Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: loefflerchuck on January 08, 2015, 02:15:39 am
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T.M Hamilton in his book Native American Bows wrote about this bow he studied in the early 1970s. The bow was listed as red cedar with a sinew backing making up more than 50% of the bows thickness. It was obtained in 1869 from the Flathead tribe. He says the bow was built along classic elkhorn lines but with a wooden belly. "The bows reflex is flawless" he says. He also doubts this bow was ever used and "Made with the idea of selling it to one of the officers stationed at Ft Colville. He doubted the bow could maintain the reflex with a cheap juniper core. I wanted to test this.
This is one of 5 snakeskin backed bows I have seen, all from the northern basin (idaho, Montana, Oregon). The bow in the US National Museum is 43.5" long. Mine is 47 3/4, 46.5 n t n. Other than that I used the same measurements of the real bow. 2.85cm wide in the center, 2.3 cm mid limb, 1.5 cm below the nock. I used rocky mt juniper 3/4 sapwood 1/4 heartwood about. I backed it with 9 layers of elk sinew. 3 layers at a time over 3 weeks. When all this was seasoned the sinew makes up a little over 1/3 the thickness of the bow. I would like to examen the real bow and see if it is in fact more than 1/2 sinew or if it is just down the sides of a rounded back. I still plan on making a 50/50 bow of juniper and sinew to see how it works.
To get to the bow: 46.5" ntn. 52# @ 24.5" The bow has a 3 3/4" reflex right after being unstrung and after a week unstrung it is still about the same. It is a sweet shooter. I am making a longer one for my 26" long draw.
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full draw
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3 ply sinew string
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Beautiful bow!
Does the back of the core follow a ring?
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very very nice bow, !! how do these shoot, are the fast? durable?
really beautiful!!!!
I'm building a 5 curve out of osage and i would love to hear some reviews of this style of bow, really looks perfect in my eyes!
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Nice work, beautiful bow. :)
Pappy
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Excellent, very beautiful bow! Really spirited.
The striped tips are spot on, I love that detail and will eventually copy it ;D
If juniper is cheap to you, you're real lucky. Where I live, juniper grows about a foot high.
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Beautiful Chuck, what kind of skins are those?
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Nice one chuck :)
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That's an amazing bow. 9 layers of sinew, WOW! How long did you let the sinew cure before flexing the bow?
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Your work is allways superior but this one is extra special, sir
rich
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Absolutely awesome Chuck, You put the ''primitive'' in PA...I can only begin to understand the amount of work that goes into a bow of that caliber...Hats off sir 8)
Don
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Well ur making urself another u might as well make one that draws out to 28" for me O:)
Beautiful work, love indian style bows
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Another beautiful replica piece chuck, you do great work sir
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very nice congrats
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Man, I really like that f/d. Such a cool bow!
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Ive had a bow in my mind to make,for the last couple years.That bow right there,is exactly what was in my mind.
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Thats freakin awesome chuck. 8)
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So this looks like a case of MYTH BUSTED! Apparently a Cheap ERC belly/Sinew backed bow can hold extreme reflex and be a real shooter. Not that we know for any certainty that the artifact bow was either a real shooter or a tourist trinket, ...but there seems to be MUCH LESS reason to suppose that it was anything but a real and functional weapon. BTW - Who would ever bother to lay up such a heavy bunch of Sinew on a trinket bow? I'm guessing the guy that assumed such a thing had not ever spent time processing sinew, ...and had almost certainly not done so with primitive tools!
ERC loves compression work don't it!? This is a very beautiful bow sir.
OneBow
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Chuck! Thanks for finally posting this bow. I am currently copying this design as well.
I hope it turns out half as well as yours
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That bow is flat out stunning. Great job. Love the authentic look
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Another museum piece, Chuck, very nice.
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Beautiful bow, Chuck. Could you estimate how many actual
Elk tendons went into the layers?
Russ
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That bow is downright primitive cool! 8)
It looks perfect in every detail to these eyes Chuck, thanks for posting this beauty.
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That's a whole lots of sinew work ! Really sweet bow ! You make some amazing replicas!-Hammertime
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Keep posting these bows Chuck. I really enjoy seeing them.
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With that bow as short as it is, why not have it bend through the handle?
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Thanks everybody. Medicinewheel: Yes the back follows one ring. It's probably not needed but I figure it does not hurt.
Adams: It will probably not set ant flight records but I am impressed with its arrow cast. I'm taking a few bows to the salt flats tomorrow to test. I'll bring this one too. Juniper dents easily so it is not as durable as harder woods, but I have 20 year old juniper sinew bows that shoot great.
Jodocus: I would never disrespect juniper like that. If you need some let me know.
Falcon: Montana rattler
Rich: Thanks, love your short bows too
Clint: The sinew seasoned for about 2-3 months.
Onebowwonder: Still need to make a 50/50 sinew bow.
Comancheria: I Used big elk tendons I get about an ounce of processed sinew from each tendon so it only took about 3
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Chadwick, Look at the braced profile and then the full draw. It's bending, but not enough to to make it a harsh shooter.
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That is an impressively crafted bow and aesthetically pleasing too. Really nice work Chuck. Thanks for sharing with us.
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Great attention to detail! Thanks for sharing!
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That sir is true craftsmanship. In your experience, how accurate are the bows that you have built?
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I Used big elk tendons I get about an ounce of processed sinew from each tendon so it only took about 3
Wait--you got nine layers of sinew from just 3 tendons? I haven't done a sinew bow yet (want to, though) but I thought it would take much more than that.
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JeffP keep in mind this bow is barely over an inch at the widest part and 47" long. I used 16-18", thick leg tendons. That is just an estimate but I doubt it was more than 4
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Wow. I really want to try a juniper bow. I have a stave/log--about 3 inches in diameter and not very much heartwood, lots of knots, though. I am not sure I can make it work. Your bows are absolutely beautiful. Thanks for sharing.
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That stave should work out for ya Jeff.thats how me and joe met chuck we took the staves to him to see what he thought of them.your was one of the ones that the bark pulled of straight.Chuck said it would probably make a fine bow. ;)
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Chuck hows that steamer/boiler pan working out for ya?
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Love it Tyke. It's big enough to use for any bow straitening or twisting too.
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Xpertbushman: I am more concerned with testing the performance of a 150 year old bow than making it better. I try to be as exact as possible in replication. That being said I knew this would be no flight shooting contender but it does have the shape of a good shooter. I took a bundle of new bows out to the salt flats for a test. It was an a inversion day and the humidity was 76% but not a breath of wind. I am not a flight shooter and used one light weight cane arrow of 317 grains and one cedar target arrow 26" long of 451 grains. The cane arrow shot 179 yards and the target arrow shot 175. Both draws were about 24" It was a one shot test.
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Ratio of sinew to wood before the snakeskin
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The real bow. This bow had more reflex and I believe the backing probably was thicker. The next one I make will test the more than 50% backing