Homemade Osage Orange Bow

[jdhmhatch]

Has anyone here ever made their own Osage long bow and hunted with it? I got a DIY video from James Easter, making, a bow, but need some help choosing arrows, etc

 

[Btaylor]

I havent built a selfbow but used to talk to a few guys that did. I regret not getting them to teach me back then but I was trying to figure out how to build a decent glass bow at the time and didnt want to take on both.

 

[LostArra]

Yes. I've made bows from osage, pecan, yew and hickory.

Is your bow finished? I wouldn't sweat the arrows until its finished. Any relatively heavy arrow will work to shoot it in during the build.

Highly recommend Hunting the Osage Bow by Dean Torges. It's a good book even if you never build a bow.

 

[molliesmaster]

How intense is the process of making your own bow?

Caught a few clips of it on the last Full Draw film tour video and it certainly peaked my interest.

 

[LostArra]

A selfbow just takes patience especially on the first one. If you rush things, you can have a kids weight bow in about 5 minutes. In fact, it's not a bad idea to have some kids in mind for the first few bows.

I started out making a few board bows then went to staves. I've still got osage, hickory and pecan staves stored in vacant bedrooms. (my kids are all grown)

 

[Btaylor]

Good looking bow. What skins?

 

[Btaylor]

Funny you mentioned Dean. When I saw this post I googled some stuff and read back through a bunch of old threads of which Dean was a part of many or the subject. Guys like David Mimms, Timo, Ferret, etc. in those threads brought back a lot of good memories. Awesome guys and even better craftsmen.

 

[Beendare]

I'm a pretty patient guy...but I've seen buddies build them from staves and that scraping for days just isn't in my DNA......plus those all wood bows will hold a set, so you have to unstring it all the time.

I do think those twisted staves make one heck of a cool looking bow though.

 

[LostArra]

No, I did not kill the bull snake. My knucklehead neighbor called me and said he just killed a 5' copperhead which I knew was false. So I skinned it for a bow just so it wouldn't be a complete waste.

Funny you mentioned Dean. When I saw this post I googled some stuff and read back through a bunch of old threads of which Dean was a part of many or the subject. Guys like David Mimms, Timo, Ferret, etc. in those threads brought back a lot of good memories. Awesome guys and even better craftsmen.

Ferret's board bow instructions helped hundreds of first timers.

Beendare: I don't unstring mine until the end of the hunt. Adding some reflex into the outer limb with heat will help with that. Along with using well-aged (DRY) wood.

 

[Btaylor]

No, I did not kill the bull snake. My knucklehead neighbor called me and said he just killed a 5' copperhead which I knew was false. So I skinned it for a bow just so it wouldn't be a complete waste.

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Ferret's board bow instructions helped hundreds of first timers.

Beendare: I don't unstring mine until the end of the hunt. Adding some reflex into the outer limb with heat will help with that. Along with using well-aged (DRY) wood.

My brother n law sent a pic of a live snake he found in his yard asking what it was, I sent him a text back immediately and said dont kill that big king snake because he will keep the rest of the snakes cleared out. He sent me a text back that said too late. LOL

Always wanted an osage bow skinned with cottonmouth skins after a fresh shed. That bullsnake looks good. Nice job!!

 

[LostArra]

Ferret's Board Bow instructions:

https://sticknstring.webs.com/ferretsboardbow.htm