Well you can't win 'em all. ! Osage bow.

[Ugly Sauce]

Always "interesting" when a bow breaks. This is one of two Osage bows I made in the mid-1980s. The other one came out great, 46" and about 80 pounds. This one came out too light, probably around 30 pounds, it shot okay but I really didn't like it, (also a bit longer than I liked, for a native-type bow) so it has lived in the corner of one room or another since then.

I've been shooting the "good one" a lot lately, I did some work on it and brought it down to about 50 pounds, and found a good arrow shaft that it likes. So I thought I'd shorten the other one by about 4", give it a little more poundage. I got it tillered real good, but after shooting it a bit it went out of tiller. The top limb was perfect, but the bottom limb too stiff. I got to scraping on the bottom limb, and she was coming along, so I strung it to work the limb a bit before continuing, and CRACK! She busted.

In my defense it was not a good stave, and had some flaws, and was quite dry after it's like 40+ plus years standing in the corner. It was just too weak to stand the amount of wood I had to remove to get it re-tillered. And, I knew it might break, but what the heck! Worth a try. The big break you see is the lower limb, and the broken tip it off the upper limb. I think, suspect, that the upper limb broke first, and then when the lower limb snapped back it broke. Not sure, the upper limb was working fine before I started get the lower limb back in shape. ?

Oh well, again, my other one is a real jewel, shoots hard and accurate. Stacks really hard when you get to full draw, or about 22" so I don't have to worry about over-drawing it. It lets you know when it's "done". I've only had two bows break since the mid '80's, and this is one. So not too bad...not that I have made a lot. I made a long-bow out of Hickory not too long ago, it came out good but still haven't found the arrow/shaft/spine that it really likes.

Okay, fun with bows and arrows, thanks for listening.

 

[Armored farmer]

Old Fred made my bow.
Me and my gang had great sport shooting a winter traditional bow league.
Some moved away. Some moved on. One passed away. We all got older.
I miss those days. We had good fun and ate well afterwards!

I'm sorry your self bow gave it up. At least it wasn't your favorite.?


The last blood I drew with mine was this redneck grouper.


Condolences

 

[Ugly Sauce]

Wow, that there fish looks exactly like some we have in some of the lakes. Never heard them called Redneck Groupers! They get really huge. Yes I've shot them with my good native bow. We also used to shoot them from a canoe, with our pistols. The shooter would sit in the bow, and then we would just drift very slowly along the banks. That was fun. Didn't know you was an archer!

Oh no loss on the broken bow. Wasn't using it as it was, and was well aware that the wood wasn't good, that it might not stand getting trimmed down. And my "good one" really rocks. Just made a dozen arrows for it too, that really shoot nice. Fletched them all with feathers off the Turks that Bessie shot.

Very top bow is my first bow, got it when I was 16 years old. It's a 40# York.
Second is a Hickory bow I made, about 65#.
Third is a bamboo/EPE/hickory 65#. It is really a sweetheart, got it from "Rudder Bows".
Fourth down is an Omega, 56#. It's a real hot rod, really fast. Only four or five FPS slower than my 72# Browning, with the same arrows.
Last is the bow I hunted with most of the years I bow hunted. It's a Browning Fury II, 72#. Good bow, but unless I shoot it often I can't get to full draw very well. Also being so short it has some pretty good finger pinch. I take it on a hike once in a very great while, figure with enough adrenalin I'll get it to full draw no problem. Faced off a mama bear with it once, but she turned and ran, left the cub up in a tree. !!!

 

[Steve Milbocker]

The prettiest bow I ever made was a snakey Osage with bone tips and backed with Diamond back skins. It shot just fine but I didn’t have any arrows that were spined right so I thought I’d get it a little closer to center shot. I wish I’d of got some proper arrows because I could have cried when that beauty exploded. I laid her to rest in a hedge row of some of the biggest Osage I have ever seen. I bundled it together and secured it in a crotch of a huge knarley tree, seemed fitting.

 

[Ugly Sauce]

The prettiest bow I ever made was a snakey Osage with bone tips and backed with Diamond back skins. It shot just fine but I didn’t have any arrows that were spined right so I thought I’d get it a little closer to center shot. I wish I’d of got some proper arrows because I could have cried when that beauty exploded. I laid her to rest in a hedge row of some of the biggest Osage I have ever seen. I bundled it together and secured it in a crotch of a huge knarley tree, seemed fitting.

Wow that sounds like a pretty nice bow. Or was!! I've found it a little bit more tricky to get arrows tuned in with the short Osage bows. Maybe that's just me. I'm pretty excited that I finally found an arrow my good Indian Osage bow likes. They were some arrows I made long ago for another bow, that never shot great in it, but I cut them a little shorter and put heavier tips on them and really got them to shoot. I also re-fletched them, with turkey feathers, gave them a little more feather than store-bought fletching.

 

[Steve Milbocker]

It’s a little sacreligious but the skinny carbon arrows shoot pretty well in them

 

[Steve Milbocker]

The one in the back with the skins is the one I killed. The one in front is still going strong but it’s aged to a very dark Carmel color now.

 

[Ugly Sauce]

It’s a little sacreligious but the skinny carbon arrows shoot pretty well in them

Ha ha ha...NOT an option!!!! I suspect bamboo arrows would work well, but have not tried it. Like everything else, even arrow shafts have gone way up in price lately.

 

[Ugly Sauce]

View attachment 1197525View attachment 1197526
The one in the back with the skins is the one I killed. The one in front is still going strong but it’s aged to a very dark Carmel color now.

Those are some neat bows. "Snake Bows". Wood like that makes good ones, the one that just broke on me was a twisted stave, besides having other flaws.

Here's my "good" Osage bow, 46" as you can see it has turned very dark. Also has a lot of set, as I've been shooting it since the 1980's. However, has not affected it as far as I can tell. Was originally 82#, but about five years ago I tillered it down to about 60#. When you pull it to about 23-24" it stacks really hard, kind of an "anti-overdraw" safety feature. !!!

 

[the Black Spot]

My oldest son has made his first Osage bow this last week. Some guys also helped my grandson make one.

 

[Ugly Sauce]

Wow, kids making bows. That's kind of rocket science for a kid. Gives me hope for the future.

 

[Shanghai McCoy]

We have lots of kids come to events like MOJAM and OJAM where they get into making selfbows.

 

[Ugly Sauce]

Then there is hope. I have my grandkids shooting bows, but they are the only ones I know of. Not much archery stuff going on in my area, that I know of.

 

[3Crows]

I broke an Osage bow. It was made by an uncle in the 60s. It had a heavy pull and my dad had hunted with it. I strung it up, late 80s, and as I pulled it back it exploded. One limb flew backward and the other forward. With considerable force.

 

[Ugly Sauce]

I broke an Osage bow. It was made by an uncle in the 60s. It had a heavy pull and my dad had hunted with it. I strung it up, late 80s, and as I pulled it back it exploded. One limb flew backward and the other forward. With considerable force.

Did you have an arrow in the bow when you pulled it back?

 

[3Crows]

Did you have an arrow in the bow when you pulled it back?

Yes, we were target shooting in the back. I have a Montgomery Ward (Bear?) glass recurve bow of the same era and I am fearful of it also. I did get a new string made up.

 

[Ugly Sauce]

Was the arrow a little too long? Those bows will break if over-drawn. Bummer. They can also break with any kind of "fast flite" string.

The old laminated fiberglass bows, like the Bears, Brownings and Yorks, and others, I don't think you can break them. Yeah I wonder what the Monkey Ward bows are, could also be a Browning. I have an old Browning Fury II, 72#, just to be careful I don't use any kind of fast-flite string on it either. As long as you have the older type, heavier/thicker string on it I wouldn't worry.

 

[3Crows]

Pretty sure it is a Bear. I have the original arrows and went to an archery specifc shop to purchase a few correct arrows to go with it.

Yes, the osage bow was sad, but, alas, nothing is forever.

Thanks.

 

[Ugly Sauce]

Truth. All we are, is dust in the wind. !!!

 

[Hookeye]

I changed to carbons around 2003.
Have run em through DH, BW, Bear, Hoyt and Groves recurves.
Alas, am down to only two bows now.
A 2022 Blackwidow ( last build for me ) and a 2024 Hoyt compound. Unfortunately the recurve runs 400 spine and the compound 340. Can tolerate just keeping 2 spines on hand.

 

[.38 Special]

The only bow I have personally broken was a laminated warbow that I dry-fired - my homemade self nock didn't quite hang on to the string...

I've lost count of the auto-dismantled compounds I've seen dry-fired at the range.

 

[Ugly Sauce]

Can tolerate just keeping 2 spines on hand.

Oh boy, you should see my arrow-rack. !!! I have six bows, and they all like something different. Do'h!

 

[Ugly Sauce]

The only bow I have personally broken was a laminated warbow that I dry-fired - my homemade self nock didn't quite hang on to the string...

Yeah, I had one of the PSA "Long Bows", (two of which de-laminated, but PSA immediately replaced them) anyhow, yes, didn't have the nock on the string and she came apart. I had the the string break on my Omega bow, at full draw, didn't hurt it a bit. My lesson learned there was that if one has the least slightest suspicion that the string is getting weak or worn, don't say to one's self: "it will be okay until I get a new one". And, no more PSA bows.