Now that's old school... ...

so far I have made 2 for retirement gifts

1 barter for more wood osage orange from ohio and hunting trip

1 barter for hunting trip for me and my son to west virginia

1 for $300

Funny thing is I have yet to make one for me lol. the one i am doing now is for me

Ah, using a 'snitzelbunk'  or "wood shaving horse".

Spend many hours making ceder wood shingles, with a 'Frow'.

They don't grow like that in AL, either.  But that time one did.

I figure it as reaffirmation of the theory that you get more outa what you put more inta.

I would love to learn to do that.... I still have my old AMF Wing Chaparral my foster dad bought for me when I was 11 years old.
It is an overglassed recurve 60" long at 45lbs of pull.
Took my first buck with it at 12.... big ol' 7 pointer!
How long are your bows normally? and what poundage?

Yeah, dad used to call them Hedge Trees, or Hedge apple tree.... darn things were tuff and lasted forever as fence posts!  If I remember right they had a real dark center....kind of a grayish black? with yellowish in between the bark and center?

LOL, been awhile and chemo took away a bit of memory storage.....

Hey MMR! save me a couple of large branches if you cut one down before Septembers rally! The wife wants to come to the warrior ride at the dragon, but cant ride the bike that far... so i'll be brining my truck! and maybe my chain saw???  

There's some things to know in order to avoid wasting good osage. If you think about it, you'll realize wasting it was very sinful until 150 or so years ago.

Most important, don't cut more than 4-5 logs at a time, as it must be split, debarked, the sapwood removed, and otherwise reduced to bow-staves within a week or so to avoid checking (radial cracks due to too rapid drying). Also, the ends of a log must be sealed with water-resistant something immediately upon felling to avoid checking. You'll hear the wood cracking radially within minutes unless you seal it correctly and quickly. Shellack is best for sealing the ends, but some folks use paint (but that hides the rings from view), some use wood glue. You can even mess up the staves just by cutting them in the wrong place. There is MUCH more to it than merely felling a tree and splitting it.

I think WD's idea to have a bow-making/woodcutting clinic would be a great idea, and I would be glad to show y'all how to get a good start in your bow-makin'.  Let's do this in a couple months before it gets too hot.

I have more bowstaves than one caveman can use in a lifetime and I'd be glad to bring some so y'all could get started on wood that is already dry enough to start making into bows. FYI, wood dries inward from the outside at a rate of 1/2" a year and since a bowstave is about 2x2 inches it takes 2+ years to dry enough to start bending without crushing the wood cells on the side facing the archer (the wood experiencing compression). There really is a lot to learn. Its not hard, cavemen figured out how to do it. It's just that there's no reason to try to figure out through trial and error what folks have figured out over the past 20,000 or so years.

MMRanch, I volunteer to come up from Huntsville some afternoon soon and cut down a tree or two.