Making a bow from 100 yo fence post

Pretty awesome. A great watch if you have a half hour. Looks like the post was Osage Orange. Common for fence post back in the day and a wood used often by bowyers.

I see hedge posts 100 yrs old. Good firewood too.

Years ago I wanted to build one using Osage Orange but no one seemed to k oew what ot even was or looked like. Never did make a bow.

There is a reason it is called "bodark".

But I'd sooner work with something fresh cut. At 100 years old, it would resemble cast iron. Hard on edge tools.

That is an awesome set up he has. Would love to know how many man hours he has into one?

Exactly

Very nice.

Man just think if a guy had a wood working shop like his in the video. One man operation. You could make a living making anything you want. I think a guy wound have all the work he could do in a life time. Very impressive skill the man has. MD

My wood shop is nicer. Not as big but better machines except for that big belt sander. That's nice.

I have been shooting traditional bows for 54 years. I have made traditional laminated bows. The guy made a very average looking boring recurve bow.

Willy …evah shoot an English Yew Selfbow…..wicked !

I have many white ash staves drying in the rafters, destined for that kind of project someday.

I've made a few self bows out of Bois d'arc/Osage Orange. A broad hatchet, draw knife, rasp and a chain saw file are the only tools you need. Self bows shoot good and you can actually build one in an afternoon. The downside is they will eventually wear out with a lot of shooting.

I've considered building a laminated bow but I'd rather spend the time shooting one of my Bear recurves.
A company called Bingham Projects used to sell kits, all the components and plans. I'm not sure if they're still around.

Here's my hickory long bow. Along with my river cane arrow.

^^^^^^^ well done !

I can u boys all the 100 year old hedge posts u want. I just cut them up to cook or heat with.

Cool harvest Wallace

Watching

Moosetrot

FYI Osage Orange aka hedge.
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Osage
Osage Orange
Hedge
Hedgeapple
Bodark
Bois d'arc

all the same

great bow wood

Nessy - I have never shot an English Yew bow, but have admired them. The closest I have had is one of similar construction made of Oregon Myrtle. I have actually reduced the number of bows around here. Some Grayling Bears have found new homes. Sending away some old friends stung a bit, but too many for my beat up condition.

Great stuff! Will have to snap a pic of my sugar maple self bow and tamerack arrows to share. Love seeing and hearing about weapons folks make/build

Been shooting some Sitka Spruce arrows lately....very nice

I feel sitka spruce out preforms all the others. Light but strong, coupled with a heavier head gives great flight. Cedar is great and all, but its so brittle. I dont care how good it smells!

American elm bow, cedar arrows.

Hedge trees are still very common around this area. Usually they were used on property lines, rows and rows of them. But, like everything they are slowly disappearing.

I whacked a chipmunk once ...with an arrow...but didn’t take a pic. Nice shootn K Snow !

Sitka spruce is my favorite wood for arrows and guitar tops.

I shoot recurves and longbows. My favorites are Assenheimer, Blacktail, Wes Wallace, Caribow, and of course Grayling era and older Bear bows.

Self bows are great but mine never last.

Wallace - great success! Great snaky cane shaft too! Did you knap the head?

64" over all. 45# at 28". 2" wide for most of its length then tapering to 1" at the tips. True to the nature of sugar maple it took a lot to get it stained. The tamerack arrows are fletched with wild turkey feathers from turkeys I've shot. Zwicky two blade broad heads. I have a couple arrows with judo points some place too, lol. Never did get around to staining and varnishing the shafts. Hasn't been a problem but then again I don't like bowhunting in the rain! Had a nettle bow string on it for awhile but went hybrid primitive/modern with a spider-wire fishing line string (made a huge difference in speed)....same with a number of arrows that were self nocked but settled on the modern snap nocks. On my bucket list is to learn how to flint knapp. Would be awesome to take a deer with a stone point! I don't hardly get time to practice any longer and pretty much crossbow hunt nowadays if I get out at all to bowhunt.

Here's an osage bow I made about 6 years ago.

And here is an ironwood (hop hornbeam) bow in progress on a few other staves in various stages.

Awesome! Where are you at and what club/group you with in that pic with the shaving horses in the background?

Was at a district 5 or 6 summer rondevous (outside of Marshfield a ways) over a decade ago where a guy was working on an iron wood bow. Was also a guy flint knapping there at the time too.

I am in Sheboygan County.

The shooting pic was at Marshall, MI about five years ago, that event hasn't happened in a few years.

The pic with the shave horses is at the WI traditional archer's bowjam in New Berlin. We teach self bow making there for two days each April. This year's event was last weekend. The table full of staves are all mine that I use for teaching the various steps in the process.

Neat!

Fantastic effort and success keeping traditional archery alive.

I used to spend time all around looking for points and quarrying some beautiful multicolored flint from the private land adjacent to the famous Flint Ridge here in Ohio.

A goal was to take a deer with a home made self bow, arrow shaft of my crafting, fletched with turkey feathers from a turkey I hunted, and hafted myself with a stone point I made. Now too beat up and injured to do all that. I may use a stone point made by a real craftsman of ages gone by.

This is a photo of a turkey I took on opening day.

You can buy fresh cut hedge posts at many farm equipment and cattle auctions . Sometimes used posts.
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