Eastern woodland bows.

[whitewoodshunter]

I have recently taken a strong liking to the Eastern Woodlands style of bow. In fact last Friday I took a small doe with a sinew backed, Red Oak, Eastern Woodlands style bow.The bow is 60 ntn and pulls 55@ 25#. Anyone else like to build this style of bow? And if so please show pics. I need something to compare my work to.

[welch2]

here's one of mine 45# at 28" sinew backed .









Not the prettiest bow I ever made , but a good shooter.

Ralph

[whitewoodshunter]

What kind of wood is that?

[NOMADIC PIRATE]

Nice arc on that bow Ralph, so what's considered a estern woodlands bow ?

[Papa Matt]

Nice tiller, thanks for sharing. I'm with Pirate though--what's considered an "eastern woodlands" type of bow?


~~Papa Matt

[YewArcher]

The eastern woodland indians are all the EAST coast indains from from northern canada all the way to florida and into the midwest. It is a pretty genaric term like "plains indians". The differnce between bows and tribes in the eastern woodlands is HUGE. Its much better to work from smaller areas or tribes because there is such a varience in woods and style of eastern woodland bows. very few of these tribes used sinew backed bows. They for the most part used selfbows of white woods.

Hope that helps a bit.

Here are a few Eastern wood land bows:










Those are a few examples of the bows.






Steve

[welch2]

Thanks Manny and Matt . I can't remember what kind of wood that bow is right now .My mind is a bit cluttered ,ash or elm one. It was my first attempt to make a Sudbury like bow . I've gave it away a few years ago. I do remember it has a hemp string.

I think when someone says 'eastern woodland bow' they mean a of a type like would have been by one of the tribes east of the big muddy river.

Ralph

[YewArcher]

lol.....opps......I meant EAST COAST!!!!!!

Sorry about that!

Steve

[George Tsoukalas]

Gentleman, awesome bows! I love the East Coast design. Easy to make. 99% of the board bows I've made are of that ilk. Very little hand shock provided the handle bending is kept low by the tiller. Why back it? In my yard, I've go black locust, ash, maple, oak, beech and ash. Bow wood heaven! No need. Great bow wood is readily available. Jawge

[orcbow]

Here's one that I have been working on. It's 64" long 1 1/4" wide at the center,1/2" wide tips, made of shagbark hickory. It has pretty fine growth rings, which I believe leads to weaker wood. So this bow took 2" of set, but draws 43# at 27". It's for a friend who wants to do very close range deer hunting. I think it would do it, but it's up to him to decide. I'm making another one also, and he gets to choose between them.
Here's the bow with stain on it. I just took fresh fallen walnut husks and rubbed on. 100% Primitive  !




I am not an expert on this, but from what I have seen in books, there is one style that shows up all across the diverse area referred to as the Eastern Woodlands. It is the long, narrow bow, rectangular in cross section. I think of eastern woodlands more as a type of forest, with certain kinds of trees that grow tall and straight. So where ever hickory grows, or elm, for example, it probably made sense to make this style of bow, given the woodworking technology that was available. Of course there are also other styles and variations. But say that you need a bow fast, have stone tools and antler wedges to work with, and you find a recent-storm downed giant hickory tree. Hmmm??? I have even seen storm blasted trees with pre-split bow staves just standing there. Too bad the last time I saw one it was in a State Park. 

[NOMADIC PIRATE]

nice bows, thanx guys.

so looks like the bows mainly have very little taper to make the tips not much narrower than the middle of the bow.


O.K., lets see yours white woodhunter

[YewArcher]

Yar Jawge I agree. There are some real fine Eastern Woodlands bows to make. Some real creative people. Some tribes really got pretty decorative with sculpted heads and such. I have a liking towards the Algonkian and the Potowatomi bows. I also LOVE the Cayuga indian bows. I have a pair of those bent, shaped and a waiting my time to tiller them. A great selections of woods as well.

They however used very little osage. Probably cause of that nasty sap wood! .

manny, some did taper but for the most part genericly the answer is no......they did not taper most of there bows. Actully allot have big spear tips and heads or klunky spade shapes. All very very cool and I love them and when making them am not thinking efficiant or fps. 

Steve

[JackCrafty]

Eastern woodland bows are fascinating.  I especially like the ones with scalloped edges and such.  Hickory allows for a tremendous variation in design, and it seems the Indians took full advantage of it.  Good thread.

[Hillbilly]

They however used very little osage

That's because it doesn't grow here (or didn't at that time). In my area, most of the bows were made in the same design (long, rectangular, flat arc tiller, little width taper) but were mostly made from locust with the occasional mulberry, hickory, elm, sassafras, etc. Locust is the "osage of the East" and seems to have been preferred wherever it was available.

[whitewoodshunter]

I would post pics but I can't figure out how. I'm pretty computer illiterate.