Snake River Stickbow:

Well dang. There is a good sized check in this black locust stave, I removed some more rings to try and get under it to no avail. I will straighten the stave and add some cyanoacrylite to the check. Maybe I can save this little stave.

I hope that when I’m all done with school, I can spend more time working staves. I didn’t realize my last two summers had such an obvious progression through styles: flat bows, pyramids, Mollegabet and now paddles, with the oddball recurved bow in there.

It’s been a long while, but I finally put some time into a stave. This 60” black locust stave has been drying for a year and a half. I chased the back rings down to the one directly above my target ring. This is a really thin ring. I’m leaving this on while I draw on the front profile and thin the limbs. The stave will be 1-1/2” wide.

Maple paddle bow: This 66” bow has survived its first 100 arrows. The tiller is settled in and didn’t require any tweaking. I gave the bow a rough sanding with 150 & 220 and called it good. I prefer to leave a bit of cambium on the limbs; I like the way it looks. This bow will be a loaner or a give away. With the lateral crack in the limb, I wont sell it because it’s not a good representation of my work. I applied some dark walnut stain and a few coats of tung oil. Then I used a rough looking piece of deer leather to wrap the handle. Came in at 47# @ 30” draw.

I missed my draw weight at 26-27” because I was having some trouble with the aforementioned wonky limb. This 66” paddle bow ended up with a 29” draw measuring 47#. I am very happy it survives being drawn this far! Now I need to shoot a bunch of arrows.

I accidentally dropped this stave on its limb tip, causing a crack to run up the limb several inches. I wasn’t going to add tip overlays to this bow, I was going to use pin nocks. This crack has changed that plan. I flattened the backs of each limb tip and glued on a red oak overlay. The overlay was roughly shaped and is ready for string grooves.

I evened out the limb thickness taper on this Maple paddle bow the other day. It has some set, from the shape of the stave. I used my form and heatgun to straighten it out as good as I could. It’s standing straight now. It will be interesting to see what kind of set the limbs will take when I start to tiller.

I don’t usually apply anything to the limb before steaming. I thought I would see if this made any difference because this is what Gary Davis does before steaming his staves. I was just looking for more data.

I added a grip wrap to this painted paddle bow. The grip is deer leather that is sewn on with waxed hemp cord. It has a few drops of glue added for extra security. The grip wraps around the arrow shelf, conforming to its shape very well.

The second project of the day was this Mulberry Flat Bow. I thinned the limbs and riser, then did some sanding to remove sharp edges. This stave will get some reflex and a slight recurve on the form.

Today I worked on two different bows. The first is this maple paddle bow. I drew on the front profile and used my draw knife to remove the bulk of the wood. Next, I roughed out the thickness of the limbs and riser. I intend to make a bulbous handle, so that’s how I shaped it. This stave will require a bit of time on the form to straighten it out.

Today I backed a mulberry stave. I drew on a basic flatbow profile and roughed out the shape. I am thinking of adding some slight recurve to these limbs. The growth rings aren’t the best, so I will see how the belly handles the minor recurve. The last recurve I made ended up having chrisals on the belly in one area. That was a bow that I recurved after tillering though as an experiment.

68” Rawhide backed Red Oak paddle bow: This bow is a twin to the Maple bow. Again, I have some stiff midlimb to work out with this bow. It’s not quite there. This bow has a Red Oak rider and tip overlays. The rawhide on both of these bows is really good and should make for a nice canvas.

The riser and tip overlays are Black Locust. It will be reduced and shaped as I get closer to finishing. I will probably add a shelf to this bow. The limbs are 2.5” wide and the draw length is intended to be between 28” and 30”.

Every time I post some limb tip pics, Tumbler always flags me and says they are naughty, lol.

I finished painting my second bow. Inspired by a simple design from a museum relic. The pattern was simple to draw. It is easily customizable by changing angles, dimensions and of course, colors.

I cut out and added muskrat string silencers to several bows yesterday. Slice, splice, twist and shoot!