Man, I barely finished my first selfbow yesterday and I had an overwhelming urge to go cut some more staves so I went out and found a pretty straight hackberry and went to work! Got it split into four stave that look pretty promising to me! I believe there is something very habit forming about this.....

Yeah… I never understood the "just one more bow" thing myself. Not until I found myself in possession of 4-5 good shooters.

Look at the bright side… No Steve's aren't costing you a couple hundred bucks a pop!

You can start working one of them now. Won't hurt it a bit.

I have a Hackberry available but didn't know how to treat it. So it can be split and worked right away? It is about 6" in diameter. Then there is a huge tree but it is all crooked and limbs in ever direction. I don't think the trunk would be any good besides being so hard to handle. Can a large limb work or does it need to be the trunk? Thanks. >>>------> Ken

I have a 5 inch dying elm in the woods next to the house that I an thinking of making into staves, if I get to it before it completely dies. Its very straight. Maybe good practice wood for my first endeavor at a self bow.

When I started collecting wood 20 years ago things got a little out of hand. When I croak I wonder what my heirs will think of all the osage under the house.

The first picture is the billet pile, then there are the staves, but only part of them.

Hackberry is decent wood. Get the bark off it now, spray it thoroughly with bug killer and seal the backs with urethane. Put one stave under your bed for 6 months and it will be ready to work then. It dries rather quickly. When you get to building a bow with it, make it long and around 1.75" wide. Heat temper the belly or it will take a ton of set regardless of how well you tiller or lay it out.

No sickness....maybe the ultimate sanity?

I agree it is therapeutic to say the least what a wonderful thing to do in our spare time

I miss making self bows.

Hackberry is yellow? I have a piece here I was given, and was told it was hackberry, but it's snow white.

I don't think it's a habit. More like a simple hobby that quickly becomes an obsession then a passion.

I think its the pic, Jeff. It looks like hackberry otherwise. And, you can see the end of the log on the floor, its hackberry for sure.

I admire this lunacy.

I still make several bows each year, but have spent more time shooting than in the past. My accuracy shows it.

I think the sickness runs for 15 to 20 years, then goes into remission with the help of more shooting. ;-)

For sure man! Much worse illnesses to have. And yes, those are very decent looking pieces of hackberry you got there!

Pearl Drums thanks a bunch. Do you wait to heat temper until it is to finished size,then use a heat gun or torch? Do you heat it until it is just turning a light golden brown? I appreciate the advice of some one who has been there and done that. Thanks again. >>>-------> Ken

I like to get the bow floor tillered so the tips move a good bit, basically its ready for a low brace. Then I temper, correct twist, align tips and reflex in one session with a Wagner heat gun on high. Hold the gun 3-4" above the bow in one spot until the wood looks like the perfect toasted marshmallow, I start at the fades. Then move the gun about 1.5" and repeat until you've reached the end of the limb, then repeat on the other limb. It takes a good hour to temper a bow. If you go to Primitive Archer in the "Build alongs" section you will find an old, but mostly accurate hackberry build along I did. Pics say a thousand words.

Thanks, I will look it up. >>>-----> Ken

Thanks, I will look it up. >>>-----> Ken

Re Eric "When I croak I wonder what my heirs will think of all the osage under the house."

When I croak my heirs will have all sorts of wood and hardware to sort out. But only one of them at this point displays any interest....

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