My name is William Wood and I’ve been casually making bows on and off for 20 years. Generally, the only tools used were a tree saw and pocket knife. After looking at your website I realize the countless errors I’ve made… wasting many hours repeating mistakes that the use of a measuring tape or selecting high quality wood would have prevented.

I will start keeping notes and paying attention to when I cut bow staves.

The wood that I think makes the best bows is Osage Orange wood. Like, yew it has distinct heart and sap woods that respectively resist compression and spring back into the original shape. The wood is common in the Midwestern United States and was favored by Native Americans to make their bows. I read about using Osage for bows in a museum. I had no idea what the actual trees looked like until my Grandfather pointed out that most people refer to Osage trees as “Hedge” trees and that Osage trees drop large inedible green fruit commonly called, “Hedge Apples.” Wow, I’d spent the better part of my childhood throwing the large brain-textured hedge apples at my twin brother and had no idea of the history behind them. I went to the library and did some research. I found a reference to the black seeds harvested from crushed hedge apples being worth more pound-for-pound than silver in the mid-1800s. Settlers could erect an impenetrable fence by planting closely-spaced Osage trees in a corridor 20 feet wide. By trimming the resulting shoots into hedges they could foster a 20 foot high wall of thorny bushes in just a few years. The advent of barbed wire slowed the practice of making hedge rows but settlers still used Osage wood as insect and rot-resistant fence posts. You can still find 100+ year old Osage fence posts standing while 20 year old creosote-soaked pine posts are well rotted.

I’ve made three bows from Osage wood. The wood is very tight-grained. However, the first few years growth is pretty rapid so the first three rings are very loose. I think it is best to not use the heartwood from the first few years of growth. The trees do not grow very tall nor are they particularly straight so finding a 72 inch bow stave can be challenging. The first bow I made had a twist in the grain so the upper limb would twist counter clockwise when under tension from the bow string. It was not usable. The second bow was 50 inches long and had a 35 pound pull upon completion. I failed to seal the bow with lacquer and it warped after a humid Spring. The last bow was a 70 inch longbow made from a salvaged fence post. The draw was only 50 pounds because I made the cross section too thin. However, it did loose a 36” arrow about 120 yards. I think a more rounded cross section would have produced a much stronger bow. A band saw and electric sander has saved me countless hours… and many cuts from my pocket knife. I even use a pattern to save time and ensure the bows are symmetrical.