Primitive Archer

Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: Dauntless on April 22, 2009, 01:56:00 pm

Title: A long lumpy splinter of a bow
Post by: Dauntless on April 22, 2009, 01:56:00 pm

Well I was going to do a nice showcase of my most recent project, with macro pictures, full draws from different angles and maybe a video or two of some shooting.  I took two pictures before my camera decided it was out of power.  I do have a cheap webcam on this laptop...

Bow is 72" long, made of a Norway maple splinter (thats what you get when you split a sapling in quarters).  Getting those extra staves presented me with a bit of a problem though; I wouldn't be able to have nice flat bellies.  They all have this bulging multi-knot thingy right in the middle which serves as a handle.  Belly is rounded on this one with no chrysals in sight.

Limbs are 1.5" at the fades and 1/2" at the tips.  The bow is for a friend who does a bit of role playing games, the kind with foam swords and foam tipped arrows.  Thought there might be a bit of a market in that area for wood bows.  This means the draw weight is only about 25# at 28".  I did brace it a little higher than usual at 7".  An early heat treatment gave it some reflex, but shooting it in brought it back to the original 1" of deflex.

Finish is a coat of linseed oil then a polish of candle wax mixed with linseed oil.  I'm surprised how smooth and soft it was.  I thought it would be waxy and oily

Shoots that thin bamboo arrow with gusto.

(http://i495.photobucket.com/albums/rr313/Dauntlessbows/splinters009.jpg)
(http://i495.photobucket.com/albums/rr313/Dauntlessbows/splinters011.jpg)
(http://i495.photobucket.com/albums/rr313/Dauntlessbows/splinters12.jpg)
(http://i495.photobucket.com/albums/rr313/Dauntlessbows/Snapshot_20090422_2.jpg)
(http://i495.photobucket.com/albums/rr313/Dauntlessbows/Snapshot_20090422_3.jpg)

Title: Re: A long lumpy splinter of a bow
Post by: George Tsoukalas on April 22, 2009, 03:17:08 pm

Looks great! Congratulations. Jawge

Title: Re: A long lumpy splinter of a bow
Post by: african man on April 22, 2009, 03:45:29 pm

Nice one
I find some times it's better to get one good bow out of a stave than try and squeeze two suspect ones , I've had it a few times where I've tryed to get two staves out of one good one and landed up with nothing ...  :-[ :'(
Good work there , keep it up

Chris ...  ;)

Title: Re: A long lumpy splinter of a bow
Post by: John K on April 22, 2009, 05:11:46 pm

Looks great ! Congrats !!

Title: Re: A long lumpy splinter of a bow
Post by: Pappy on April 23, 2009, 05:36:59 am

Cool bow from a challenging piece of wood. :)
   Pappy

Title: Re: A long lumpy splinter of a bow
Post by: medicinewheel on April 23, 2009, 06:57:27 am

Tiller looks great!

Title: Re: A long lumpy splinter of a bow
Post by: OldBow on April 23, 2009, 12:27:21 pm

Good job on this one. Primitive, too, just the way we like them. Norway maple is one of the most common trees and found in parks, yards, etc. Can make a very nice bow.

Title: Re: A long lumpy splinter of a bow
Post by: Dauntless on April 23, 2009, 12:46:03 pm

Thanks for the comments guys.  Yeah, my university campus literally has forests of the stuff and they cut a lot of it all the time.  I'm just saving wood from the chipper.O:)  There are big piles of wood not far from where I live; I go shopping every now and then for some free invasive species wood.

The sister split should make a meatier bow in the 40-50# range.