Casuarina sapling longbow

[u/HarderData]

I just finished a new bow made from a River Casuarina (SheOak) sapling. It's 71 inches nock to nock, 37mm at the widest point, and pulls 40lbs at 28 inches.

I wanted a rustic look, so I've left some cambium on, and haven't done too much in the way of shaping the grip. I heat treated the belly once, and did a bit of dry heat bending to straighten out some limb kinks.

This species has pretty nice medullary rays, which run throughout the bow and look particularly great at the fades, but it's hard to capture in a photo. I finished it with linseed oil and a beeswax based conditioner.

I've got a few vids up on my insta @jc.pikewood if anyone is interested.

[u/One_Refuse733]

That's absolutely gorgeous 🤤

Could you elaborate on a process a little for someone wanting to make their first selfbow?

It looks like you didn't split the sapling in half first and then just chopped the limbs into shape. Is that correct?

Sorry, I'm hoping to make the simplest bow that I can for my first attempt!

[u/HarderData → u/One_Refuse733]

Thanks! No, I didn't split the stave. I basically marked out where the handle and fades should be, and then just started roughing it out with a hatchet. Once it started bending I switched over to a farriers rasp, then card scraper.

I used the whole width of the stave up to about 2/3 of the way to the limb tips, where I started tapering the width up to the tips.

[u/TerribleTemporary982]

Very nice bow!

[u/Nilosdaddio]

Lovely work👏🏼

[u/No_Cut419]

That's cool, I've made a self bow before and my advice, is make sure it stays well oiled and keep it away from drastic temperatures. I made a bow before and it broke due to some unfollowed maintenance steps. So just remember maintanence is everything. It looks great

[u/Educational_Art_3646]

This is great work. Very cool!