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Author Topic: First SelfBow Birch  (Read 15868 times)

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Offline akbowman

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First SelfBow Birch
« on: May 27, 2008, 10:59:45 pm »
Guys i have only made 3 bows to date, one hickory board bow, one hickory backed maple and this selfbow out of birch. I realize that the tiller on this is not so great and i probably made a ton of mistakes, but i gotta tell ya, I think i got more personal satisfaction out of this bow than anything ive ever endevoured. What a joy to cut a tree, dry it and make a bow that actually shoots pretty nice. Dimensions are 71" knk, and 48# @ 28" draw. This particular piece of birch is a speicies that only grows on alaskas kenai peninsula called "kenai birch" it varies in color from a deep almost purple bark to a vivid red. I never thought in a million years that a knotted up piece of wood like this could actually be turned into such a fun bow to shoot. Even went so far as to make a birch bark quiver to go with it. Well enough said, hope you all enjoy, i know i do. Oh one final thing. it took a hell of a set after shooting it about 60 times on the lower limb, probably wont have a really long life but ill see how she does.

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radius

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Re: First SelfBow Birch
« Reply #1 on: May 27, 2008, 11:03:07 pm »
Buddy, that thing's COOL!

I like it!

Nothing wrong with the tiller that I could see...

Enjoy shooting it, man.
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Offline recurve shooter

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Re: First SelfBow Birch
« Reply #2 on: May 27, 2008, 11:07:55 pm »
dude dat is sweet. i made a southern red ceder bow that looked kinda like that. i usually make bend in the handle bows, but yall dont.  i think im gonna change my style.
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lets just shoot it

Offline Dano

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Re: First SelfBow Birch
« Reply #3 on: May 27, 2008, 11:22:20 pm »
Tiller ain't all that bad, you done good, that's a fine bow.
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Offline shamus

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Re: First SelfBow Birch
« Reply #4 on: May 27, 2008, 11:25:53 pm »
The tiller is not bad at all. Things are bending to the same degree and evenly with each other. The outer thirds of the limbs could perhaps bend a little bit more, but that's about it.

The bow is a fascinating expression in artistry, though. Looks like you made the bow out of a branch. I like how you kept the bark on.

great job!
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Offline michbowguy

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Re: First SelfBow Birch
« Reply #5 on: May 27, 2008, 11:32:05 pm »
that bow is bad a$$ 8)
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Offline El Destructo

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Re: First SelfBow Birch
« Reply #6 on: May 27, 2008, 11:51:28 pm »
You did good....this is an awesome Bow....And I love how you just carved it out of the Sapling...leaving that great looking Bark in place.....thats one thing nice about Birch...it don't Dry Crack and check like most Woods do....A1 Job......
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Offline n2everythg

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Re: First SelfBow Birch
« Reply #7 on: May 27, 2008, 11:52:03 pm »
wow awesome bow. Havnt seen any with the bark left on. I love it.
Dont kick youself on the tiller.... looks good.
enjoy shooting it. that is a cool bow.
n2
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Offline david w.

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Re: First SelfBow Birch
« Reply #8 on: May 27, 2008, 11:52:40 pm »
That thing is AWESOME!! ;D  i love the look of that and tiller is great
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Offline Pat B

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Re: First SelfBow Birch
« Reply #9 on: May 28, 2008, 12:49:36 am »
Thats a very cool bow. 8)  I have tried the same method with hickory but the bark cracked and split, taking the bow with it. I love the simplicity of that style, also.
   Will you post a few pics of your quiver? Marc St Louis sent me a piece of canoe bark years ago and I'm still thinking about it. ::)       Pat
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Offline Otoe Bow

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Re: First SelfBow Birch
« Reply #10 on: May 28, 2008, 01:27:35 am »
That is way cool.  Did the wood cure or is it still green? 

Mike
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moose palm

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Re: First SelfBow Birch
« Reply #11 on: May 28, 2008, 02:02:20 am »
Bowman,

Dude yer bow turned out way sweet! What he didn't tell you is he he chopped out and tillered that bow with a gerber hatchet and a small 4 in 1 file while we were all on a family camping trip last weekend. He was shooting that thing in about 2 hours. What a blast. Great job, I want one! The one I built broke(thats normal) >:(

William
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Offline medicinewheel

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Re: First SelfBow Birch
« Reply #12 on: May 28, 2008, 02:36:43 am »
one of them hard-to-tell fulldraw shots but i believe the upper limb should bend more from midlimb towards tip; that's what the bracehight seems to tell me, too!

BUT HEY.... GREAT JOB on that bow!!!
really fancy barkquiver there, too!
frank
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Offline Fundin

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Re: First SelfBow Birch
« Reply #13 on: May 28, 2008, 04:53:02 am »
That looks so cool, I love the bark on that one, unfortunately our scandinavian birches has to low compression strength for such a bow.
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Offline akbowman

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Re: First SelfBow Birch
« Reply #14 on: May 28, 2008, 05:48:07 am »
Thanks for all the comments guys.

The upper limb definately needs to bend more from mid limb to the tip, the problem was that one of the knots in the wood is right there and i was too scared to go any further into it without breaking it.

Pat i will get some pics of just the quiver tomorrow and post em for ya

Otoe, im so green at this that im not sure how to answer your question. What i did was cut the tree about a month and a half ago then, with a draw knife took the limbs down to say about half the thickness of the tree, then i put some helmsmans spar varnish on the ends to keep it from splitting, and let it set in my garage until our camping trip this last weekend. Moose Palm, who is responsible for getting me into this newfound passion told me that his dad was wanting to build a bow while we were camping for a 9 year boy that was going to be there. I figured that this piece of wood would do the job, never expecting it would turn out as good as it did. Now im at home halfway through a similar bow that is more fitted to the 9 year old boy.

Thanks again for all the comments
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