Ozbow

This is about the last of the close ringed Osage.

Tip overlays are African Blackwood.

Financially you could not recover your labour costs if the bow was for an order. Brace height needs lowering so a new Flemish twist string will be ordered.
Apart from some band sawing and hand sanding the bow was made using an Ozito heat gun to recurve the tips, Ozito 50mm electric planer for reducing the belly and a 50mm Ozito belt sander for tillering.

For the first time I used the dry heat method to recurve the tips and although it is a lot quicker than steam dry heat feels more aggressive.

Daryl.

Looks very nice!

Jeff

The bow looks wicked ...how many hours do you think you put into her?...I like the name to, better to be called Ozito than DeWalt

Thats awesome Daryl, I am looking to do something very similar in the near future. Love to hear how it shoots.

What a great looking bow Daryl. I love it.

This is one to aspire to - a beaut of a bow.

Afternoon All.

cmoore wrote:...how many hours do you think you put into her?...

Irrespective of how many hours he says it will probably be significant underestimate. As him how many hours he has put in thinking about it, how many hours he put in thinking how to build it, how many hours he has put researching.

It doesn't happen in 5 minutes. On top of all that there is the years of learning/experimenting and the numbers of the bows that did not work out and the numbers of the bows that have contributed to his immense store of knowledge.

Daryl, great work, thankfully you didn't call it, "Black & Decker". Cheers Roadie.

cmoore wrote:..... better to be called Ozito than DeWalt

I agree, DeWalt sounds a bit posh.

mikaluger wrote:..... Love to hear how it shoots.

littlejohn59 wrote:......How does it shoot?

Unfortunately a neck problem prevents me getting a full draw out of the bow.

The draw weight comes on at a steady rate until nearing 23 inches of draw and as the tips do not appear to open any more the bow starts loading up between the handle and mid limb.

GrahameA put a few arrows through it this morning so I shall let him make comment. As a spectator the 495 grain timber arrows appeared to have good velocity.
Incidentally the bow is 62" n to n.

As a side issue the ratio of bamboo to Osage is less than ideal as the smaller diameter bamboo resulted in a higher crown which could over power the Osage belly.

Daryl.

Afternoon All.

* Observe the hand-grip, that is how I hold all bows. So that answers the question from a few weeks ago. I am not palming the bow, that is an optical illusion and I usually do not use a bow-sling or finger-sling, the bow just sits loosely retained by the loosely curled 1st finger. Further information regarding "the grip" can be found in any Coaching material for beginners in FITA Archery.

* Daryl, apologies for almost 'Robin Hooding' your arrow.

* It would be hard to fault the workmanship in the bow. Note: It was never built to be a Work-of-Art rather it was, from the start, a functional tool and a test-bed. Visually it is very attractive.

* So what does it shoot like. Opinion only as we did not have any measuring equipment set up.

• - It appears to be 'fast' and it was burying the arrows deep into the buttress.
  - It loads progressively once you settle into it and for the last 4'' it is 'working'. This is not a bow for a Beginning Archer nor is it a bow for someone with poor technique. It has low mass and it will react to a poor release/poor grip. Try and strangle the bow and I predict that it will result in inconsistent flight - not a fault of the bow rather the fault of the archer.
  - As a general rule I prefer longish bows to avoid any issues with finger-pinch. The bow showed no signs of finger-pinch it would suggest that the recurves do not start to open until well into the draw.
  - For me using it for say a Short Field Course or Hunting would cause no issues.
  - The arrows remove most of the energy from the bow and it has no violent jar or shock when shot. Just a gentle vibration after the bow has been shot. It shows the effect of limbs that are both well tillered and well timed. It will be even nicer to shoot when it has a non-stretch string fitted to it, e.g. D97 or equivalent.
  - It shot exactly where I expected it to shoot and it shot consistently - it is capable of small groups. Once again the equipment is better than the Archer.
  - In the hands of a good Archer with matched arrows it has the potential to be a Bow-of-Choice if you are considering to enter the 'Selfbow'/'Primitive' Division of any contest. I predict that with appropriate arrows a fast/flat trajectory can be expected.

* Downside. This bow has a thickish Bamboo Lamination. It needs to be shot more to ascertain if that will cause the belly of the bow to chrysal/crush.

All-in-all another lesson what can be done.

That is Lovely I must say, again well done Daryl.

looks tops Daryl,not sure about the bloke shooting it though

Looks really nice Daryl.

An alternative to a larger diameter pole bamboo would be to give the stave a trapezoidal cross section and use a narrower strip of smaller diameter boo. I've done this many times on 2" wide bows with 1 1/2 or 1 1/4 inch wide boo. Looks quite a treat.

But as it is I'm sure yours will prove a dependable work horse.

Morning Rod.

LB rod 55 wrote:... not sure about the bloke shooting it though

I have it good authority that the 'bloke shooting it' is a person of impeccable taste and style.

yeoman wrote:..... would be to give the stave a trapezoidal cross section and use a narrower strip of smaller diameter boo.....

Dave,

I had thought of that but this project was more of a test to see how far I could push the limits of a less than ideal piece of timber and have it survive.

If the belly holds up I will have a much better understanding as to how far I can push with these types of timber.

The bamboo backing had some visual imperfections but which in no way impair its integrity.

Daryl.

That is a great looking bow Daryl, thanks for showing it to us.

Cheers... Rod

another great result Daryl, love it!

Another lovely piece of work Daryl.
I think non bowyers don't really have a good idea of what a bows worth. There also seems to be a lot of bowyers out there willing to sell their bows too cheaply.
Hamish.

Hamish wrote:..... I think non bowyers don't really have a good idea of what a bows worth.......

Hamish,

I think the same applies to a lot of the hand crafts. Unfortunately hand crafted items in essence are only worth what a prospective purchaser is willing to pay.

Bow making is now back to a hobby for me and the bows go into stock. If they sell well and good and if not I am not particularly concerned.

Daryl.

greybeard you can call name it what ever you want. I will just call it pretty.

Hey Daryl,

I have finally got all the bits and pieces together to have a crack at a bow like this and was just wondering what radius curve you wrapped the tips around on this one??

They seem to be much tighter that the tips on the hard rock maple one you posted earlier.

I will be using Red Oak as the belly timber and have wrapped it around an 8 inch radius before with no problems but I think a 6 inch radius would get the tight curve similar to this bow that I really like.

Also, how far from the tips did you start the recurve? From the photos it looks to be about 6-8 inches from the tip?

Cheers,

Colin

Colin,

I was wanting to experiment with dry heat so I made up a new form. The photo should give you an idea of the curve.
Perhaps the Osage may have retained more recurve. As you have no doubt found out there is a lot of trial and error when building these styles of bow.

Daryl.

Cheers Daryl,

That helps a lot!!

I have picked up 2 pieces of oak for bellies so I can maybe try 2 different radius curves. I would like to keep as much recurve as possible as it aids in getting greater velocity and the tight curves look excellent I think.

Colin