To all those for whom I've been given the privilege to craft an Osage orange selfbow, thank you very much. As you all know, I try to get to know my customers by posting pics of their build at various stages of completion. On this forum, I would greatly appreciate your input about the bow I crafted for you, or any other topic you want to talk about, including questions. I hope all is well with you, Forrest Shattuck
Some years ago I won a bow that Forrest made, and loved it taking a wild boar with it. Subsequently i ordered another made to my specs, and a beauty it is so much so another friend ordered one from Forrest. I cant say enough regarding the quality he produces nor his integrity.
Forrest and I tripped over one another on a very popular social site. We're both artisans of the selfbow. I had spent many years crafting high performance handcrafted (no jigs) laminated wood/fiberglass bows. Life got very busy for me and I had to step away from my craft. Then out of the blue as my 2022 bow hunting season drew to a close I found my self drifting into deep thoughts and motivation to step back a bit in time for a new motivation in my hunting. I was doing some deep soul searching and found a burning ember from the past. I had studied the works and writings of many bowyers back in the early ‘90s as I was beginning my laminated longbow journey. The ones that kindled a warm fire as the winter of 2022 grew very harsh and very long in the west were the works of crafters of selfbows. I gravitated hard backward toward the skill and craft of carving a functional piece of art from a single piece of log/tree. More than that, I found my new hunting motivation so rapidly became a laser focus on creating a selfbow of my own crafting and then killing my big game with it. I had no idea just how deeply immersed I would become in that objective. There was little difficulty in choosing the perfect material from which to reveal my next “hunting partner”. In all my readings over three decades ago one material stood out with no other in comparison. Osage Orange was to be my material of choice. To make a long story short, I obtained several staves in various manners of on-line searching. I knew I was going to lose myself as soon as I began peeling and chasing. My second bow became exactly what I’d hoped to craft. As I was crafting though, I’d kept an eye peeled wide open on this crafty looking devil named Forrest Shattuck as he was crafting his Golden Wood creations.
As I was having great success in crafting my own high performing, accurate, smooth shooting Osage selfbows for family and friends, the long winter months grew into summer proving grounds. My craft was solid. Wood is a natural material. Some staves turn into functional pieces of art and some get damned close but ultimately fail. Those then become valuable lessons.
During those months spent on my own proving grounds, I kept checking as Forrest was working his latest “Optimal” bow or even his amazing renditions of Nels Grumley’s infamous “Deer Slayer”. I believe I closely watched Forrest as he progressed through meticulously crafting at least three of his “Optimals” and two “Deer Slayers”.
Each time he created one of his billet bows, I marveled at, not only the sheer wizardry of his crafting, but his attention to the smallest of details without ever losing site of the necessary simplicity a selfbow is supposed to be created in.
Forrest had cast his spell upon me. I had noticed although I had begun my following of his efforts months before, the Wizard of Gokden Wood had begun following me and “liking” as I posted my wood born efforts. The next thing I know we end up swapping phone numbers and chatting it it up. A common thread we shared was having learned much years ago from Dean Torges’ writings on our craft. However the reason I couldn’t take my attention off of Forrest’s creations was his very unique approach to attaining the “NEXT LEVEL” touch no others possessed. His approach to crafting his bows from billets split from the very same log even had its own next level yet again in the way he often finds a pair of “sister billets” cuddled deep inside a piece of tree just waiting to be revealed as the PERFECT pairing for one another to enable the creation of an “Optimally” matched limbs!
Oh Forrest had cast his spell alright. He had just begun working on “Optimal 21.” Being a believer myself in the cast of an arrow from a reflex/deflex bow l design, my attention became locked on to his shared journey called “Optimal 21.” About the time he was posting and sharing the details and photos of this particular bow, I realized I was so deeply vested in what that bow was to become, I began wondering whether he could build this particular bow to my favored draw weight and length. When I called Forrest to inquire of the details, he shared that he had already had me in mind as potentially wanting that bow. That conversation became the punctuating statement of the spell he had cast. I’m telling you all, he is truly a wizard of the Golden Wood we all recognize as the overall best for selfbows.
I am now the very honored and proud owner of “Optimal 21!” AKA: Black Jack. This bow will be in my hand as I hunt the west. Elk and deer will fall to this wickedly fast, incredibly accurate, and so lethally silent hunting partner!