Self bow??

[roninrus1]

#5003

Please educate me on what a self bow is.
As I understand it a self bow is one piece of wood shaped and shot as a bow. If backing is added, rawhide or woodis it still a self bow? At what point does it stop being a self bow?

[Troy Breeding]

#36114

That question has been ask for years. To me you are right when you say one piece of wood is a selfbow. Once you add anything to that piece of wood it is no longer a selfbow. I still consider it primitive but not a selfbow. To me primitive means different natural materials glued together as long as the glue used is not a modern epoxy.

My wife shots primitive. I built her bow using several different layers of wood glued together with wood glue. She has had her bow questioned several times at tournaments since it looks like a glass laminated bow. So far she has never been turned away from the so called selfbow class once they saw it had no glass. The closest it every came was at a tournament in FL. When I pointed out that the woman making the challenge was shooting a bamboo backed bow everything was laughed off and her score stood.

Wether you call it selfbow or primitive is up to you. I’ve shot selfbows and primitive bows. Either way you call it they will do the job and have for years.

Troy

[roninrus1]

#36166

Thanks Troy.
I agree. Also, to me, both are “traditional” along with bows covered w/glass as long )as they don’t have wheels or a stock). Gonna hit the wood dealer here in Houston area this weekend and try to find a red oak or hickory stave to start with. We’ll see where it goes from there!?

[Troy Breeding]

#36258

roninrus1 wrote: Thanks Troy.
I agree. Also, to me, both are “traditional” along with bows covered w/glass as long )as they don’t have wheels or a stock). Gonna hit the wood dealer here in Houston area this weekend and try to find a red oak or hickory stave to start with. We’ll see where it goes from there!?

You may feel different, but I’d warn you off of oak of any type. I’ve tried oak and for me I found it to be too brittle. The only selfbow that ever hurt me was made from white oak. After shooting it afew day it blew up. Didn’t really hurt me enough to bring blood, but it did raise one heck of a knot on my forehead. A friend that had been building selfnows for years told me to stay away from oak. Afterwards I started using hickory with great results. I’ll try to get a pic or two of afew of my bows and post them.

Troy

[Troy Breeding]

#36299

Here is acouple of pics of just afew of my primitive bows.

The bow on the bottom is a rawhide backed hickory.

Second up is my daughters bamboo backed osage with antler tips.

Third up is my wifes multi lam bow with buffalo horn tip overlays.

Fourth up is my sinew back osage with banded water snakes and takedown sleeve in the handle.

Fifth up is my hophornbean selfbow.

Sixth up is a charactor limb osage selfbow.

Next to top is my static tipped hickory recurve selfbow with western diamondback.

On top is my hickory backed lemondwood english longbow with horn tips.

I’ve got afew more, but these were the easiest to get to.

Troy

[roninrus1]

#36413

No oak then. had read of some who started w/oak.
Hickory it is!!!

[fattony77]

#46049

Troy, I’m just curious, are those snakeskins from snakes you’ve collected yourself, or did ya buy them? Sorry to ask a question so far off of your topic roninrus1.

[roninrus1]

#46284

fattony77 wrote: Troy, I’m just curious, are those snakeskins from snakes you’ve collected yourself, or did ya buy them? Sorry to ask a question so far off of your topic roninrus1.

Absolutely no problem.
Valid question!
Only time it gets irritating is when “buddies” turn it into a BS session that has nothing about bows or bowhunting.

Tried to pick up a hickory stave this past weekend but none at the supplier.
They did have some maple that I may try.
Ain’t giving up!
Did pick up a nice piece of walnut and a walnut dow rod to make a bow hanger. Now just need some time – wrong time of year to start a project.
And my crazy wife mentioned painting insede the house.
You’d think after 45 years she would learn to check the calendar!!!:roll:

[Troy Breeding]

#46373

77,

The Banded Water Snake skins on the middle bow are home grown. Got them out of a pond I had on my farm in AL.

The Western Diamond Back skins on the static tipped recurve were bought from Paul Brunner of MT.

Troy

[David Petersen]

#46479

Troy — those are gorgeous bows! Nothing better than hunting with a bow you built yourself. A close second is hunting with a selfbow a friend gave you, which I’m very much enjoying doing at the moment. Dave

[Bounty Hunter]

#46858

I’m with Dave! I just got my first selfbow this past weekend in some horse trading with a friend. He makes some awesome osage bows and liked some of the arrows I made so he has new arrows and I have a new bow….:D Oh and it did take 2 dozen arrows and refletching of a dozen of his arrows to talk him out of the bow. I’ll have to get some picture of it and post them later.

[marinenelson]

#47458

I see that you are from Texas. We have a ton of osage, in Texas. You could probably come by some at a new construction site or something like that. If it’s straight, it splits into staves really easily (when its green, after it cures its like splitting a drive shaft). My dad has some staves that have cured for several years, he might be convinced to part with one if you are interested.

[roninrus1]

#47479

marinenelson wrote: I see that you are from Texas. We have a ton of osage, in Texas. You could probably come by some at a new construction site or something like that. If it’s straight, it splits into staves really easily (when its green, after it cures its like splitting a drive shaft). My dad has some staves that have cured for several years, he might be convinced to part with one if you are interested.

Thanks for the offer. Was looking for something to learn on before tackling horseapple. Hate to ruin a good stave while learning.
Just curious, what part of Texas you located in?

[marinenelson]

#47517

I’m from Arlington, my dad still lives there. The Marine Corps has me in Florida right now, but I come back there every chance I get.

[roninrus1]

#48360

marinenelson wrote: I’m from Arlington, my dad still lives there. The Marine Corps has me in Florida right now, but I come back there every chance I get.

Hey – THANKS FOR YOUR SERVICE!!!
Take care of yourself.
If deployed to mid-east keep us posted, especially if you need “stuff”.
Rusty

[George Tsoukalas]

#52453

Red and white oak are very good self bow woods both in stave and board form. Jawge
http://georgeandjoni.home.comcast.net/~georgeandjoni/

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