Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: Dauntless on May 26, 2009, 01:19:56 pm
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I came back to see my parents for a couple of weeks and have been profiting of the workshop and board staves I've stashed.
The Manitoban sun does a much better job lighting a bow than the light in my crumbling apartment in Quebec city. This bow is made of a sugar maple board I chased a ring on. The best ring was from the inside of the tree so the bow's back is a little concave . :-[
She is 70" long 68" ntn, 1¼" wide at the handle and ¾" at the tips. 65# @ 28" which was really hard for me at first, but after shooting in is actually quite pleasant. She has a little less than 2" of just unbraced set. The whole thing was made with a block plane, a rasp and a cabinet scraper in about two days. Any problems with the tiller would be great to mention: The other bows I've made from this board are in pieces.
It has no finish yet, I'm not sure what to use or if anything would have been.
(http://i495.photobucket.com/albums/rr313/Dauntlessbows/easternwoodlands026.jpg)
(http://i495.photobucket.com/albums/rr313/Dauntlessbows/easternwoodlands025.jpg)
(http://i495.photobucket.com/albums/rr313/Dauntlessbows/easternwoodlands020.jpg)
(http://i495.photobucket.com/albums/rr313/Dauntlessbows/easternwoodlands022.jpg)
(http://i495.photobucket.com/albums/rr313/Dauntlessbows/easternwoodlands011.jpg)
(http://i495.photobucket.com/albums/rr313/Dauntlessbows/easternwoodlands012.jpg)
(http://i495.photobucket.com/albums/rr313/Dauntlessbows/easternwoodlands019.jpg)
(http://i495.photobucket.com/albums/rr313/Dauntlessbows/easternwoodlands017.jpg)
Yeah, I'm quite pale, even for a Canadian.
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Cool! 8)
As for the finish, I think they were heavily burnished and then coated with bear grease.
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Good looking bow, tiller looks pretty good, too. I like those eastern Woodland D-bows. Yeah, you need some kind of finish on it for sure, or it'll soak up moisture and take a bunch of set. If you're going after a traditional finish for that style, it would probably be bear grease. Any kind of animal fat would work, even bacon grease, but I would keep it away from mice and dogs if you use it. :) If you're not worried about historical correctness, spar urethane, Tru-oil, parrafin wax, or many other things will work.
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Dauntless, nice looking bow. I don't see anything wrong with the tiller. If you have had previous problems with this wood breaking you might consider putting a strip of linen on the back. Good job.
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That's a great lookin bow, and the tiller looks perfect! Great job!
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Thanks for the comments guys. I'm weighing the options of having a permanently greasy bow or having an incorrect finish. I think I'll go with the grease, it'll give me an excuse to fry up some bacon. :D
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Your bow won't be greasy with a grease finish. I've done a few with bear grease and they don't smell, are not greasy, have a satin finish are are fairly water proof.
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Nicely done and congrats she looks good :)
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Excellent tiller on that bow. You've got some violations on the back too. I usually heat in the grease with a heat gun. It's one of the best sealers. Well done. Jawge
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Great bow. This would be an ELB, would it not? We'll look at it soon for Bow of the Month fun.
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OldBow, I think it falls more in line with the "EIB", Eastern Indian Bow ;D.
That is nearly the design I took measurments from a bow displayed in the museum at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio concerning the Miami Indians (Miami River Valley area). Very similar.
How does it shoot?
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That's great news, the bacon is in the pan.
I should have mentioned this bow is ripped off the Algonquin bow drawn on page 65 of the TBB2. The design is pretty similar to the Cherokee war bows though. The cross section is pretty rectangular on my bow with well rounded edges. It's not the most comfortable bow to shoot (at 65# too), but it has ripped my target to pieces.
I left a bunch of patches while chasing a ring that look like grain violations. I didn't want to gouge the sound layer with my goose neck scraper. Plus I hear sugar/rock/hard maple is pretty tension strong.
I'm not sure if this would be considered an ELB, it's more of a long D bow.
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there will be some scent from the bacon fat. if its powerful , hold it over a smoky fire. or smudge it with cedar bark. the smoke will kille the bacon smell. excellent work. thats my kind of bow.
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looks great :)
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What a great looking bow. The clean simplicity of it makes it really beautiful. Nice job on the tiller. As far as finish I have never used a grease finish, but I did do a paraffin finish. I was trying to keep it primitive looking and I was happy with the way it came out. It looked pretty natural and was easy. Keep up the good work.
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Dauntless, I'm with Rick and the others. Great job.
But comments about bear grease finish begs the question of how the procedure works? I have a bottle of bear grease, and want to finish my latest bow this way, a NA hickory bow. Tough to do, Pat?
Dane
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great job with that one! other than maybe making it bend a little more in the middle, i wouldnt have changed a thing.
phil
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cool bow! il like it :)
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Thanks for all the comments guys, it really means a lot to me. I greased the bow up yesterday by rubbing in the grease then polishing/removing the excess with paper towels. The finish is satin smooth like you guys said it would be. :D I burnished with an empty beer bottle. The wood now has a nice warm glow to it.
Dane; the finish was easier to apply than paraffin.
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Thanks. Grease on, grease off. Just like the Karate Kid.
Dane
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Good tillering job done. Seems to be a good one! Keep on working on bows!
Regards Uwe
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Very fine bow. In some of the full draw pics it looks like the bottom limb is bending more than the top, but it may be camera angle. If it shoots well don't mess with it. That is one of the nicest board bows I've ever seen. Well done!
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I really like your bow! 8) and can't really add anything else that everyone else didn't mention. ;D Joe H
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Nice job...looks good! :)