Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: Oz on February 20, 2013, 08:52:56 am
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Hi All
I am living in Zimbabwe, Africa and there are a lot of Acacia trees about. In fact I still have thorns stuck in my shoe from the last hunt. I have never successfully made a bow before and would like to do make the dream happen. I have an Acacia in my yard (have identified what type yet) and I would like to know if it is possible to make a bow from one of its 3in wide branches (I cant cut the tree down as the wife will kill me).
Any tips would be great.
Oz
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I've never heard of acacia being used, but that is probably because most of the people here are from North America and Europe. If nobody here has any experience with it I would give it a go anyway to test it out. Most wood can make a functioning bow even if it isn't a very heavy or fast one.
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Acacias are in the Mimosa family of trees and Mimosas tend to be very brittle. My guess is that they would not make a good bow but you can always try it out. Red acacia is also known as Shittim wood, the wood that was used to make the Ark of the Covenant.
Grady
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What did the local indiginous people use for their bows?
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What did the local indiginous people use for their bows?
This is the best question......
If experimenting with unfamiliar wood, make the first bow as tall as you are.
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If you don't mind learning from books the TTB series is available but maybe you can get a local bow maker from a tribe near you that could help too.Just an idea.These questions asked have a way of getting answered with time.If there's a will there's a way.Bottom line is you'll have to pull some shavings and make some saw dust to really know yourself.
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I remember hearing of acacia being used. The one in my mom's backyard flowers yellow and has no thorns, I think the purple flowered thorned kind was used by Australian Aboriginees? It's worth a shot, one of these days I'll try one of my ma's trees George Washington style, I bet he was a bowyer :)
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Wernt there some acacia bows used by the Egyptians
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I would try it friend always wanted to learn bush craft in south africa. You can learn from local tribes. I hope you are successful in your now building