It's Done!

Well, I did not know for sure whether I would actually get to this point. I finished my 50 hour project. 48" nock to nock. About 50 pounds @ 25". I'm thanking my Creator for allowing me to create this from start to finish. Also, don't forget the kind man who let me have a fresh green limb of his bodark tree.

My draw was a little high here, trying to rush to get it before the camera's self timer went off.

Hey don't feel like you gotta unsubscribe either, I have some other plans for projects I'll be posting here.

~ Zachary

Tilling Progress

After quite a long wait for some time, I've gotten started tillering the bow--that is--making the bow bend in an equal arc. It basically all boils down to this: take off wood where it isn't bending, and don't take off any where it already is. It's a lot harder than it looks. Right now I'm at 20" and it's very good weight-wise, but I want to get 24-28" draw which means I'll have to pull farther. That means the draw-weight will go up. Since it's pretty much already tillered, I need to take wood off slowly and evenly to slowly bring it down. Another couple days of good work and I should be done tillering. After that, I'll do the final touches and wrap the handle with leather. Next, I'll make some hand-forged steel broadhead arrows, most likely with an integral socket versus a tang.

A small, yet critical lifting of the back of the bow. This is pretty bad on most woods, but since Osage is so tough, superglue will prevent it from lifting any more and breaking the entire bow. No guarantees though! If I had sinew, I would use it.

Integral Socket is a socket that fits on the arrow and is glued in place.

This arrow has a tang on the end that is fit into a split arrow shaft and wrapped with sinew.

Progress on the Knife

Hook Pick - WIP

While I'm finishing up my knife, I've also started (and almost finished) a hoof pick for my sister. If you're not sure what that is... well, it's just a pick to clean out a horse's hoof. Unlike my knife, I forged this out of a short triangular piece of cut-off from my rasp knife. All I have to do now is normalize it a couple times (heat it up to critical temperature 800F and let it cool). Then I have to heat it to critical and quench it in light oil, polish it, temper it with the blow torch and finish it up.