Longbow building class offered by Cedar Rapids IA

Too bad about the pipes, glad to hear ya got some fish though, where were you guys at?

Jeremy

Just north of Hackensack.

Ten Mile by chance?

yep

That was a pretty random guess. There are a lot of really good lakes in that area. I fish it often, and like eisert, I would never give out lake names.

Over time, many types of building skills have been
lost to modern manufacturing. A skill that is still used
today, as it has been for generations, is bow building.
If you have an interest in building your own osage orange longbow with the help of an experienced instructor, this is your chance – offered through Linn County Conservation Department.
Gene Winter has been building bows for many years
and will be sharing his skill with workshop
participants as they build their own longbows on Saturday, February 20, and Sunday,
February 21 from 8:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. The workshop
will be held at our maintenance shop, which is
located behind the Conservation Department’s
administrative building at 1890 County Home Road
(next to the Abbe Center in rural Marion).
Workshop cost is $200 per person which includes
one stave. Additional staves may be purchased for
an additional cost. Pre-registration by February 17 is
required, as class size is limited. For more information
or to pre-register, contact Chuck at 319-892-6489.

Chuck, I did a job for a guy that lived in Bertram just outside of Cedar Rapids about 10 years ago. He taught a course then for the DNR about building bows out of Osage Orange. He built everything, arrows, arrowheads and he did something different to attach the feathers to the shafts, he didn’t use glue. He even used a certain rock and actually chipped his arrowhead out of that rock. He shot all his deer with this equipment and rock arrowheads. He did say when a person split the Osage orange you wanted to follow the grain and what that piece had to offer and do about as little shapeing to make it look pretty as possible because it took the strength out of the bow. He did say hes made alot of bows and arrows and they kill a deer just like a modern bow. He said a 30 yrd shot wasn’t a problem, even with rock arrowheads. Pretty neat and Id like to try one once. Southern Iowa is where the Osage Orange grows, I also heard Lemon wood is good for bows too.

Sure they kill a whitetail Dan – with over a thousand years of bowhunting by the natives I would say they were effective on elk, bison, and whatever else they desired to harvest as well. It’s an art form just selecting and preparing the staves for the class. Gene throws out those he doesn’t deem will cut the mustard. And as you say – each one is unique and interesting. One of the staves I had started to build into a bow was exceptionally red in color (from a male tree I believe Gene said – osage orange is one of those unusual plants that exists as either male or female)… I had touble seeing the growth rings with it being such dark grain in the lighting of our woodshop so Gene invited me to visit his shop to finish that bow. We even placed some moose antler tips on it – its very cool – and the first left handed bow of my life – since I was trained right handed as a kid I had never switched. I am going to kill a deer with it next and hope to get back to shooting in the fashion I was intended to shoot. That said I use aluminum arrows and zwickey broadheads since I have never learned to knap flint or chert. It’s interesting – just too long term of a process to learn and get good at for my patience levels – but maybe someday – right? At any rate – it’s a great class with great instructors – we could use a few more folks to sign up for it to ensure it’s a go – so don’t be shy if you have an interest – get ahold of me before the 17th – please!

The other two bows I have built in the class have had the yellow color that the rest of the staves are usually in and had no issues viewing the growth rings. Some guys race through the class and are done on Sunday morning with satisfactory results. You also get to make your own bowstring and shoot your new bow before you leave the class. It’s very satisfying – and I cannot wait to kill a dear with my latest build… gotta put in some treestand time this fall! You’ll hear my yell of excitement when that all goes down – wherever you are in the mid-West. I can’t wait! Good luck in your endeavors in the great outdoors. Chuck