Hidatsa bows ... asymmetrical

[gpw]

 Been reading the old back issues of PA , and came across the issue with the asymmetrical  Indian bows ...  Been wanting to try one of these for a long time  !   Odd there’s not much information on them ,  any of you guys tried one

[JackCrafty]

I've built a couple.  They are difficult to tiller.  Hand shock was an issue as well.  Interesting projects, though.

[gpw]

 Thanks for the info !!!   Was just thinking of making something like that but a little longer ..  ~ 66-68”  ( I don’t have a Horse )


   It may be heresy to mention this here , but we’ve been prototyping bows in PVC pipe first ... Once proven , then we use the good wood to make a real bow ...   

[egurevich]

You can see the picture and the description of the Hidatsa Asymmetrical Bow made from Ash that was featured in the article, on the Minnesota Historical Society's archive page here:

http://collections.mnhs.org/cms/display.php?irn=10288126

[gpw]

 We never got past the prototypes .... they worked so well we still use them ...  And we made a Form to bend either wood or (that other stuff) to shape ...

[gpw]

Bow form ...  One limb at a time , lower (shorter) limb is not inserted all the way to the hinge ...

  Awaiting some Hickory and Ash  to do some Hidatsa style bows ...   Amazing thing is they have little to NO hand shock ...