Hi All,

I have two old selfbows I inherited that I am interested in seeing if I can get them back into service.

One is an osage, one is a takedown (bayonet lug) of unknown wood (it is painted).

I understand the concept of leaving an old bow alone and just hanging it on the wall. That said, I would really enjoy stumping with either of these...kind of a connection with my long past father.

I would guess both bows are abut 60 years old. They are both in good physical condition with no cracks or deep gouges.

Searching around the net is seems it can be done...slowly...and with patience. My thought was to twist up a couple long strings with a loop on one end and use a bowyers knot on the other and start with a very shallow brace, letting it set for an hour our two each day gradually increasing the brace hight.

The osage is 65" and the takedown is 62".

Any advice beyond "don't do it" :-)

Me personally, I would check them over using a bow stringer or a tiller tree to make sure they are sound.

Then, I would make a string that will brace them to the correct brace height and let them set over night, then the next day start drawing them a a little at a time until you get them to full draw. Full draw for the bow may not be at your customary anchor point.

Then I would shoot them.

I have put some old selfbows back into service and made a bunch. Here are some questions and thoughts that come to mind.

What is your draw length?

Where/how were they kept, especially for the last year or so? In a 'safe place' as far as humidity is concerned?

Do they have strings? What is the length of the strings?

How do they appear? How wide are they? How is the craftsmanship? Any set in the limbs, and if so, is it equally distributed between the two limbs? Or isolated in a small area?

Bringing an old selfbow fully back to life takes me at least a week, or two. I would basically do as Frank said, initially flexing them 50 times with a long string(one that doesn't require bracing) flexing the limbs just an inch or two. I study them and treat them like tillering a new bow under construction. Never assuming they are able to flex properly to any length without my permission and guidance.

Without a tillering tree, either draw it in front of a window or mirror where you can see your reflection, or have a knowledgeable person watch you draw it to shallow lengths for a while, or have them give gentle tugs while you critique its limb action. Just a couple inches. 50 times. You're waking it from a long deep sleep, training it all over again, getting to know it. Look. Listen. Feel. Then let it stand free and relax for a while, study it from end to end. Look for any additional set, hinge, chrysalling, splinters, cracks, etc. If all was well, increase draw by an inch and watch it flex another 50 times. Then relax it and study again. Then if it's still good, I'd brace it to a low brace height, say 3 or 4". Then continue on with the same method. Draw 50 times watching closely how the limbs work. Unstring it. Rest. Inspect. Raise brace height a little, draw 50 times an inch farther, and so on, until it's braced 6 - 6.5" and drawn to your brace height, no farther. Also, watch the angle of the string to the limb tips and don't draw them past a 90 degree angle, regardless of whether you've yet reached your draw length. That 62" bow probably won't be able to be drawn as far as the 65" one.

Once this is all accomplished, and all is deemed safe, it's time to shoot them. Don't shoot light arrows. Shoot something in the 10 grains per pound ballpark, and short draw them at first, shooting them 30 times at half draw, 3/4 draw, then full draw. Oh yeah... wear safety glasses... seriously.

FWIW, when I bought my new yew self-bow, the bowyer advises giving it 2 dozen 1/2-draws to warm it up before I shoot it. So I do 12 from each side, to warm me up in the process, lol.

Good luck w/ them!

Thanks guys. FDP, now I need to remember where the heck my old tillery tree is stored :-)~

My approach would be different than Frank or lefty. Bows dont need warming up, they are dead wood. Our shoulders may need a slight warm up though :). Never leave a bow strung over night. Leave them braced only when in use. Most of the time that is 1-4 hours, although 6-8 is ok to. The short take down of unknown wood would be best as wall art in remembrance of the ol' man. For the osage bow I would flex each limb on the floor several times while listening for any sounds at all. If all is well you can brace it up 3-4", and pay special attention to its braced shape, remember what it looks like. Then give it a few dozen 15-18" draws, again, while listening for any noises at all. Check the braced shape again and notice any changes in that shape if there are any. If all is well, brace it up to about 6" and draw it back to 26-28" and shoot. This isnt a promise the bow wont break method, but its the right way to do it. Dont do anything with it if the bow has emotional value.

Jeff & HH (as well as all of you who replied),

Thanks for the advice. Yes, safety glasses will be worn and I won't attempt until I find my tillering tree which I am pretty sure I still have stored.

In regards to Jeff's questions:

What is your draw length? I draw 30 1/2 to 30 1/2...fully aware I might need to shorten that with these bows.

Where/how were they kept, especially for the last year or so? In a 'safe place' as far as humidity is concerned? The osage was hung horizontal in a bow rack in a relatively dark, cool room with coastal humidity and very little temperature fluctuation. The takedown, which is quite sturdy, was apart and laying flat in an old leather quiver in the same room.

Do they have strings? What is the length of the strings? No strings, I will need to twist some up. As stated, I plan on starting with a bowyers string (looped on one end, knot in the other) so I can start very long and work my way shorter.

How do they appear? How wide are they? How is the craftsmanship? Any set in the limbs, and if so, is it equally distributed between the two limbs? Or isolated in a small area? I'll post pics later so stay tunned. The takedown is broad and think and the limbs are very symmetrical, it is kind of a beast. The osage is a classic twisty follow the grain shoot off the glove example. It has pretty thin limbs and thinner tips.

Jeff Durnell, here are the pics bows I mentioned in my last post.

You can toss all my advice out after seeing the profile of that osage bow.

Yeah she is a snakey one...

Yeah, that's a crazy one. Very challenging profile to tiller correctly. I hope that bowyer knew what he was doing. The color of the back of the osage bow is much lighter than the belly. Is it sapwood on the back, or is it sinew backed, or what? With that shape, its hard to say where it might have taken set... mid to inner limb perhaps, but both limbs appear similar in that regard. It's unique and would be worth pursuing.

Jeff, I assume sapwood, there is no sinew on the bow.

I've had a couple of self bows break, one at full draw and one while stringing it. The one that broke when stringing gave me a pretty good wack and drew blood. Be careful.

Thanks, WT. I will be...

Elderly OCR, here you go. It is not a backing as far as I can tell.

That is sapwood. Id hate to try and make any type of backing conform to that wonky bugger.

I have never had much use for wall hangers, if a bow can't shoot it gets burned up. I have strung up a fair share of antique bows that haven't been shot or braced for decades. I floor tiller them several times looking for anything abnormal if all looks good I brace them and work them up to a full draw over just a few minutes. I have never had one break on me yet. If stored in an attic they may need to rehydrate but if stored under normal conditions I don't think the wood changes much over the years.

well thats a cool osage bow,, when you brace it ,, it should tell you alot,,it seems to be well made,, I bet it shoots,, Im not as brave as some, I would let it stay braced and warm it up the first time,, gradually working to full draw,, but great advice from above too,,,,it would have to be well tillered.. or it would have broke long time ago,, I think,,

any updates???????

No updates yet. I was gone all weekend taking the boy's cub scout pack camping in Big Sur. I plan to work on the bows this coming week/weekend and will post updates and pics when I do.

I have a similar post going on another board focused on self bows. The conversastion there morphed into estimates on poundage. The consensous is 75# or north by a bit. We shall see...

Thanks again for all the great advice and responses!

Stay tuned...

Morning All,

So I found my tillering tree! I also found a cresting jig I built with an old electric motor I had totally forgotten about...woo woo!!

Taking advice from a thread I have going on Primitive Archer, I rubbed the bow down with a beeswax based polish a couple of times. It darkened the belly wood up a touch which I am fine with, gives it a much more orange osage tint than it had before rubbing it down.

I strung it up with a long string that did not require bracing the bow. I flexed it by mere inches about 100 times and then let it sit for a bit and checked the backing. No splinters, no noise when I did the flexing. Then came 50 more flexes between 5" and 10", no noise, no ill effects when inspected, everything seemed to flex well and in proportion. Then 50 more at about 14", no noise, no ill effects to the back, flexing in sync. Then 100 flexes at 18" as marked on the tree (see pic), no noise, no ill effects to the back, equal limb movement. I then tied it off at what would be a low brace, say about 3.5 inches and have it currently sitting like this. Plan is to let it stay this way for an hour or so.

Not sure how to put multiple pics in one post on here, so incase I can't, here is the order of pics to follow:

1) The tillering tree setup with no pressure on the string 2) At 18" 3) At 18" different angle 4) At simulated 3.5" brace

For those helping take a guess at draw weight, I put the scale on the pull rope at 18" and it came out to exactly 40#. What is your guess at 28", and again at my draw of 30.5"?

I plan to keep updating this thread, all replies and advice are greatly appreciated.

Cheers,

Pete

Another update: I let it sit at the 3"(ish) simulated brace on the tillering tree for 3 hours today. Then I flexed it again 120 times to 18" on the tree, and then braced it to 6.25".

I plan to let it sit this way for at least 5 hours, maybe overnight. Then back on the tree and more reps progressively longer. Maybe tomorrow after getting it to the 22" or so mark on the tree I'll shoot it with a very short draw for awhile. I have some 800g+ ash shafted woodies I plan to use.

More updates to follow...please keep the replies coming.

Okay...that's weird. That last shot is supposed to be a pic of the bow at brace. Does the system toss that in if you post too many pics or something? I've never seen that picture before and it did not come from my computer...

Cool I like it.

That’s a cool old bow. And so far, It doesn’t look bad! Good luck with it!!

How much character is too much character? At full draw.

Thanks all....

As for too much character, we’ll see if/when I get it to full draw ;-)~

It doesn't look bad so far. I'd keep going, keep flexing it 30-40 times then hold and inspect, and let down... then go an inch farther.

Twostrings, there's never really 'too much character at full draw'. The features inherent in the profile of the limbs at rest should be recognizable in its full draw profile. Sure, overall, it will look different because it's flexing, and because of that they might be less noticeable, but the features that give it 'character' should still basically be there. In other words, such a bow should not be tillered or shaped in an attempt to make nice even curves like those in a bow that starts with straight limbs. If it is, many weak and stiff spots would be created in that puruit... the exact opposite of what defines a well tillered selfbow.

Our mind's eye tries to lead us to symmetry, and to seek and create those nice, smooth, even curves, and part of the challenge of tillering character bows properly is learning to ignore that predisposition.

update? hope it is working for you.

Sadlly she is going to remain a wall hanger for awhile longer. After leaving her braced for about 5 1/2 hours two tears showed up on the lower limb.

When life slows down a bit, I am considering scraping her down to a ring below the tear and then backing the bow with something...maybe sinew but I am open to suggetions.

Thanks again for all the replies...

"...the exact opposite of what defines a well tillered selfbow."

Interesting, now I like it. A warlock's weapon. Wise not to show the quiver full of snakes, it would just upset the adults.

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