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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• Osage Orange self-bows. Lots of character and very durable -  CND$ 800 - price may change, check for availability.

• Hicory/Bamboo backed lumber(Osage, hickory, Jatoba or various other woods) - CND$ 350 

• Unbacked lumber bow - CND$ 200

• Artificial Snakeskin backing-   add CND$ 60

• Shipping not included

• Please check for availability or place a request.

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