Anyone have pics? I never got around to getting one of these!!!

The man himself just posted about Haines, Alaska.

I have come close several times to owning one of Garys bows but never closed a deal.

DDave

Gary retired quite a while back but he still makes a few bows, this was a design he came up with a couple years ago.

I wanted to see how the limbs bent on that same bow. This is at about 31". The arrows are 31 1/2.

Gary builds his bows to be stable, easy to string, bomb proof hunting bows. Mines bubinga and ironwood with a zebrawood I-beam. Red elm limbs with black glass on back and clear on the belly of the bow. He also uses a core lam of glass to help with stability and also has a power lam than extends the fades for working fades. His bows shoot great.

I think the key to modern longbow limb design is the NALS.

Jack Kempf has a new limb profile with multi curves.

I suspect Moosejaw and Jack shared a few NALS campfires.

DDave

A great bow, used to shoot mine at turkey shoots against compounds, won 3 turkeys and a ham!

Ccamodave, Saw that post about AK.

I always wanted one of Gary's bows . Never did do that when he was building.

61# sentman moosejaw

Great comments an nice pic.

Looks like he built a relatively short working section in those limbs - that provides a lot of leverage for the non-working section... makes me think of what Larry said about double-tapered lams.....

Gary told me that his design gained poundage more quickly in the first portion of the draw.

I owned a moosejaw strikeforce he makes very nice bows.It was shorter AMO was 62 inches,it had red elm & wendgewood riser. Sorry I sold it, it was a bow I wish I never sold.

High Pre-load is another way to add speed! Not everybody likes it, though.

Moosejaw Gary Sentman here - thanks for all the compliments. It’s nice to be remembered in the archery field. I will pass on a couple comments that may expand your knowledge of what I have done in my archery years. In the beginning which was the 70’s longbows were quite commonly 65# pull plus. Heavy arrows, 900 plus grains, were quite common.

After I moved to Oregon I started shooting 3D shoots a lot. I noticed the evolution of lighter pull weight bows in shorter length with lighter arrows. These designs were very compatible for high scores on the shooting range.

I believe it was the late 80’s when I went full time bowyer and got heavily involved in the archery world. To pay the bills I had to conform, to a degree, to the changing times that were taking place in bow design. Some of the bow designs that I made were not my cup of tea but they performed well and sold well. I found that these new designs in longbows which were commonly call by us old die hards straight end recurves. I, myself never shot one other than to possibly field test one of my models. The risers were often times 22 to 26” in length. A short working limb performed well with light arrows, less hand jar and often times more velocity.

After all these years that have come and gone and I have made the big circle I’m back to a 64 to 66” length. A riser somewhere around 16 to 18” in length fade out to fade out. I shoot an arrow somewhere between 450 and 600 grains. I prefer a bow for me 54 to 62#’s draw weight. The shorter riser, I feel, is more stable for adverse conditions because the axis point is closer to center keeping the pressure point of the hand more to the center and more consistent. A 22” to 23” working limb for a 66” bow and a total limb width of 1 1/8” to 1 1/4” at the fade outs is a good combination in my archery world of today.

I also have found by setting the grip forward approximately 1” noticeably reduces hand shock apples to apples. It’s a must to keep the tips stable but narrow and light.

The big movement in traditional bows came to pass in the competitive years mid 70’s to 80’s for smoothness of draw. Smoothness of draw in the old classic years was accomplished, basically, by lengthening the bow. But when the bows began to evolve to shorter lengths one had to widen the limb considerably to achieve the smoothness of draw. This had a tendency to give the limb a rubber band action. A high pitched sound rather than a low pitched thunk sound. If one shot good form this bow performed very well. But some of us that learned to shoot real heavy bows, glom the string, snap shoot, etc. found the shorter length, wide limbed bows very sensitive.

Anyway this is my 2 cents worth. It my opinion. Their are variables to consider I’m sure. Merry Christmas - Moosejaw Gary Sentman

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