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I had Josh try it out on my old longbow since the Tung oil was still wet on his. One hand lifts the bow and the other hand slides the loop of the bow string into the string groove on the limb tip. With the string finished, I moved on to a limb tip protector so that nice white antler limb tip won't become damaged when he sets the tip in the dirt. I started with two thin pieces of suede leather and stitched them together to make a nice tight fit over the limb tip. I then cut a long slot in the back side for the bow string to pass through. It is a tight fit and that will keep it from falling off. I then trimmed away the extra leather around the outside and tried it with the bow string in place. I still need to make a string keeper, an arm guard, a finger tab and a case for the bow as well as a set of arrows.
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In the spirit of this homemade bow project, I wanted to make josh a finger tab to go with the arm guard. At some point I will need to make a quiver as well. I traced the shape of my homemade finger tab for Josh's and cut out 3 of them from some medium thickness scrap leather. I then stacked the 3 and used brass rivets to hold them together. I then began to focus on the arrows for Josh's new bow. I got the shafts From a local vendor. I bought Gold Tip Traditionals because of the wood grain look. After capping the back 9 inches of the shafts with white lacquer, I started cresting the shafts using a color scheme that resembles the riser. I will write Josh's name on all the shafts. The fletching will be 4 1/2 inch long LW barred turkey feathers. Since nobody sells 4 1/2 feathers, I bought 5 inch parabolic cut and converted them to 4 1/2 shield cut. Now the fletching begins. [img] http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c239/212007154/josh%20bow/josharrows5.jpg[/img] One down, 11 more to go. [img] http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c239/212007154/josh%20bow/josharrow7.jpg[/img]
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I'm in the home stretch now. The finish on the bow is now hardened. I have the first half dozen shafts fletched, I gave the bow a good rub down with OOOO steel wool to take off the shine and I made the rug rest and strike plate. For the strike plate, I used 2-3 Oz. leather and for the rug, I used the fuzzy side of some adhesive backed Velcro strip I had laying around. The leather was from some scrap I had so I needed to add some double sided tape to make it stay on the riser. Then I spent a little time adding a leather grip to the longbow. The finished wood was very slick and needed some texture. I started with a piece of 4 Oz. tooling leather and got it good and wet so I could form it to the shape of the grip. The wet leather is on the right. I gets much darker when you wet it. While it's wet, it can be formed and shaped and stretched to fit the contour of the riser. Once I had it shaped, I used a blow dryer to dry it off. So far during this build along, I have been pretty good about taking pictures of each step. Until now. I must be getting tired because I did a bunch of stamping and tooling on the leather but forgot to get pictures of the process. After stamping and cutting the leather to it's final size, I punched some lacing holes. I then applied a coat of rubber cement to both the inside of the leather and the bow's riser. After lacing, I gave the leather a coat of Neats foot oil to restore the oils lost during the working of the leather and from blow drying. The oil makes the leather even darker. Now, you can see the tooling and stamping I forgot to take pictures of earlier. [img] http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c239/212007154/josh%20bow/grip5-1.jpg[/img] [img] http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c239/212007154/josh%20bow/grip6-1.jpg[/img] Then I took it outside for a picture in natural light. [img] http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c239/212007154/josh%20bow/grip7-1.jpg[/img]
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I bought a new digital camera that will also shoot video so I used Josh as my Guinea Pig. I told him to shot 3 arrows into the target. I had him stand about 5 yards away because I was burning brush in our backyard fire pit and that was where we had to stand to stay out of the smoke. I told him to fire the 3 arrows and not to talk or look in the camera. His first shot was a dead center hit on the bullseye. The second shot cracked the nock of the first arrow and made it glance out. You can tell by the way he shakes his head that he wants to look at the camera and say something. Here is my first ever video staring Josh and his homemade custom Longbow. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsU5S6fwV6g
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Josh's Cross Country and Wrestling scheule kept him from the fall woods. I asked him if I could use his bow to hunt with. He said yes. I hunted several days with it until I encountered a buck one evening and shot it. I took the below picture the next morning to show where he was standing and made a poor attempt at sketching where he stood. I had plenty of time to tell myself to pick a spot and to take a good aim and then release. The arrow hit a bit high and the deer lurched forward and turned to run back on the trail he came from. About half of my 29 inch arrows was still visible as he ran off. I gave 3 loud blows on my grunt tube and he stopped for a moment and then walked off. I knew I had hit him high but I was not too far back so I was sure I had hit him in the lungs. I decided to sit for 20 minutes but waited 45 instead since he took off with my arrow. At 4:15 I got down and collected my sponges and went to where he stood to take up the trail. There was no blood to be found but the black muddy kicked up tracks made the trail easy to follow. After tracking about 40 yards, I spotted a shed antler in the wet leaves. A few feet further I found my broken arrow. the first 6 inches were missing. Too bad as I hoped to get back my homemade broadhead. The first 5 inches of the arrow broke off after passing through the buck. After going another 20 yards I found the only blood that I would find while tracking this deer. It was getting dark as I kept following the muddy trail along the river. It took me all the way to my other ladder stand so I decided to walk out to my truck to drop off the bow and quiver and take up a path that would lead me back to the stand but would parallel the trail that I had just followed about 40 yards closer to the field edge. As I approached my truck, I jumped a deer and my heart sank. I never got a good look at the deer because it was too dark but I still took up the trail back to my stand and if I came up empty I would come back in the morning and take up the trail again. As I re-entered the river bottom to walk through the tall grass, I stumbled upon my buck. It was just dumb luck to walk into the woods where I did but I will take a bit of good fortune anywhere I can find it. I learned the next morning that the trail I was following branched off and he died about 30 yards past the branch on the other trail. I looked him over and realized that he had died only a few yards from the spot my Uncle Stan used to hunt. Uncle Stan died a few weeks ago and when I put everything together in my mind, I just took a moment to sit in the grass and reflect on Uncle Stan and the fact that I had just realized my goal of harvesting a deer with all homemade gear and to do it in the same woods that Stan and I hunted so many years ago made it a pretty emotional event. Your never too old to shed a tear. I sat there pondering things and giving thanks for my good fortune. After gutting I examined the deer to find that I had gone through both sides even though the arrow stayed with the deer. I expected to find the front half of the arrow and my homemade broadhead inside the deer but it no resides somewhere along the trail of his final steps. I had hit the top of the near lung and the upper third of the far side lung. He traveled less than 100 yards brfore it expired. Exit side hole [img] http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn31/WBH_stuff/nov_8hunt/nov8buck93.jpg[/img] [img] http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn31/WBH_stuff/nov_8hunt/nov8buck94.jpg[/img] [img] http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn31/WBH_stuff/nov_8hunt/nov8buck95.jpg[/img] I couldn't be more pleased with my good fortune. My goal was to take a deer with a homemade bow and arrows, with homemade broadheads and finger tab and homemade camo and I was able to realize that goal in the same woods that I was brought up in. It doesn't get any better than this. I feel very fortunate to have achieved this goal. Now Josh knows his new bow is a proven killer.
Last edited by DIYguy; 04/17/14.
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Congrats, and this has been an interesting thread from start to present. Very nice work.
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Looks great! Very nice work!
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DIYguy, Congrats! I am impressed with your talent and can do attitude! Everything from wood working to bowyering to leather working. Absolutely an awesome thread. Thank you for sharing your adventure & experience.
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Great thread. Nice craftsmanship on that bow. I also have a legacy bow built by my dad and I in my final years of High School. We did most everything very similar, except using Pacific Yew and Bubinga with clear glass. We also used C clamps and inner-tube strips.
I really like the hunting story at the end also.
Awesome!
“I am in love with Montana. For other states I have admiration, respect, recognition, even some affection, but with Montana it is love, and it’s difficult to analyze love when you’re in it.” John Steinbeck
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Great build-along. Thanks for sharing that. Very nice bow and story.
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WWP53D
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Wow, that is awesome! Great work.
A true sportsman counts his achievements in proportion to the effort involved and fairness of the sport. - S. Pope
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Yeah, well, you know, that's just, like, your opinion, man.
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Best thread I think I've ever read. Love to try it one day, the story at the end is the reason I love the outdoors. It really does let you connect with the past, be it uncles,dads, mentors, or others, thanks again.
"How vain it is to sit down to write when you have not stood up to live"
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Dood... you are my new hero!
Friggin' awesome write-up!
Thanks!
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Thank you for sharing that! Well done on each and every count.
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