Sheep horn bow buildalong

[blackhawk]

Did ya see this one...nuttin but horn n sinew...I have plans to make one as well

 http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php?topic=13775.0

[mikekeswick]

I look forward to seeing your attempt.
I also have a buffalo horn that may be suitable for one of these bows.....
It will certainly be interesting to see how far a hornbow with no core reflexes when the sinew dries! I predict it will act 'alive' on first stringing

[BowEd]

Same here mike.It will be a bit springy.....LOL.Like a leaf spring.Did welch2 ever show his bow finished?Gotta wonder about the hand shock with a bow like that.

[bubby]

Did ya see this one...nuttin but horn n sinew...I have plans to make one as well

 http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php?topic=13775.0

if i remember right didn't that bow die before he got her done? Bub

[BowEd]

Never read boo or baa about it after he sinewed around the handle.No news is bad news I guess.

[Parnell]

I saw the bow James had built at the classic last spring.  He did a splice of two horns, I believe.  I started one, but have put it down.  I've got two horns cut, thinned some, and straightening.  It's a "long term project" for anyone but even longer for me!
I saw the video that's advertised around...something like "The Sheapeater Bow".  It's a pretty good video that shows basic techniques, but I think you've already got down what the video would show from seeing your other composite bows.

Good luck!

[Kviljo]

Thanks guys, this seems to be a little more clear now.

I get my horn from a scottish supplier (highland horn), but sadly he does not send to the US, as far as I have understood. That's for water buffalo, anyway.

I've been looking through my books, and found a very interesting appendix in the book "Native american bows" by T. M. Hamilton. There's a description of ten horn bows from the US national museum. They give dimentions for the middle, midlimb and tips for most of the bows, and also some thoughts about construction and sinew thickness. Some of them are considered to be made with cow horn, while others are made with more the more conventional sheep horn and antler. I wonder if they might have misinterpreted some of them as cow horn?

Anyway, I will go through the text once more, and decide upon which set of dimentions I will use. I'll post it in a while.

Bowman; I was not able to find any suitable long horn for the bow, but now it seems that it is authentic to join two of them in the middle. I'm sure I've got a pair for you, unless you want to make a one-piece bow (too).

[Bowman]

Ivar. Maybe I should made a couple of sinew backed wooden bows before I went into horn land.  You have the knowledge. I have to learn more about it.  I think I will try to make something out of a one piece horn. Later. :-)

[Kviljo]

Okay, it's up to you   There's a lot of cool wooden bows to make too, and the sinew backed ones sure are quite exciting.

Well, now I have concluded about my project. One of the bows described in Hamiltons book is pretty much similar to one of the bows in the book "Encyclopedia of Native..." The one in Hamiltons book is just a hint smaller than the other one, so I will conveniently settle for the one that has the fine A4-size drawing in the Encyclopedia. It is 30-7/8" long, 1-1/8" x 9/16" at the grip, 31/32" x 1/2" at midlimb, and 15/32" x 1/2" by the tip. It's one-piece horn, from Montana, and dated to about 1830. The other and smaller bow had about half its limb thickness made up with sinew, so that's what I'll aim for too.

So I guess the next step will be to clean up the horn and check if it will yield a large enough piece of horn. Hope to post some pictures next.

[Bowman]

Look forward to your buildalong Ivar. I 'm pretty sure I will make a native american horn bow later.  :-)

[Ifrit617]

Okay, it's up to you   There's a lot of cool wooden bows to make too, and the sinew backed ones sure are quite exciting.

Well, now I have concluded about my project. One of the bows described in Hamiltons book is pretty much similar to one of the bows in the book "Encyclopedia of Native..." The one in Hamiltons book is just a hint smaller than the other one, so I will conveniently settle for the one that has the fine A4-size drawing in the Encyclopedia. It is 30-7/8" long, 1-1/8" x 9/16" at the grip, 31/32" x 1/2" at midlimb, and 15/32" x 1/2" by the tip. It's one-piece horn, from Montana, and dated to about 1830. The other and smaller bow had about half its limb thickness made up with sinew, so that's what I'll aim for too.

So I guess the next step will be to clean up the horn and check if it will yield a large enough piece of horn. Hope to post some pictures next.

I saw a bow almost exactly like the one you just described in a Museum  when I went out west. I wounder if it was the same one. What length draw are you gonna try to get with a bow that short?

Jon

[BowEd]

Kviljo....There is a domesticated sheep called a rambala that has horns more than the length you want.Curled just like a wild sheep horn even double curl.You can look the sheep up on line too.I used to live by a town that had a rendering plant and knew the fellas that worked there.Dead animals come through this plant to be rendered into various different feeds etc.These dead sheep would come through there too.I sold a number of those skulls to a frontier trade era dealer in Minnesota before I started to make bows.I bet he would still have some of them.They are attached to the skull yet so you would have to get them off.If you are interested PM me.

[Kviljo]

Jon, maybe it was the same. If not, that's cool too, because then it means that this size of bow is even more representative. I'm hoping to draw the bow untill the string wants to slip off I bet it will be around 20 inches, maybe. I hope the dimentions will give it a round bend, so that the short length will be helped by a good bend through the grip.

Beadman, that would have been awesome as the second version of this bow   But I'm hesitating a little, because I think the customs clearence would give us problems. I think there are some rules about import of this kind of animal stuff. At least that's what the scottish dealer told me.

[bubby]

Did ya see this one...nuttin but horn n sinew...I have plans to make one as well

 http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php?topic=13775.0

if i remember right didn't that bow die before he got her done? Bub

sorry it was his egyption composite that blew, Bub

[Parnell]

Heya Kviljo,

I started mine with the sheaphorns.  If you want to PM me, I'll let you know what I used as a supplier.