Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: wizardgoat on October 10, 2014, 12:13:09 pm
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In the encyclopedia of NA bows arrows and quivers theres a bow made from metal.
I know metal is not primitive (sort of?), just wondering if anyone has seen
or made any replicas of this bow.
very curious how one of these bows would shoot.
horribly I imagine
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Pretty sure the medieval crossbows had metal prods
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Which volume of Encyclopedia of Native American Bows, Arrows, and Quivers? I don't remember seeing it, offhand.
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Pretty sure the medieval crossbows had metal prods
Sure did
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One of the old grumleys had a strip of aluminum for a core I believe.
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Not very traditional but SeeFab made steel bows bavk in the day.
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Its in volume 2, I'll post a pic when I get home
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I am a member of a yahoo group called PlainsIndianSeminiartwo. A lot of the members are museum curators and Native arts experts (Bill Holm and others) and to them, the most important thing is provenance, provenance, provenance. Most of the time the discussions revolve around beadwork, moccasins, war shirts, pipe bags, etc but occasionally bow, quiver and bow case topics come up which is my main interest in the group. Recently, the subject of this bow came up. The consensus among the experts was that the provenance on this bow (picked up on the field after the Fetterman massacre) is incorrect. There was also Major Moorehouse that used a similar bow (very close but grip is different - rounded not square) as a photo prop and took a few photos of Natives (and his children) posing with it and shooting it. Both of these bows are similar to ones made in Turkey and India. They are too long for crossbow prods used by the Spanish in their conquest as postulated by one member of the group.
http://trib.com/lifestyles/home-and-garden/article_31118e0d-a2f7-5dfb-b2cd-64c08399ff4b.html
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Its in volume 2, I'll post a pic when I get home
Great! I purchased that one, looked thru it once, and it got packed away when I moved and have not unpacked that (among others) box yet!
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I've seen Indian (Asian , not NA) recurved metal bows, looked a bit like a typical Asiatic recurve, wide thin recurved limbs. Ornately engraved too.
Del
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I have one from the 50's. They used to sell them in Hardware Stores.
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Doesnwt the bible say something about copper bows?
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Yes, I remember reading that in the Bible. It's in the Old Testament, Psalm 18:34. It's David saying this. In some translations of the Bible, it's a bow of brass. In others, it says a bow of steel. And in others, it's a bow of bronze. It basically says, "He trains my hands for battle, so that my arms may bend a bow of bronze..." It goes like that, as I remember. Lots of great archery references in the Bible. One could surmise that the Psalm means David could pull bows of heavy poundage.
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thanks for the input guys. a friend of mine hammers away with a makeshift forge in the winters, a metal bow sounds like a fun project
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If they could make a bow like this 1000 yrs ago they could make a steel bow. T don't think there would be any point though, the wooden ones did the job.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TeGv_PU4ZkA
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This bow has been discussed quite a bit and, as Randman said, the consensus is that the bow is an "import" and not American made.
IMO, it came to North America through a Russian trade route that serviced the West Coast. Many items came that way including Japanese swords, Russian beads, and various Chinese-made goods.
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If you need some spring steel the tines of some time of farm equipment might be a good source. I thought of hooking two of them together for a cross bow. They might need some thi
nning but if you work carefully they would not need a reheat treated.