Woodland Indian Bow

[Chuck Jones]

I have been reading about the Eastern Woodlands Indian bow and think I would like to try one for my next project.  I dont have a limb but I do have a piece of ash 1 1/2" x 70".  I have heard that the measurements could be between 1' and 1 1/2"'s between 50 and 68"'s long.  I have heard nothing about how to prepare the belly.  I would be interested in learning about side nocks and I dont know anything about them other than that.  Is there some info somewhere about how to create them.  Do they need to be on different sides of the bow?  Any information would be helpful in thinking about this as a project...thanks...chuck

[ben]

check out the bowyers bible volume two lots of good info on woodland bows and arrows. if you dont have that book then a search would probaby send you in the right direction.

[Hillbilly]

Most of the Woodland bows were fairly rectangular in cross section with a flat or lightly radiused belly. With ash, 1 3/8" wide x 68" long with a flat belly should be good. the side nocks are more of a plains horsebow thing than a woodland thing-most of the woodland bows had diamond nocks or pin nocks, but there were a few with side nocks. I would put side nocks on opposite sides. My son has a woodland bow with opposite sidenocks made by Pat B, and they work great.

[Auggie]

chuck,twist on hiibllys arm,get him to post some pics of the bow patb made,once youve seen side nocks,man they are cool.Plus pats bows are sweet!

[Chuck Jones]

How about it Hillbilly!  Pictures are worth a thousand words.  Another thing what about the taper to the tips.  Suppose I reduce my board to 1 3/8" and use 1" nocks how long of a taper would I need.  I understand that I am looking for a rectangular limb.  Would the taper to the tips be say about 8-9"'s.  Lets see some pictures it would help me a lot in understanding...thanks..chuck

[Hillbilly]

I would leave the center 2' or so at 1 3/8", tapering straight to 1" or so at midlimb, then straight to about 3/4" or a little less at the nocks. I'll try to get some pics up when I get home tonight.

[JackCrafty]

Here's an illustration I made.......let's see if this works.

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[JackCrafty]

It worked! 

[jamie]

awesome diagram

heres some nocks hope they help the second one has a side nock and pin nock

[Chuck Jones]

That drawing is great just what I needed to get a visual image.  Thanks jamie for the nock photo's.  Is there a concern that the string would come off of the pin nocks at full draw!  The diamond is interesting as well....thanks for this info...chuck

[Hillbilly]

Chuck, the only way the string would possibly come off would be if the bow was extremely short.

[Dustybaer]

just keep an eye on the stringangle, don't let it exceed 90 degrees.  if it does, you might consider a shorter draw or recurved tips.

[Chuck Jones]

Thanks for the information.  All this is new to me but I am learning.  I have made three sucessfull bows only since January.  By sucessfull I mean they still shoot well.  This is something that I should have started when I was a much youger man at least under 60.  If I can crank out a few shooters that look like bows I will be happy...keep the advice coming..chuck

[richpierce]

I love the diamond nocks.  Thanks for the diagram.

[Hillbilly]

Here's a pic of the sidenock style on the bow Pat gave to my son, Cody. It's a quicky washed out with the flash, but hopefully you can tell what's going on with the nocks. The one on the other end is the same, but facing the opposite way.

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