Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: ravenbeak on July 14, 2009, 06:07:26 pm
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Firstly, many thanks to the folks who helped me till this out, I am very happy with how this bow has turned out.
The stave sat in the corner of the shed for over a year because i didn't think there was a bow in it. It had a big knot with questionable grain, but once i pulled it out and carved away at that area i was left with a nice stave.
It is 62 inches tip to tip. Tight grained yew from a blow down, still the same tree as the rest of my bows have been from. I think this is number 8 for this tree from me, plus what i traded away. Sinew backed with three courses of leg sinew, that i got in a trade from RyanO, thanks. great sinew and nearly as long as the back sinew from the little deer around here. I stopped the sinew about 5 inches from the tips. The tips are flipped slightly with the heat gun, and also used the heat gun to temper the belly before the sinew went on. I'm proud to say this is the first bow i've built which holds unstrung reflex, I'll measure it, but i'd say an inch after rest and near zero immediately after shooting and unbraced. The tip overlays are cow horn from my roommates pile of primitive materials, thanks jeff. I was most impressed with horn, it smells a bit funny which shaping but it is incredibly hard and the colour of these is neat. kinda peachy and almost glows when light passes through. The last 8 inches of the tips are covered in black cobra snake skins that i got in a trade with adam. thanks. The skins were 44 inches long, so i've still got a full 36 inches for the next bow. This was the first time doing skins and I think they turned out great. I used homemade hide glue, and this glue was so strong that when i dried it in a glass pie plate, it pulled splinters off of the bottom, now that is strong. the thread wrap is red silk to cover the transition from sinew to snake skins. I thinned the sapwood down a bit 1/4 inch or so.
The bow bends through the handle and pulls 48 pounds at 27 inches. I shot it a bunch yesterday and was very impressed. The name preh is a play on words with 3 meanings. The first, I live in Powell River or P.R. canada, eh. The second is this will likely be my hunting bow this fall in search of prey, unless i build something i like better before then, and of course, respect to the creator and the animal at the moment of truth.
The handle was a quickie, and i'll see if i like it. nice thick leather with a floppy rest. I was tempted to wrap piece to the belly to build up the handle, but by this point i was a bit impatient to be done. The strike plate is cobra skin again, but if it doesn't hold up, i'll switch it off for a thin piece of horn.
The pics are in random order, and let me know if there's any other you'd like to see. I'm going to get an unbraced pic soon.
cheers,
Jamie
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few more pics
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very sweet
love the tips and the tiiler
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Very nice, Jamie!! You should be real proud of that one. A super job with everything.
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Great Bow>> Like the tips as well.
Mike
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Very Nice 8)
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YOu did a great job on that bow! Jawge
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So, this is the same bow as earlier seen on the T-stick?
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the horn tips look like agate or something...
did you not use the string you made for that?
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Really nice looking bow. Love the tip and the tiller looks right! ;) Congrats on doing a fine job.
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thanks guys, much appreciated
oldbow, correct this is the same bow as the tiller along, i wanted to get the tiller down before giving away some of the details,
scott, the string we made came apart when i put it on the bow, i put it back together the trick being that once the the loop is completed you need to reverse wrap in the opposite direction to prevent it coming undone. I shot with it for a bit, and then my timber hitch came undone so i went back to my continuious loop linen. I will revisit the flemish twist soon
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weird, i've never had 1 come apart
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Very nice job,tiller looks good and the finish work is very nice. :)
Pappy
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Glad it turned out so nice.......good work!
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Nice bow Jamie . The tips look great. Looking forward to shooting a few arrows from this bow.
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thanks pappy thanks marvin
and thanks dad,
I'll bring it up island on friday and we can fling some arrows through it, I don't suppose the oceanspray/ turkey feaqthers are ready for it?
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Will have three oceanspray's ready for you. My left wing jig came in but does not work so I tried Ricks but it is a pain to use.
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thanks george, pappy and timo,
I shot it quite a bit today and had a blast, this is the first sinew bow i've made which i've shot alot, and it seems to have alot of kick.
the cobra strike plate isn't up to the task of constantly getting whacked by feathers, so i think i'll fashion a horn one up.
looking forward to seeing the completed arrows tomorrow brokenarrow
jamie
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man oh man if you have anymore nice yew staves I'd love to work out a trade for some of this osage I have piled up.
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John,
I've got more yew, but the problem being that shipping staves across the country will break the bank account. I did a bunch of trading nearly a year ago, and when it was all said and done i spent a couple hundred bucks on shipping. I appreciate the offer, but i think there's alot to be said for using what we have on hand.
i'm still building up courage to tackle the piece of osage i have, what little i've done with it, it sure rasps hard compared to yew.
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I find that scraping is the best strategy for osage..... and selective careful bandsaw use! I don't need any wood right now I have plenty my friend. Osage is very forgivinng in my opinion..... its a hard wood but if you use hand tools that helps you slow down a bit. Remember the builders triangl has three sides Good, fast, and quick and that you only get to have 2 out of 3 :)
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I returned home this afternoon and three beautiful arrows waiting for me. Dads are great.
looking forward to firing these tomorrow morning.
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the fletching and arrows are damn cool, but i'm surprised to see those #2's in there!
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How so?
85 grams each. easy in, easy out
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i just never thought of it...surprised but not appalled!
Jamie, have you steamed any of this wood?
You know how when you find it down, and it's been rained on, it seems red at the ends instead of orange? Well, this sucker i steamed today turned quite red, the knots especially...weird...
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Was great time with you shooting arrows from your two new bows. The sinew backed yew is one smoothe shooter. Your new yew bows provided me with two firsts. This was the first time I shot arrows from both sides of a bow by reversing it and the first time I shot or held a long bow . Very interesting shooting such a long bow . The Oceanspray stump shooters I made up for you should survive considerable high impacts but looking at the pictures could do with some final straightening even though the feathers are uncut making up for some imperfections . Cut a few Red-ozier Dogwood shoots today and peeled them . Straightened them green and put them in a cool place to dry for a week or two. I will tweek them on a daily basis . They look strong and should make good shooters . We shot a lot of arrows in a couple of days. As I recall none of the shots were something to write home about. What we lacked in accuracy was overcome by our perseverance .
Dad