With bows, as with anything there are exceptions to every rule. I've had some self bows that shot and performed as well as any laminated bow ever did. I have a osage self bow that was made from two pieces , fishtail spliced together. It was made sometime in the 40's and is still a good shooter today. After shooting it returns to nearly straight after it's unstrung.
Wood bows are different than laminated bows in that the wood it's self has a character all it's own and may sometimes perform very well or not as well. Many bowyers look at a tree and see a bow or bows inside waiting to be free.
In the early 80's I bought an osage bow stave from an old bow maker in Indiana. He had cut the tree and worked the stave down some before putting it away with some other staves that he had. When I got the wood from him he'd had it for 50 years. It was very dark and seasond. The stave had good grain and was exceptionally straight for a one piece osage stave.
I had it for a couple of years before I gave it to a friend of mine that had made many many bows from osage. A few months later he called me and told me the bow was finished and that it was the most perfect piece of osage he had ever worked with. Then he told me he was sending it back to me because , in his words the bow needed to be owned and shot by someone that was a better shot than he was. The stipulation was that I name the bow "Sleeping Beauty" and that I write an appropriate poem on the limb. I have the bow yet today and it is truly an exceptional bow in every way. It is 66" long 60# @ 28" The name "Sleeping Beauty" is written in the belly side of the bow above the riser and on the bottom limb I wrote this poem.
"Fifty years as a Stave I slept
my fate uncertain, my promise unkept
for love of beauty and days of old
a bowyer came forth, with hands so bold
he finished the task and set me free
to be the bow I was meant to be"
Topic: selfbow (Read 5718 times)