trimmed of the stem real tight to the leaf. Then I just coated the underside of the leaf with TB and applied. Be carefull not to get the glue on the top of the leaf or it will show, smooth them out real good and let dry real good. Them I used the spray on polyurethane with enough coats to cover real well.
Gordon; Thank you, I'm sick and have a problem ;D
Ps. Compared to that yew bow that you posted earlier in the month this is just a stick ::)
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Keenan,that is one awesome bow!! Great work!! I would'nt have even used that stave for a walkin' Stick,(and I may be missin' the boat,HaHa!). I like it!! God Bless
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That is one awesome bow. I like the leaf 'backing" it is really unique. Great job on a piece of wood that most would be too afraid to try.
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SO,THATS WHAT YOU BEEN DOING..I told you that you make some nice bows.but,that one takes the cake. ;)...i will say this loud and clear...GOD HAS BLESSED YOU...now if i could get my lazy butt over there some time i would be doing good...GREAT JOB KEENAN..JOHN
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Pete Thank you, I have many that have turned into walking sticks ::)
Thanks Rick, the leaves are from a tree in our yard
John, Thanks for your kind words Bro. I keep trying to get you over here to teach me a thing or two but your keeping all that skill to yourself. ;D
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Thats a beauty,Very fine job from tiller to finish work.The tip look great and the paint job
is very cool.I never hand mine to long armed guys without it being unstrung first. ;) ;D
Pappy
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Thanks Pappy, I agree but I didn't had it to him JJ did :o and those leaves are real not paint ;) I'd have a hard time doing that much painting and it would look like a third grader did it ::) Have fun at the farm ;)
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Sweet! That crooked limb is something else, I don't see how you get nice bows like that out of some of those gnarly chunks of wood. :) Like the leaves, too-how do they hold up over time? We have a couple species of serviceberry here, and I've alwyas wanted to try it as it is hard, heavy wood. Every piece I've found here has had about a full spiral twist in a bow-length section of trunk, though.
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extremely cool looking bow. It is really different, just goest to show that things don't have to be straight to shoot well. great job.
Robb
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Robb,,,you are right, I don't own a straight bow and they all shoot better then I do ::)
Hillbilly, They seem to hold up good if there is enough coting over them but if in a spot that bends excessively they can seperate from the finish.
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oh man that is cool, i am loving the character in that bow, let alone everything else. looks great good job!
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Very nice bow. I love it! jawge
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leaf make good accent Keenan.
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That's unique and it's a beauty.
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That's quite the bow Keenan. Veyr nice
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Very nice ... makes the mulberry stave I'm working right now look like a board from the saw mill!! ;)
The leaves really got me thinking... that' a good thing!! :D
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very cool bow brother, would look even better with some elk blood on it.. ;) ;D HAWK
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Very original and beautiful Keenan. Never seen leaves on a bow like that, and it's a great idea!
Rich
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Thank you all for the comments. :) Keenan
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.......WOW......... :o
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Now there's one wild looking bow Keenan - congrat's. Love them leaves on the back, give's me even more idea's ;D. Glad to hear she's a survivor..
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Great looking bow Keenan. From the side you would never know it isn't straight. I like the leaves also. Justin
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(Great looking bow Keenan. From the side you would never know it isn't straight.) I like the leaves also. Justin
Thanks Justin thats quite a compliment ;)
Thanks Cowboy and Lowell
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Dennis as you can see in this bow that a side ways bend will not hurt as long as the tips and handle area bisect
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Keenan,
How wide are the limbs on that bow?
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Gordon,
The limbs are 1 1/4"wide and 3/4" thick at the handle. 1" wide and 5/8" thick at mid limb. Tips are about 1/2" wide and 1/2" thick with the string groves just a touch over 1/4" wide ;)
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Thank you Keenan!
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Did you keep the belly flat or did you round it?
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well gordon,my belly is flat :D :D
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Gordon , the belly is flat on the bow,, ;)Wish I could say the same for my belly ;D I'll try to post some pics of the belly tommarrow
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No need to post pictures for me Keenan. I was curious because I've noticed that John Strunk will often slightly radius the belly of his white wood bows. I've tried that a few times, but not with much success.
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Well when I said flat I should have added not completely. It is slightly rounded. I roughed to a floor tiller flat with a farriers rasp then started scraping with a 6 inch planer blade.
Almost flat at the handle, then slight radius on the mid limb and scraped more on the sides as I approached the tips. Hope that helps, That is why I was thinking of pics.
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Here are a few of the belly ;)
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