Ozbow

Evening All,

My young fella has been at me to build him a bow - so i built 2. One for him, 3.5yrs, and one for my daughter, 2yrs. I realised the other day it's been almost 7yrs since i built one.

The one for my daughter was just a little swampy paperbark branch i whittled down to 40", 3-4lb @19" with 5.5" brace. Coupled with little bamboo arrows and .44 mag shells up front. Great little thing for her to start on.

the one i made for my son (3 going on 10), is a little more serious. Spotted Gum, 52.5" Ntn, and about 12-15lb @ 25" - tillered to 26" but starts to stack out after 25.5", being so short.

It's of Andaman style with wide limbs (45mm x 8mm) at the widest part, and about 8" of static tip at each end. 6.5" of brace height and has taken about 0.5" of set - which i am pretty please with considering the limb design. Shorter, stiffer lower limb and offset handle - although it is massively exaggerated by this photo.
It has some lovely grain, so i just finished it in a gloss. It did have some wavy grain and a little mischief on the back i had to watch, so a couple of drops of super glue were helpful around an inclusion and small lifting splinter in waves.

Arrows are bamboo with target points. Handle is beautifully soft yellowish leather. I placed some goat's hair at the bottom of the handle, along with some red beed seed. Shelf is pig's tusk and some cow hide on the striking plate.

At the end of the day, it was just great to have bow in the vice and wood scrapping on the shed floor. However, seeing the kids enjoy them is very rewarding too.

Cheers

Well done Otis,

Thank you for the photos and short story. Your children should get hours of pleasure from them.

Daryl.

Nice work Otis, I am sure your kids are stoked with their new bows. Well done.

Cheers, Rod

Hi Otis,

This is an excellent post. I've been slowly becoming more eager to make a selfbow over the past few months and you have given my eagerness more of a boost.

I've made a few laminated bows with my mates form, and have made only one selfbow. But once the selfbow was complete, I found myself pulling it out more often than the others. There's something nice about selfbows that you don't get with other bows.

I especially like the limb shape, how they start wider at the handles and narrow for a fair length near the tip. I also think it's a great way to introduce kids to the sport.

Thanks for sharing,
Scuzz

Nice work. I'm sure the kids will enjoy many hours of shooting with you.

Jeff

good story Mate and great Bows, thanks for sharing

regards Perry

Thanks All.

Scuzz, get into it. There should be some good wood around your way