An Algonquin style bow

[Dauntless]

I came back to see my parents for a couple of weeks and have been profiting of the workshop and board staves I've stashed. 

The Manitoban sun does a much better job lighting a bow than the light in my crumbling apartment in Quebec city.  This bow is made of a sugar maple board I chased a ring on.  The best ring was from the inside of the tree so the bow's back is a little concave .

She is 70" long 68" ntn, 1¼" wide at the handle and ¾" at the tips.  65# @ 28" which was really hard for me at first, but after shooting in is actually quite pleasant.  She has a little less than 2" of just unbraced set.  The whole thing was made with a block plane, a rasp and a cabinet scraper in about two days.  Any problems with the tiller would be great to mention: The other bows I've made from this board are in pieces.

It has no finish yet, I'm not sure what to use or if anything would have been.










Yeah, I'm quite pale, even for a Canadian.

[JackCrafty]

Cool!

As for the finish, I think they were heavily burnished and then coated with bear grease.

[Hillbilly]

Good looking bow, tiller looks pretty good, too. I like those eastern Woodland D-bows. Yeah, you need some kind of finish on it for sure, or it'll soak up moisture and take a bunch of set. If you're going after a traditional finish for that style, it would probably be bear grease. Any kind of animal fat would work, even bacon grease, but I would keep it away from mice and dogs if you use it. If you're not worried about historical correctness, spar urethane, Tru-oil, parrafin wax, or many other things will work.

[Hrothgar]

Dauntless, nice looking bow. I don't see anything wrong with the tiller. If you have had previous problems with this wood breaking you might consider putting a strip of linen on the back. Good job.

[billy]

That's a great lookin bow, and the tiller looks perfect!  Great job!

[Dauntless]

Thanks for the comments guys.  I'm weighing the options of having a permanently greasy bow or having an incorrect finish.  I think I'll go with the grease, it'll give me an excuse to fry up some bacon. 

[Pat B]

Your bow won't be greasy with a grease finish. I've done a few with bear grease and they don't smell, are not greasy, have a satin finish are are fairly water proof.

[DanaM]

Nicely done and congrats she looks good

[George Tsoukalas]

Excellent tiller on that bow. You've got some violations on the back too. I usually heat in the grease with a heat gun. It's one of the best sealers. Well done. Jawge

[OldBow]

Great bow. This would be an ELB, would it not? We'll look at it soon for Bow of the Month fun.

[Christophero]

OldBow, I think it falls more in line with the "EIB", Eastern Indian Bow .
That is nearly the design I took measurments from a bow displayed in the museum at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio concerning the Miami Indians (Miami River Valley area).  Very similar. 
How does it shoot?

[Dauntless]

That's great news, the bacon is in the pan.

I should have mentioned this bow is ripped off the Algonquin bow drawn on page 65 of the TBB2.  The design is pretty similar to the Cherokee war bows though.  The cross section is pretty rectangular on my bow with well rounded edges.  It's not the most comfortable bow to shoot (at 65# too), but it has ripped my target to pieces.

I left a bunch of patches while chasing a ring that look like grain violations.  I didn't want to gouge the sound layer with my goose neck scraper.  Plus I hear sugar/rock/hard maple is pretty tension strong.

I'm not sure if this would be considered an ELB, it's more of a long D bow.

[jamie]

there will be some scent from the bacon fat. if its powerful , hold it over a smoky fire. or smudge it with cedar bark. the smoke will kille the bacon smell. excellent work. thats my kind of bow.

[Jesse]

looks great

[ricktrojanowski]

What a great looking bow.  The clean simplicity of it makes it really beautiful.  Nice job on the tiller.  As far as finish I have never used a grease finish, but I did do a paraffin finish.  I was trying to keep it primitive looking and I was happy with the way it came out.  It looked pretty natural and was easy.  Keep up the good work.