Burlington Brothers - the beginning

[Stringman]

Ok. So I had this idea. I wanted to do something a little different with the bow trade theme. So earlier this year when I went up to John's (iowabow) house for his little get to together I took a couple pieces of prime osage. They were actually sister staves and well dried. At some point I approached John about the idea and then remembered I had a third stave off that split at home, so I invited JW into the little scheme as well.

The plan was to take one of the sister staves and build your best bow and trade it to the next guy. All three bows will have come from the same 1/8th split of a massive osage tree and we decided to name them all Burlington Brothers.

So after names went in the hat, I drew John's and got started as soon as I got home. I quickly realized my stave wasnt perfect and what looked like an easy build turned frustrating. In the bottom limb I found a wind check that went all the way through the limb. I decided to cut it out completely, but that left me with only about an inch of width on the working limb. And so the challenge was on. Could I make a bow with a little bit of hedge?

John's wanted a 62" bow to draw 55 - 60# @ 24"...

[Stringman]

After reflexing the stave I realized that it was gonna come in light with the narrow limbs. So I turned all my attention toward making sure I nailed the tiller early without a lot of scraping. i also, contacted my buddy Cipriano for a set of skins because the bow was taking on a little character and I wanted to really show it off.

After gettin a good idea of the floor tiller I went ahead and flipped the tips. I wasnt really trying for strong recurves, but I am not used to working on short wood. So it came out a little stronger than what I thought.

After flipping the tips, I decided to go ahead and rough out the handle and cut in the shelf. I know that John doesn't normally shoot with a shelf so I wanted to give him a taste to see if he liked it.

[Stringman]

By this point I had scraped her into shape and the tiller was looking pretty close. When the skins arrived I went right to work and got them cut out and layed down. Nothing prettier than a slender girl in tight jeans and this one was startin to stand out!

I knew I was close but there was a piece of the puzzle eluding me... After talking with Cipriano again on a different subject he mentioned a unique piece of mesquite that he had laying around. I asked, and he said "sure!" (what a guy!)

The BB bow has tips...

[Stringman]

After the knappin that John and I attended last weekend I had him shoot the bow and t a test run. I also took the opportunity to take some "money shot" pics. He seemed pleased and I can't wait to hand it to him as a completed bow (I didnt have the tips on it then.)

Now with the BB bow completed, I have to say I'm pleased with it. The bow is snappy in the hand and light, without any extra weight. i must say that it pushes the limits with it's narrow limbs and recurved tips, but it gave me a new appreciation for well tillered osage wood.

I cant wait to see what JW and Iowabow turn out!

[Stringman]

 

[Pappy]

Beautiful bow,very well done,tiller looks good and finish work is very nice also.
   Pappy

[ErictheViking]

great explanation of the process. love the bow too!

[Gus]

Yes Sir Stringman!

Dang Fine looking Bow!

What were Her final specs?
I see that you were shooting for 55-60# @24"...

Thank You for showing her off!

-gus

[George Tsoukalas]

The bow is beautiful but did notice one thing in the lay out lines in the first photo. Yo did not follow the lateral grain with your center line. It is usually a good idea to do that especially with osage. Jawge

[sadiejane]

mighty fine bow ya made there!

[Stringman]

Yo did not follow the lateral grain with your center line.

I'm curious what you mean by "lateral lines" Obviously, I'm still learning some of the verbage, but I did try hard to follow the grain of the wood when laying out the center line (faintly visible in the first photo.) My first consideration was keeping the small pin knot in the middle so it wouldn't effect the limbs integrity too much.

Did I miss something?? 

[Stringman]

What were Her final specs?
I see that you were shooting for 55-60#

-gus

 Gus, I was  thrown when I lost all that width in the lower limb. The final was closer to 45-50# @ 24". A fact that I'm not proud of. I was hopng to get a little closer to his "requested" draw weight. However, it is a good shooter and John was drilling the spots he was looking at. My hope is that is becomes a nice target bow for him.

[lesken2011]

A fine piece of work, Stringman!!

[Gus]

There's nothing wrong with that Stringman...

Sometimes Wood is like a box of Chocolates...
You just don't know what your getting until you take a bite...

HAHAHA.... 

-gus

[iowabow]

Scott builds a fine bow! My first arrow through the bow at 15 yards just drilled the spot and the second was within inch! It pulls so nice and is a great bow to shoot. I really like the tips and it will be my first snake skinned bow. I only hope JW's turns out as nice. Thank you Scott!