Golden Wood Bows

11/06/2026

I guess I’m going to craft a Shagbark Hickory billet selfbow if someone doesn’t purchase it first. Right now the billets are ready to splice together and start the tillering process. Why hickory? Because I’ve never used hickory, in the 20 years or so I’ve been crafting Osage orange bows. I harvested this tree early this spring, divided it up into billet sized chunks and have them drying in my shop. For this particular set, I sped up the drying in my heat box. We’ll see how it turns out, and what kind of arrow speed it delivers compared to Osage.

10/16/2026

Optimal 39 osage longbow build details

OPTIMAL 39 OSAGE LONGBOW

I probably wouldn’t have chosen to craft this particular bow, but having challenged myself to craft “Two Billet Bows From One Osage Stave”, I didn’t have a choice. Problem was I had to do a lot of heat corrections to get all the twist out, plus it was simply a difficult bow to craft. On top of all that, we’ve had a very hot summer, which limited how much time I could bear to work in my shop. I’ll do a video soon, and test what kind of arrow speeds I can get. The last time I checked it was pulling about 50 lbs at 28”, so I’ll use an arrow weighted per the draw weight times 10. Close to 500 grain. The bow is near center shot. It deflexes off each knot hole, and naturally reflexed to the tips. The tips are stabilized Chittamwood Burl. The handle wrap is buffalo leather, skived down on the unfinished side to reduce its thickness. I further reduced the thickness by sanding the finish off , then re-dyeing,and sealing before installing.

09/16/2026

BILLETS TO BOWS

Just a quick note. I have epoxied the two billets together. The first of ‘Two Longbows From One Osage Stave’. I’m now carefully sizing the two limbs to match in width and depth, in preparation for floor tilling.

08/31/2026

Chasing a Knot Hole

This is one of the hardest chases I’ve ever experienced , and I have one more chase on the matching belly billet. The early ring… that crunchy ring you can normally run your draw knife through to expose the late ring underneath… is super thin and tight, making it impossible to rather quickly expose the intended late ring, and that wasn’t the main challenge. Chasing down into that knot hole was the real challenge. I’ve given my gooseneck scraper a real workout, but it’s not the only tool I had to use. A narrow chisel, Dremel tools, and sand paper rolled up tight were used as well. I’m not completely finished with this one, but once I get the matching billet chased and the two spliced together, the result should become a spectacular looking character longbow. Wish me luck lol

08/17/2026

How to Craft an Osage orange Center Shot Billet Longbow. A short preview

BILLETS TO BOWSTwo Sets of Belly Billets From One StaveI’m cont...

08/16/2026

BILLETS TO BOWS

Two Sets of Belly Billets From One Stave

I’m contemplating the splice for one of my right handed billets sets. Notice how the string passes over the length of the handle at an angle for whichever limb I choose to be the top limb. This is for purpose of making it a center shot or near center shot longbow. The other set of billets will have similar characteristics. The stave from which these two sets came, was 80” long, which allowed me to mark the two belly billet sets for similar characteristics. In most cases staves are either right handed or left. The same is true for billets. This particular billet set is going to be a pain to chase!

08/15/2026

Two sets matching belly billets

08/15/2026

BILLETS TO BOWS
Got The Two Sets of Billets
From the generously large Osage stave, I’ve uncovered the two sets of billets. I’m not real excited about them though. One set is gonna be fairly narrow. This was the set I had high hopes for. Problem was, the early rings are not real stable. When I took my draw knife to the sides it pulled out slivers of the early ring. This caused me to narrow the billets more than I attended. The larger set is fine, but those two knot holes will be out fairly near to the tips. Too much weight for my liking. I might go forward anyways at some point.

08/13/2026

BILLETS TO BOWS

Got The Two Sets of Billets

From the generously large Osage stave, I’ve uncovered the two sets of billets. I’m not real excited about them though. One set is gonna be fairly narrow. This was the set I had high hopes for. Problem was, the early rings are not real stable. When I took my draw knife to the sides it pulled out slivers of the early ring. This caused me to narrow the billets more than I attended. The larger set is fine, but those two knot holes will be out fairly near to the tips. Too much weight for my liking. I might go forward anyways at some point.

08/10/2026

The Beginning of an Osage Billet Bow

A visual study set to music