Author Topic: Bison Horn Composite Bow Adventure (Read 42575 times)

uncleduck · « **Reply #60 on:** August 16, 2013, 12:06:58 pm »

Quote from: swamp monkey on August 15, 2013, 09:18:43 pm

uncle duck thanks for the kind words. I appreciate them.

Concerning bison horn bow length, I think sinew will be more limiting than the horn. I know Eric (Indian Guy) has made some of these with 5-6 bison horn scales. Mine uses 4 and is 36 inches long. Add two more sections and you get just over 50".

However, read up on your sinew backing and you will find that the bow you have is getting to the upper limit for sinew backing, but should work fine. The additional mass added with sinew and glue, starts to cut into your performance as the bow gets longer. That is why most sinew backed bows are short. Whether or not you should put bison horn on there to fix the split is another matter. I may not have enough experience to say much. IMO it wouldn't hurt.

I noticed I forgot to post pix at full draw. I got wrapped up in my sinew cable making project and forgot. (posted in primitive skills) I will try to address the lack of pix on this one sometime soon. So many projects . . . So little time. I know ya'll know what I mean.

What I meant was this was a belly split off of a stave, the other half is already a bow and I have this chunk as a left over. I was thinking of cutting down to around 45-ish inches to get a little extra draw length.

Looking forward to the full draw pics.

swamp monkey · « **Reply #61 on:** September 02, 2013, 12:27:14 am »

Here are pix of the braced and full draw bow. As a recap this one had the wood tillered first then had the bison horn scales applied. I liked this method best.

The full draw picture makes it look like I am shooting farther up on the upper limb than I should be. that is some funky trick of the camera. I had the bow canted. That is all.

Next I need to make some arrows to fit the shorter draw. I am excited.

swamp monkey · « **Reply #62 on:** September 02, 2013, 12:34:28 am »

a few more pix.

BTW this is a peppy little bow. When I shot my first arrow it screamed off my knuckle. I was slack jawed for a moment.

swamp monkey · « **Reply #63 on:** September 02, 2013, 10:13:50 am »

A few shots before I had the handle and tassel on. The reflex is roughly an inch depending on humidity. BTW I sewed the handle on with a strand of backstrap sinew. The hair is mule hair dyed red. thanks for looking guys and sorry for the delay in getting the final pix posted.