Primitive Archer

Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: Kegan on August 07, 2007, 04:34:52 pm

Title: Penobscot
Post by: Kegan on August 07, 2007, 04:34:52 pm
The main bow was a poor-casting experiment (recurving a D) so intead of putting sinew on it (having heard that sinew has trouble holding on recurves) and not being able to pike it without messing up the nice curves. And so I turned it into a Penobscot. It know it is not the most even looking thing, but the handle wrap holding the two botws together was a little farther down than than the toehr was high, effectively shortening the bttome limbs, giving it a horribly lopsided look :). But it is greatly inproved in performance. It draws about 60# at 26" and is 60" long. It shoots as hard as a 65# well built normal bow, this one however, being built a a hatchet and rasp and tillered using the shadow method, no vice and no fancy tools ;D. It is now my new method for increasing performance, it wasn't as hard as sinewing, and truly has its benefiets. I am gonna try to make a few more bows taht didn't turn out too well as these "quasi-Penobscot's".

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Title: Re: Penobscot
Post by: david w. on August 07, 2007, 04:52:40 pm
wow kegan thats cool :)
Title: Re: Penobscot
Post by: Pat B on August 07, 2007, 04:54:17 pm
OK Kegan. You keep this up and we won't let you play anymore! ;)  Very nice Penobscot bow!    Pat
Title: Re: Penobscot
Post by: Kegan on August 07, 2007, 06:17:34 pm
Thanks, I know it isn't the nicest looking thing, but I love how it shoots, especially compared to how it shot before hand. Slings an arrow right where you want it- hard. But I guess I'll settle down Pat... but some bows seemed to have gone into hiding since i discovered that tieing a little bow on the back makes it shoot better ;D
Title: Re: Penobscot
Post by: Dane on August 07, 2007, 07:06:08 pm
Pretty cool bow, man. I bet you get even more strange looks at the range, eh? :) It looks like a fun shooter.

Dane
Title: Re: Penobscot
Post by: mullet on August 07, 2007, 07:49:06 pm
    Great looking bow Kegan.What's that string made of ?,parachute cord?
Title: Re: Penobscot
Post by: Justin Snyder on August 07, 2007, 08:07:38 pm
I hear you mullet. I was admiring this incredible bow. All of a sudden, parachute cord.  :P 

Good job Kegan. I have been planning a penobscot for a while.  Im glad you arent afraid to try different things.  Justin
Title: Re: Penobscot
Post by: SimonUK on August 07, 2007, 08:41:48 pm
Don't care if it's lopsided, I like it.
Title: Re: Penobscot
Post by: Jbell on August 08, 2007, 01:19:06 am
Pretty sweet bow you got there Kegan. How much draw weight did the little bow add?
Title: Re: Penobscot
Post by: Dustybaer on August 08, 2007, 03:21:11 am
very nice bow(s), kegan.  i like the way the main bow bends.
Title: Re: Penobscot
Post by: DBernier on August 08, 2007, 06:51:21 am
That bow is so cool.   8)  Good save, and some advanced thinking.  ::)   I'm with JBell, how much weight did it add?

Dick
Title: Re: Penobscot
Post by: Pappy on August 08, 2007, 07:05:29 am
Cool looking bow Kegan and great save,I love it when folks takes one that don't preform to well and figure a way to make it better, and looks like you done it.Good job. :)
   Pappy
Title: Re: Penobscot
Post by: GregB on August 08, 2007, 08:32:33 am

That's a really interesting creation you have there. I guess I havn't read enough primitive books, never saw that before. :)

Title: Re: Penobscot
Post by: Woodland Roamer on August 08, 2007, 08:38:38 am
Nice job on that one Kegan. Looks like a fun bow to shoot.

Alan
Title: Re: Penobscot
Post by: George Tsoukalas on August 08, 2007, 08:54:10 am
Awesome bow! Jawge
Title: Re: Penobscot
Post by: makete on August 08, 2007, 09:18:20 am
I have always wanted to see one of those bows made. Was it difficult to get every thing lined up and shooting god? Tell me more!!!!!!!!!! ;D  Have only seen one like it in an old book. Like Jbell said how much more weight did it add? All I can say is AWSOME!!! Thanks for posting it.
Title: Re: Penobscot
Post by: jamie on August 08, 2007, 09:39:28 am
really nice . like the others said i like that you used your noggin and saved the bow. peace
Title: Re: Penobscot
Post by: OldBow on August 08, 2007, 12:18:11 pm
You really did a good job on this one! I bookmarked it under "self bows" for BOM. If we had enough bows such as yours, take-downs, etc I'd set up a Unique Category
What is the wood for this bow(s)?
Nice bowstring - parachute cord?
Title: Re: Penobscot
Post by: Kegan on August 08, 2007, 01:56:46 pm
Thanks everyone ;D! The bows are both hickory, and yup- that's parachute cord. I have been running low on good binding materials lately, so I figured just to tie the whole thing together with it (it works decent for bowstrings). The smaller bow seemed to add somewhere between 5-10#, but more than that it hadded tension in the beginning of the draw, and kicks in when you reach toward full draw. It has been too humid to get anything for sure lately though. It wasn't that difficult to get working, but i did have trouble getting all the string properly taught (you can still see the slack when unstrung and even a little when braced) and messing with brace height. I can't wait to get some actual shooting in though, the humidity is taxing all my bows :P. I think I will try this with my back-up bow... Wanna try some variations with it. I didn't have mcuh expectations, figuring it would take alot more (having seen the one Marc made and the old PA articles on it), but this little quasi-Penobscot turned out to be a shooter :). 
Title: Re: Penobscot
Post by: CHUCKER on August 08, 2007, 02:17:53 pm
 That s what I call stepping out of the box. Waste not want not.
Title: Re: Penobscot
Post by: snedeker on August 08, 2007, 04:16:50 pm
Spectacular rendition of what I've always thought was one of those really out there ideas some primitive guy had.

Dave
Title: Re: Penobscot
Post by: duffontap on August 08, 2007, 04:50:15 pm
Kegan,

Parachute cord huh?  You remind me so much of my first year of building bows.  I was taking free tie-down twine from the lumber yard for my strings because $8.50 for a role of Dacron B-50 was prohibitively expensive.  I love the fact that you are doing what you can with what you've got.  You took a D-bow, experimented with it by adding recurves, and then experimented some more.  It would take me 6 months to build a pemobscot bow--you just dove right in.  If you don't burn yourself out, you'll have a bright future as a bowyer.  We need guys like you and Sean to popularize primitive archery for the next generation.  Tell your friends.

            J. D. Duff
Title: Re: Penobscot
Post by: PeteC on August 08, 2007, 10:31:13 pm
That's a great little bow ,and et al to what everyone else said.God Bless,  Pete C
Title: Re: Penobscot
Post by: Kegan on August 09, 2007, 01:10:15 pm
Kegan,

Parachute cord huh?  You remind me so much of my first year of building bows.  I was taking free tie-down twine from the lumber yard for my strings because $8.50 for a role of Dacron B-50 was prohibitively expensive.  I love the fact that you are doing what you can with what you've got.  You took a D-bow, experimented with it by adding recurves, and then experimented some more.  It would take me 6 months to build a pemobscot bow--you just dove right in.  If you don't burn yourself out, you'll have a bright future as a bowyer.  We need guys like you and Sean to popularize primitive archery for the next generation.  Tell your friends.

            J. D. Duff

Thanks ;D. I doubt I'll burn myself out though, I seem to keep getting simpler and simpler- which makes it alot easier and more fun;). I'd like to think I'm trying to get the word of primitive bows out there, and I seemed to, if nothing else, created a respect and admiration for wooden bows amongst fellow young archers :).
Title: Re: Penobscot
Post by: n2everythg on August 30, 2007, 02:46:10 pm
That is a great looking bow. Nice tiller on the main bow.
I have never seen anything like that before. Really interesting.
Very nice save as well.

I am curious how you tied the string on to the short little bow in front. Can you please post a pic of that setup.

Thanks
wade
Title: Re: Penobscot
Post by: Kegan on August 30, 2007, 06:34:22 pm
That is a great looking bow. Nice tiller on the main bow.
I have never seen anything like that before. Really interesting.
Very nice save as well.

I am curious how you tied the string on to the short little bow in front. Can you please post a pic of that setup.

Thanks
wade

Just like the big bow, only on the outside :)
Title: Re: Penobscot
Post by: Auggie on August 30, 2007, 10:49:32 pm
Wow, had to vote for this one!  Id say this is the closest thing to a primitve compound bow if there  ever was. Just dont go and add any wheels or cams to your next one though. Auggie.
Title: Re: Penobscot
Post by: Kegan on August 31, 2007, 08:54:05 pm
Nope ;D. Next one I want it to be a little narrower, and use rawhide for the strings (and grip). Got a few peices of hickory already picked out ;)...