
SELF (wood) Bows- The environmental friendly choice
The wooden bow allows the bowyer a certain degree of freedom in the design of the bow. There is no need to construct a new press-form for every change you make as with glass laminated bows. The wood can be manipulated with very basic tools as was done for thousands of years.
The self-bow (Single growth ring for back), allows such freedom to a lesser degree, as the tree's characteristics needs to be followed. But this results in a bow with absolute unique character.
The lumber bow (and backed lumber-bow) can be designed in many different bow designs. The one I favour most is the flat-bow design. This design performs without fail. Enough cast to get the arrow down range and very stable. Another favourite is the D-bow (slight bend in handle) design or the English Longbow (ELB).
Are these bows durable? This is a question I often get asked and the short answer is YES. Most of my self-bows have been around for a decade. I have shot one Osage bow (photo below) for 11 years, before I noticed that it was time for it to retire. I have literally shot more than 10 000 arrows from that bow. (Yes I shoot on average about 1000 arrows a month). Now it has a warm place in my shop and we often talk about our adventures afield. If one of these bows break it will be during the building stage, as I put them through rigorous testing, before finishing them.
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Self-bows. Lots of character and very durable - Price on request
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Hicory backed lumber(Osage, hickory, Jatoba or various other woods) - CND$ 450
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Unbacked lumber bow - CND$ 250
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Artificial Snakeskin backing- add CND$ 60
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Shipping not included
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Please check for availability or place a request.

Black Bear Harvested with Osage Longbow

