This bow came from a saved splinter with almost the dimensions it has now. So it looks a bit weird as it is in some sections narrower than it should be, the good thing is I had enough wood to react on the bellyside. All I had to scrape off was a handful flakes. IRead more
naked handle
The local bio junk container from the local community is a never ending resource for staves. Always find the most curious things there. Someone has cut down his thuja hedge. I found a trunk with a lot of branches just on one half side (obvious exposed to the sunlight), the other side was clear (obviousRead more
The next few bows will be ELB style, here’s the first made from osage. Staves like this are from free standing young trees, full of branches. They make very characterful bows, in this case with lots of holes. Some going through, some not. The wood is gnarly with a wavy grain and changing crown, lookingRead more
The draw length of this bow is limited to 26”, as the stave was a crooked thing about 62½” and about 2½” thick. Only one side (half) of the stave was useable. You can see the pith in the fade area. It was also twisted like hell. Last but not least it has a changingRead more
The stave for this little bow came half from the trunk and half from a branch (see sketch). I found the whole little tree in the bio chunk container and couldn’t resist to take that golden chain tree with me. All the corrections and curving was done with the heatgun. The deflex of the upperRead more
This little sapling with only 1” diameter at handle came from my garden while clearing the hedge. It was cut last autumn. Two huge knots, one I could layout in the handle the other is lower midlimb. Some minor knots are on the upper limb. I let the knotted areas stiffer and accepted a shorterRead more
I found this sliver of yew in the bio – junk container at the recycling yard. Someone had thrown it away, it was obviously from a dead standing tree. It has a violation from a chain saw on the back I couldn’t avoid – I “repaired” it with dyed glue and some sawdust. The barkRead more
Some years ago I got some holly (ilex aquifolium) staves donated from my friend Andi (thanks bro!). One of those was split in halves, one half was a good one and made a nice bow. The other half was full of dead branches and I laid it in a corner and forgot about it. OverRead more
ntn: 56½” bh: 5” mass: 454 gram max. width: 2” symmetrical stiff handle Really good cornus mas (cornelian cherry) are quite rare at my homeland. But, as this wood is one of the best bow woods here, I take every piece I get my hands on. This one was a special stave, super clean –Read more
This bow was in the fuming pipe for about a week and the result was a very nice multi colored appearance. The early wood rings took much more of the fuming. At a specific light angle there is a wonderful 3d effect in the wood, looks like black / brown strokes are laying in aRead more