Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: Hartung on August 27, 2010, 09:36:22 am
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Hi !
These past years I’ve been inspired by primitive bows of different cultures and epochs. Thus yew for Europe, northern America for its sinew bowstrings, Africa (Hadzabe) for their very long draw, stone age for different materials … If finally fund the time to start working and I’d like to present the result to you comments and critics .
Figures :
Overall length : 79 ½ inches
Noch to Nock : 77 ½ inches
Draw weight @ 28“: 51#
Draw weight @ 30“: 56#
Draw weight @ 32“: 61#
The bow was finally treated with foot oil from the European Bison. It has its bowstring made from red deer back sinew and three Neolithic inspired arrows from Dogwood, Viburnum opulus and Viburnum lantana. The feathers are from grey goose and domestic goose. They are glued with birch bark tar and wrapped with sinew. Nocks are from yew, points from bone and antler.
Set: The stave had a natural deflex of 1”. After tillering and the first shots it had a deflex of 1 4/5”. It has thus gained a set of 4/5” which is something that doesn’t really bother me.
I thought about shortening the bow to gain more draw weight but won’t do so for the time being. Simply because in its actual state the bow can be drawn at least partially by an interested spectator. Due to its length it is of course not as fast as a much shorter bow would be. But it is a bow that will have it’s attention on the shooting range or during a presentation – and that is what it’s meant for ;-).
(http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/aa53/Hartung1/Longbow/6-Unstrungdeflex.jpg)
(http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/aa53/Hartung1/Longbow/7-Strung.jpg)
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Upper limb
(http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/aa53/Hartung1/Longbow/3-Knock3.jpg)
(http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/aa53/Hartung1/Longbow/1-Knock1.jpg)
(http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/aa53/Hartung1/Longbow/2-Knock2.jpg)
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Lower limb
(http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/aa53/Hartung1/Longbow/4-LowerKnock1.jpg)
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Handle section
(http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/aa53/Hartung1/Longbow/5-HandleSection.jpg)
(http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/aa53/Hartung1/Longbow/8-Arrowknocked.jpg)
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Tiller and full draw
(http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/aa53/Hartung1/Longbow/9-Fulldrawback.jpg)
(http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/aa53/Hartung1/Longbow/10-FulldrawfrontAusschnitt.jpg)
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Arrows
(http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/aa53/Hartung1/Longbow/19-Arrows.jpg)
Any comment and critic is welcome.
Thanks for looking!
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Now thats something different,Very cool looking bow and tiller looks good too.How does it shoot?
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Very handsome, nice to see a Yew longbow at a real full draw ;D.
I bet that's a long smooooth draw, prob not that fast but I bet it will throw a heavy arrow nicely.
I just love the look of a natural Yew bow, and it works so nicely too.
I'd be interested to know how the sinew string performs compare to a modern string (Dacron?)
Del
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Beautiful bow,very nice work on the arrows also. :)
Pappy
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Tiller looks perfect to me, awesome LONG bow! And just think, if you ever did want to increase draw weight, you would pike the bow 4-6 inches and still have a bow 6 feet long. Good for you!
CP
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Excellent work on the bow and the arrows. Nice job. Jawge
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Wow this is something else.
I love how it all fits together so smoothly. I love wooden bows, but I hate the look of synthetic strings (I am an offender for this too).
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Hi and thanks to all of you for your nice comments, Pappy, Cacatch, George that I do appreciate ;D
@ Thwackaddict
Due to its length it is of course not as aggressive as a short 60# bow. Its main propose is more to allow people to pull and eventually shoot a kind of stone age bow … It has not yet made thwack ;-) put I twice heard a loud "TAACK” when two bone arrowheads got smashed on stone :-[
@ Del
That is an excellent question. I did not do a string comparison on that bow. Two week ago however I made distance shot comparison Dacron B50 with sinew on a 61” bow, 57#@26”. To my surprise the Dacron did not outperform the sinew although the sinew is a lot heavier than the Dacron. Of course, someone with a better release might gain a better distance but I don’t think by very much.
@ Dauntless
The main advantage of Dacron over sinew is that it is easier and faster to make and you can shot it under water ;-). If you hate the look of synthetic strings take sinew or linen. Sinew will take some learning in making it. But once you are in you will not want to miss it anymore. I’ll never go back to synthetics unless some still unknown reason would oblige me to do so.
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I just gotta compliment that nice string. Looks very well crafted. Very nice.
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Beautiful piece of wood. That is one of the longest bows I've seen, for sure. I'm sure it has a long life ahead of it. I really like the string, nicely done.
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lovely bow the tiller is spot on and does look like a very primitive bow,well done.
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Nice bow, nice string!
What's 'foot oil from the European Bison'??
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Toomanyknots, Parnell, Scott D, mox1968 and medicinewheel thanks for your nice comments.
“What's 'foot oil from the European Bison'??"
Foot oil is the oil that is obtained by simmering hoof and hoof bones from animals, in general from cattle. In the state it is known as Neatsfoot oil.
I make the oil myself mainly from red deer (elk) feet and use it mainly for primitive tanning purposes but also for coating most all of my woodwork with it.
Deer foot oil has a very high content of unsaturated fatty acids. It is liquid at room temperature and stays liquid even if you put it in the fridge. In the freezer it stays at a creamy state for about 24 hours than starts to get denser. It is high quality stuff and I like it a lot.
It’s already dark here and I can’t make a pic of the Bison foot oil but here you have pics of deer foot oil.
Deer foot oil before cleaning
(http://a.imageshack.us/img241/4239/footoildescriptionnk8.jpg)
Deer foot oil cleaned
(http://a.imageshack.us/img165/7209/colourcomparisonwj9.jpg)
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Heavy duty, really nice.
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Very cool project, everthing came out looking great. Nice to see it all primitive, thanks for the info on the deer/bison foot oil. I'm interested in using some primitive finishes on my next bows.
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Nice bow. Cool string and good info on the neatsfoot oil!
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Thank you guys!
“I'm interested in using some primitive finishes on my next bows.”
Bone marrow also works very well. It does not make the bow greasy as one might think but penetrates the wood very well. There is no greasy tough to it.
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Yes, it's good to see a yew bow brought to a proper full draw. It's interesting that the bow didn't make more weight, considering it's dimensions... it's certainly not a twig. What rpi density does it have? Super job on the tiller, bye the way. ;D
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Yes, it's good to see a yew bow brought to a proper full draw. It's interesting that the bow didn't make more weight, considering it's dimensions... it's ertainly not a twig. What rpi density does it have? Super job on the tiller, bye the way. ;D
I agree that thing (NICE BOW!) looks like it could take down an elephant atm 50 yards....
BTW good work and tiller.
Ron
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Adp thank you. I too expected a bit more weight. It has about 21rpi which is low but should nevertheless have given a higher draw weight. The sapwood/heartwood ratio was unfavourable though. But I’m quite happy with it. It will be a good bow for demo proposes. Even at 60# it will be difficult and quite an thing for the unexperienced to pull the string behind the ear.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v245/Hartung/ELB/1-Ringcount.jpg)
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Ron thanks. In the full draw pic my hand is about two inches too low. On the tiller tree it looks this way. Upper limb to the right.
(http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/aa53/Hartung1/Longbow/32inchesgreatmoment.jpg)
Tiller and limb bending was controlled with a talkie walkie.
(http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/aa53/Hartung1/Longbow/1-TalkieWalkie.jpg)
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I'd say the length accounts for the unexpectedly low draw weight. Considering my Yew longbow will draw to 31.5" and is only about 70" ntn, I'd think you could safely lose an inch or so of each limb if the draw weight was worrying you.
I rather like the length, but it's a matter of feel, maybe live with it for a while, if it isn't taking much set, take it down a tad if you want a bit more power/cast.
Del
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Nice bow and I really like the primitive string, takes some doing to be totally primitive. looks like fun. Kenneth
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Nice outfit.That is a "sure nuff" longbow.God Bless
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I think you need a bigger clamp for your tiller tree... that one looks a bit small :D :D :D