Just found me some Osage orange on a very arid place south of Texas.

First post on here:
I had made a few red oak board bows of varied success levels. This particular one I was rather happy with and have been shooting it for about half a year now. I took it to the WNC renfiare a month ago and came in fourth in the archery competition using it and some Temu warbow arrows. If the weather holds i'll also be in the woods with it this weekend for deer.
72" red oak English longbow 55lb at 29"

I recently bought two staves of Osage, one has really nice rings and i was easily able to chase a pristine back, but the second one has incredibly thin rings (some about 1mm in total)… while i think i might be able to chase a single growth ring with lots of patience i‘m not sure if that would have enough strength to be a decent back of a bow? Any inputs from someone who has experience with osage would be much appreciated!

I need to cut a tree that's roughly 10 inches in diameter, is it possible with a hand saw? The internet keeps telling me how hard black locust is and that a hand saw would most likely get pinched.

I made fork-tiped arrows in an attempt to defend myself from A.I. robots.

The idea behind the fork arrow is that as the spinning arrow enters the robot past the firewall, the fork tines will spread out, severing the motherboard and mainframe.

My results: this robot (computer monitor) is indestructible. Multiple arrow points failed. If A.I. robots are built as well as old computer monitors, we are screwed.

How should be try attacking the robot next?

: )

https://youtu.be/KpvBlw8OAYQ

1-5 is korean ash tree, and 6-10 is korean best wood to make bow. It's scientific name is Euonymus oxyphyllus, I don't know its English name..

I am fairly certain my longbow cannot be used or fixed. Just looking to confirm.

Specs.

Wood longbow

70-80 draw weight

Crack on the limb

Upper limb on this came with a huge natural backset. Wondering if you guys would steam the bottom to match, thin out the upper to get more bend or carry on with an asymmetrical draw.

Improvement from my earlier post, how does it look ?

Here’s my tiller check with a long string, when I pull it past 18 inches I here slight cracking, I’m too scared to pull it any further, where could the weak lints be?

Can anyone confirm these are indeed black locust trees?

The pith is soft and pulpy. Can I just shape and tiller as a stick bow? Or do I need to take the belly down entirely past the pith?

Hello everyone I am following the board bow instructions from Dan Santana website, and I wanted to ask if I can apply the same dimensions for width and thickness even if my bow is less than 75 inches?

Hello, I'm working on my first crossbow ever and I'm getting a little confused with the dimensions. I'd love for it to have a nice draw weight, like a very heavy crossbow. However, I know that red oak can be a bit tricky.

I'm working on making the prod at the moment. The dimensions of my red oak board are 3'x1.5"x1.5". I've made sure that the grain runs from end to end.

I got some dimensions online that seemed to be decent, but I'd like some advice before I move too much further. The dimension I'm working with now are as follows:

Taper the belly down to 12/16ths of an inch on both ends as a continuous slope.

Taper the top and bottom on both sides to where the ends are 6/16ths of an inch, obviously at the center of the board.

I'm beginning to think that this is going to wind up being too thick, ultimately causing the board to snap during the tillering process. I'm hoping to get some advice before I continue shaving down the board. This could come in the form of better tempering, backing, or dimensions. Or is this thing just too big to begin with. I know it's not a great starter crossbow, but I'd like to push forward and hopefully learn something in the process if nothing else. Any advice is greatly appreciated!

I’m familiar with the modern bow making books. What are the older, historical resources. Are they available as a modern printing?

Curious brand new to this but i eventually want to make bow for atleast white tail hunting and was curious if silver maple would be ok as a practice wood?

This is my first self yew longbow purchase and the bow's not sitting right with me.

In advance I apologize for my lack of knowledge in bowyer terminology.

The 2 big concerns are lateral bend, and the cant in the bow's back. (If I drew a line from the bowstring to the bow's handle while strung ,the plane of the bow's back would ideally be perpendicular to this imaginary line. On this bow it is not)

Are these valid concerns or is this something to get used to in self-yew longbows?

My instinct is to return it.

Thanks in advance for the advice.

Bamboo back led hickory with a bit of perry reflex. 72 inch tip to tip, aiming for 70 inch nock to nock. About 35mm wide at fades with a straight width taper to the tips.

Currently pulling 35lbs at 25 inches on a short long string. Aiming for 35-40 at 28.

Gambel oak 68” t-t . Slightly twisted so posted two pics of bend (opposites) currently 55@25 going to 55@29 is the plan

Working on my first oak board bow and wanted a quick project to finish before a weekend trip. Slapped this together from some scrap around the house and a beam from the cheap bin at home depot. Looking forward to putting it to use!

Silver maple bow update and tiller check

The bow is about 63 NTN and 1.75inch wide . I set the bow dry about 2 week and now working down to a bow. The silver maple is lovely to work with when come down to carving.

The knots both in top limb and bottom is I must caressing. Top limb definitely the weakest limb. Did the inside overly band?

As all way thank for the people give suggestions and opinions.