How to build a Bamboo backed Osage reflex deflex long bow 

You have to understand this this style of bow will require many thing's,..... but its the finest bow that can be had 2nd only to the Asian horn bows. It requires bamboo and a good hard wood. Most woods will work as well as Osage orange but,..........to equal woods like Yew and Osage other woods must be WIDER to equal their belly compression. If you use other woods and make a skinny bow the belly crystallizes and crush's the cell walls,......and leaves cracks in the belly. All woods can potentially be as good as yew and Osage orange if they are wider. So,....the prep is bamboos absorbs all moisture in the air,... then the wood and bamboo comes unglued. So,....you prepare the wood and bamboo and put them in a dry box for several days prior to gluing,.....then the glue will bond them together correctly. These Bamboo backed bows I think are the best. Good luck and best wishes. You cut, shape, dry box, glue,... then you tiller the bow. In america,...rarely do we go to a shooting range,... we shoot in our back yards,....or out in the woods. Rotten stumps or a hill side will stop the arrows. Oh yeah,.....the wood you cut must dry for about a year,.... because green wood takes a set,....that means it don't make a good bow till it dries. In America we have book's that instruct us on how to make all bows. books The Traditional Bowyer The Bow Builders Book The Bent Stick And there's a few more and I have no way of knowing if they print them in Japanese.

In the case of the example bow in this video, I wonder if you backed the bamboo with sinew and shortened each limb about .8-1.0in if you would have a 50-55lbs draw @ 26-28in draw. In this case this would be much simpler to build then a horn belly horsebow with siyahs and tempering/setting the limbs, and I think for the time to build and resources this reflex/deflex would be a considerable option. I bet a matched 360 to 372 grains arrow would fly very nicely with that setup, too. The only thing I'm concerned is that since there was no heat tempering of the wood that you have to leave it unstrung when not using it (unless instead you back the bamboo with fiberglass and switch osage to Ipê, lol).

Did you try making it?

It works well

Thanks David.

Yep, everyone's got their own little tricks.

Thanks

you're welcome

Good luck!

Yea, I was surprised as well.

Thanks Melvin

true

Haha, get it!

You’re welcome

His DVD came out more than a dozen years ago

Thanks Kevin

That's a laminate not a self bow...

That’s just a knife blade.

No problem

This is called positive tiller. Whether or not you need it is dependent on your shooting style and bow design.

You can do it with a rasp if you’re cautious.

string walking or shooting with a crawl causes downward pressure on the arrow as the string is released. this can cause the arrow to bounce off the shelf resulting in the up and down flight you've seen. check out my tuning video. It might help answer some questions.

more power? make a horn compound added to the 2 woods, Ibex horn is long and thinner than ram.make a bow that needs them pulleys compounding just to get a draw on it.

kyle iişşş ...."......,,çççöööööö"...,,çççööööööööö,ç,,,ççööömmmnnnn!,,oı

Truoil works well

I’ll cover that on the patreon site.

I’ve seen where guys have straightened twisted recurve limbs by holding the limb under hot water and bending in the opposite direction. There was an article in Traditional Bowhunter Magazine about it a while back.

I did a video about a year ago showing how to build a bamboo backed Osage bow.

If you move the handle down it gets the arrow a little close to center instead of pushing it two inches above center. I’ve seen many bows of symmetrical design that function well. This is just how I do it.

@@clayhayeshunter Ahh, very cool! So essentially you make the knocking point at the center of the bow/string, rather than the pushing point for your bow arm? I can see how this would be advantageous. I'll have to give this a shot soon, when I finally make mine!

SmoothOn EA40

Thank you...

No, it’s pretty smooth.

I think that would work fine. I’d heat treat the belly side before glue up. Hickory tends to take set otherwise.

@@clayhayeshunter OK I will try it it ,will be my first bow I really liked the way those guys in Oklahoma did that bamboo bow that you Had

I think the design in the video should work well with a hickory backed red cedar.

@@clayhayeshunter Thanks. I'll give it a try.

Just a knife.

It’s just a knife.

It worked fine. I just built it for the video though.

Absolutely

I don’t think I cut a shelf into this one but you certainly could.

Dry. Not sure how long.

in your vid is there use 2 kind of bamboo? coz I see diferentiate between in-side and out-side

Bamboo is only used on the bow's back. the other wood is Osage.

A knife

This one was probably just shy of 50@28”

I think he mentioned it in other videos. It's carbide or wolfram wire saw. The kind you use for ceramic tiles.

Yep

oooh!

I think 3rivers sells them.

As much as you want! I'll put in a lot more for the next one.

You can make it whatever draw weight you want. This one is about 50lbs at 28 inches.

Clay Hayes, that’s where most of my vintage Pearson bows come in at. So, what was the thickness you wound up with for the “boo” core? Love that grip wood by the way.