Osage static for Reas 48/28” (No. 105)

This bow is a gift for my good friend Reas, I hope he will like it.

It is from a nice stave with lot of character, which caused some time for tillering. I let the wiggles in the side view, so the fd look somehow weird. But it is well balanced and came out as a good shooter.

The arrow pass and the tip overlays are buffalo horn.

I did some fuming experiments in the last months with different salt combinations.

In this case the whole thing got fumed for 4 days after a saltwater treatment – and the colors came out great (at least I think so).

Dry heat corrections only for string tracking, the recurves are steamed in and got string grooves.

dw/dl: 48#/28”

ntn: 61¼”

bh: 5½”

reflex: 1¾”

max. w.: 1⅜”

mass: 422 gram

asymmetric

08”: 04,2

10”: 09,6 (+5,4)

12”: 14,0 (+4,4)

14”: 18,0 (+4,0)

16”: 22,0 (+4,0)

18”: 26,1 (+4,1)

20”: 30,2 (+4,1)

22”: 34,4 (+4,2)

24”: 38,7 (+4,3)

26”: 43,1 (+4,4)

28”: 48,0 (+4,9)


2 Comments

As always, great work Simon. I’m curious about the fuming. Would it be possible to apply ammonia directly on the wood to achieve the same effect? I’m finishing up an Osage bow now and thought I could perhaps speed the process by simply wiping on diluted ammonia. Your thoughts? Thanks, Don

Thanks Don,
Fuming works in a closed pipe with a cup of ammonia (I use 25% or sometimes 10%). I hang the bow freely in the pipe with some wire or similar. I seal the pipe carefully to prevent the damps coming out. Leave it alone for one week, after then let the bow another week for ammonia damp give off. Wiping on ammonia will result in only minimal color change, because the ammonia reacts with the tannin acids in the wood cells – and this needs some time. I have done this sometimes when a quick aging was requested, looks like 3 year old osage – done in seconds!
Be careful, that stuff is dangerous to your lungs, eyes and skin!
Good luck and let me see your finished bow.

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