Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: High-Desert on March 29, 2019, 12:48:10 pm
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This has always been my favorite style of bow, and I always wanted to make one from paint that I made from local rock. It took me a long time, over a year since I started this bow, to find the color I was looking for. Making paint was a new process to learn for me as well, the red is from a road cut that infound when I decided to take the back way to work one day, the white is an ash layer from a dirt road that intake to get to elk camp, and the black is juniper charcoal.
. The bow is 52” ntn, draws 53 lbs @ 26”. I had trouble after first tillering the bow. The tiller was great while I shot it unfinished, but when I put the finish on it and reshot it, it was way off. I have no idea why, so I retillered it and refinished it and right now it is much better. For such a short bow, it’s really nice to shoot and doesn’t stack like I expected. The middle of the limb did crack for most of the upper limb, but it’s only cosmetic. The string is flax for now until I get a sinew string made, and the grip will get switch out for some elk hide that is in the bark solution. Thanks for checking it out.
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More pics
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Very nice!
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whew,, thats a nice one,, congrats,,,
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BOM contender there. If not BOY. Nice one.
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This is such a cool looking bow. Colors are fantastic...looking so natural. I cant even tell there is sinew on there.
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dang that's a good looking bow! Very well done :OK :OK
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Sweet! It's a real looker with a serious bend.
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That is one of the coolest bows I've ever seen. Great job on it.
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Sweet little bow.
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The string is flax for now until I get a sinew string made, and the grip will get switch out for some elk hide that is in the bark solution. Thanks for checking it out.
Well you have some nice sinew now that should make a great string.
That is a beautiful bow. Well done.
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That looks really amazing, great paint job as well.
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Perfect
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Incredible bow, Eric. Your sinew work is one of the smoothest I've seen so far. Paint job is like awesome, it is great that you did it with earth pigments.
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That is very nicely done sir!
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Beautifull bow.looks like a steve alley recreation, and that is a compliment for sure.
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Very nicely done High Desert. Love everything about it.
Bjrogg
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Really well done. Makes me want to dig up some ash and give it a go!!!
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Very nice indeed :) not sure how you apply the paint but maybe if it was water based that was what screwed with the tiller?
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Very nice! Neat decorating idea.
Hawkdancer
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that is next level! such an amazing paint job, would love to learn a bit about the process of how you made those paints!
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It looks like it should...excellent job and well worth the wait. :OK
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Oh my...... now that is a beautiful bow. Good work HD. Keep em coming!
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Excellent bend and great craftmanship Eric...
Don
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Beautiful in several ways.
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She's a real beauty, High Desert. How do you grind the pigments to get such a smooth paint?
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I love that bow. You should be very proud of it!
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Very impressive HD. Ik think the thing that impresses me the most is journey you took to make it. You obviously knew where you wanted to go, and got there by keeping the big picture in mind along the way.
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Stunning bow. I can't believe how smooth your sinew job is too. I am also really impressed with the natural pigments you used and how well it all came together. Great job.
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Thank you everyone, I really appreciate the compliments.
Jeffp51 - I think Im going to save the sinew you sent me for a bow backing, you did too good of a job stripping that stuff out for me to practice make a string out of it, Im not good enough at it yet.
Simson - That sinew job is thanks to PatM's tutorial.
Dratera - I think you are right about the water in the pigment that most likely affected the tiller...I thought i waited long enough after applying it, but waiting may have been irrelevant.
NZnuka and PatB - The making of the earth pigment was quite a bit more difficult than the research I found made it sound.
I used a mortar and pestal to grind the rock as fine as possible, then placed it in a jar of water for 30 seconds or so and let all the heavy chunks settle out, then carefully poured off the suspended particles. I stirred up the finer particles and let it set about 2 minutes, and once again poured off the finer suspended particles in another jar. I left this jar for a few days undisturbed untill all the fine particles settle out and the water is clear. Then I poured off all the clear water then let the fine "sludge" sit until dry, then scraped into a container.
I went through several series of this trying to get it to work to get a truely gritless particles. Even then it was still slightly gritter. I even tried making a muller from a beer pint that I sanded flat, and mixed the pigment with water and mulled it on a flat piece of glass with the pint mug, then let it dry again. This actually worked quite well. The price of mullers is quite expensive, and the beer pint seemed to work well.
Im sure there are orthers with better ideas about this, because I've only made a different pigments, and each is so different on how they have worked for me. I'd love to hear other ideas.
Thanks again for all the compliments.
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Maybe some kind of finish over the Sinew,,to keep moisture out,,..then paint that,,,maybe use linseed oil to put the pigment in.....so no water
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Thanks for the description on the pigment preparation mate! sounds like a fairly heavy process!
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Beautiful bow! Love the paintwork and admire the pain it took to make the paint!
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I really like this bow. Great job. Excellent art work and color scheme, especially from natural pigments.
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Beautiful Bow HighDesert! That's one clean looking sinew job.
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very pretty bow and a well done job
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Best Of Modoc style :D...!
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Ohhh Yeahh!! I love it HD!
Hardly looks like it's sinewed it is so smooth.
I haven't tried silencers on the tips like that before. Never sure how to not mess them up with the string.
Truly inspiring brother
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Congrats HD!- in every way!
I like the paintjob as I like pigments, I'm just not so patient to make them myself!
Very nice!
Cheers
B2W