All About Pocket Knives

Short boys with tall sticks and tall boy with a short stick. Something special about picking your own snacks. Good going Scott.

Thought I'd post up a few pics of a osage selfbow I recently finished. I only started the pocket knife collecting a couple years ago but making primitive bows and arrows to hunt with has been a hobby of mine for a couple decades plus.
This particular bow in 1st four pics is 56" in length and draws 50# at 24". Has a simple rawhide wrapped handle and the arrow is shot off the hand.
Last pic is a small group of 5 bows that I happened to have laying about the shop at the time I was taking pics of the recent build. The two on the bottom are osage, middle one is hop hornbeam, and top two are buckthorn.
Thanks for looking fellas

Very impressive. Do you hunt with them?____Dave

That's very cool Greg!! Have any kills you'd like to post?

Very cool, Greg!

Greg, that is good stuff! That Osage is impressive.

Nice bows, great workmanship. Didn't get any pictures, but was visited by a grey fox last night , spied him as I was locking up at bedtime. I need one of those wildlife cameras.

Thanks for the kind comments fellas. Had to head to work right after posting this morning and back home now, sorry for the slow response.

djknife13 wrote:Very impressive. Do you hunt with them?____Dave

Thanks Dave, yes I do hunt with my homemade bows. Gave up gun hunting a little over 20yrs ago and only use my bows since.

TripleF wrote:That's very cool Greg!! Have any kills you'd like to post?

Thanks Scott, I'll put up a pick of this past seasons whitetail below. So far I'm up to 10 whitetail and 1 cow elk harvested with my bows. I've taken the same number of deer with laminated longbows of others making prior to that.. Of course I have flat out missed many others.

Steve Warden wrote:Very cool, Greg!

Thanks Steve, I really enjoy making the bows. I've made somewhere north of a 125 of 'em and still have around 70 about the house. Others have all been gifted to friends and family or donated for auctions.

Tony_Wood wrote:Greg, that is good stuff! That Osage is impressive.

Thanks Tony. Osage is the best bow wood in my opinion and I think just about every other bowyer that has used it would agree although I've made bows from around 16-20 other woods. The guys around the PNW like their yew though and it's a top notch bow wood as well.

bighomer wrote:Nice bows, great workmanship. Didn't get any pictures, but was visited by a grey fox last night , spied him as I was locking up at bedtime. I need one of those wildlife cameras.

Thanks BigH, I'd like to see pics of that grey fox if he happens by your place again, nice looking animals

Those bows are outstanding. Very impressive indeed.

Sunknife, those bows are awesome. And they are not just for looks. A talented bow maker and hunter. I have heard that the plains Indians used bois d'arc for their bows. I always figured that it would be difficult to work with. Yours sure are beautiful, and that quiver is pretty awesome as well. Thanks for sharing.

Awesome eating right there!!!

Had the boys on a mission today......I made some impressive curls (if I say so myself) with my rehandled Colonial.

I should say you did. Those look great. That is the knife you rehandled isn't it? Looks like it is doing the job. Love the hammock.

doglegg wrote:I should say you did. Those look great. That is the knife you rehandled isn't it? Looks like it is doing the job. Love the hammock.

Thank you sir!!

Beautiful bows, Greg.
What a skill.
Could we see some of your arrows?
Thanks.

Beautiful bows!. That's a skill that is a art in its self. I have never attempted to make a selfbow but I like to hunt and shoot recurves and longbows. And now collect pocket knives

Scott, I do believe those boys are growing. And I smiled at the hammock as it reminded me of my year sleeping in one.

Colonel26 wrote:Those bows are outstanding. Very impressive indeed.

thanks for the compliment Colonel, much appreciated.

doglegg wrote:Sunknife, those bows are awesome. And they are not just for looks. A talented bow maker and hunter. I have heard that the plains Indians used bois d'arc for their bows. I always figured that it would be difficult to work with. Yours sure are beautiful, and that quiver is pretty awesome as well. Thanks for sharing.

Thank you so much doglegg for the kind words.

FRJ wrote:Beautiful bows, Greg.

FRJ wrote:Beautiful bows, Greg.
What a skill.
Could we see some of your arrows?
Thanks.

Thanks Joe for your interest, I'll get some arrow pics taken later today.

Doug51 wrote:Beautiful bows!. That's a skill that is a art in its self. I have never attempted to make a selfbow but I like to hunt and shoot recurves and longbows. And now collect pocket knives

Thanks Doug, very kind of you. Sounds like you and I have a lot in common with our archery interest and recent knife collecting.

FRJ wrote:Beautiful bows, Greg.
What a skill.
Could we see some of your arrows?
Thanks.

Here's an assortment of arrows made from shoots of dogwood, arrow wood viburnum, honeysuckle and bamboo. Wild and domestic turkey feather fletching glued and sinew wrapped at ends with self nocks cut in to fit on bow string. Some are split feather two fletch, one is a two feather Cherokee fletch and one is three whole feather fletched.
The last pic shows three flint knapped hunting points made by a couple of friends and a blunt tip stump shooter I made by reducing a thick shoot shaft down and leaving the end thick. The stumper is a replica of a eastern woodland Indian arrow from a museum pic.
Thanks again for taking a look fellas.

Thank you, Greg. I'm glad I asked.
These are so beautiful and so are the beautiful bows beneath them.
In the close up of the six arrows, is the three whole feather fletched arrow on the right?
How do you cut the noch in the end? The sinew must be very fine. What kind of glue do you use?
I can't tell what tips you use on the arrows that aren't tipped with the beautiful flint knapped tips.
The flint knapped tips are jaw dropping. To me, all of this is jaw dropping. Just beautiful work.
Do you know many folks who do work like this?
I have a book: Mystic Warriors of the Plains. By Thomas E. Mails. It has a great chapter on bows arrows and quivers.
He shows a blunt arrow that was used on birds and small game.
Thanks Greg. Fabulous stuff.

Everything Joe said and more. Is the one bow wrapped in snake skin? The bow's are perfect, the decorations is fabulous, everything screams time and attention. Wow great stuff.

FRJ wrote:Thank you, Greg. I'm glad I asked.
These are so beautiful and so are the beautiful bows beneath them.
In the close up of the six arrows, is the three whole feather fletched arrow on the right?
How do you cut the noch in the end? The sinew must be very fine. What kind of glue do you use?
I can't tell what tips you use on the arrows that aren't tipped with the beautiful flint knapped tips.
The flint knapped tips are jaw dropping. To me, all of this is jaw dropping. Just beautiful work.
Do you know many folks who do work like this?
I have a book: Mystic Warriors of the Plains. By Thomas E. Mails. It has a great chapter on bows arrows and quivers.
He shows a blunt arrow that was used on birds and small game.
Thanks Greg. Fabulous stuff.

Thanks again Joe.
Yes the far right arrow is the 3 whole feather one.
The nock end I cut with two hack saw blades taped together, followed by some folded sandpaper to smooth it out. Glue is either hide glue or titebond wood glue depending on my mood.
The other tips that don't show well in the pics are glue on tapered steel field/target points.
There is a fairly large community of bow makers from all over doing this. My wife, grandson and I hit 3 rendezvous a year, one in TN. + two in MI. Camping, shooting and bow making at each for 3 to 7 days and I've made several very close friends from all over the country at these. Lots of trading also happens at these events which is not just fun but allows me to collect some beautiful work from some very skilled and talented individuals.

Thanks again doglegg.
Yep thats rattle snake skin from a big old diamondback I traded with another bowyer friend for.

sunknife wrote: There is a fairly large community of bow makers from all over doing this. My wife, grandson and I hit 3 rendezvous a year, one in TN. + two in MI. Camping, shooting and bow making at each for 3 to 7 days and I've made several very close friends from all over the country at these. Lots of trading also happens at these events which is not just fun but allows me to collect some beautiful work from some very skilled and talented individuals.

You are a very fortunate man.

Here's just a few more pics of the real archers in the family.
1) My wife showing her form practicing in the backyard.
2) The backyard practice paid off as she knocked the head off of this deer at a rendezvous shoot on the course.
3) Our 9 year old grandson Nathan,a natural crack shot who will soon be showing me how its done.
4) Nate and his buddy Brody on the course at a Michigan rendezvous this past June.

Greg thanks for sharing you bow making skills, and your family with us. Does my heart good to see family enjoying each other and enjoying being together.