Primitive Archer

Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: bassman211 on July 01, 2021, 04:58:25 pm

Title: Sinew backed Black Gum bow.
Post by: bassman211 on July 01, 2021, 04:58:25 pm
I built this bow 60 in. long; 45 lb @ 25 in. draw; bow shoots 153 ft per sec average; weighs 17 oz; stave was gifted by a friend and had to be split by chainsaw due to interlocking grains!
Title: Re: Sinew backed Black Gum bow.
Post by: willie on July 01, 2021, 05:01:52 pm
nice profile. whats that over the sinew?
Title: Re: Sinew backed Black Gum bow.
Post by: bassman211 on July 01, 2021, 05:02:17 pm
More pics
Title: Re: Sinew backed Black Gum bow.
Post by: bassman211 on July 01, 2021, 05:03:20 pm
more pics
Title: Re: Sinew backed Black Gum bow.
Post by: bassman211 on July 01, 2021, 05:09:38 pm
Full draw
Title: Re: Sinew backed Black Gum bow.
Post by: bassman211 on July 01, 2021, 05:32:26 pm
First full draw pic was distorted. The backing is cloth.
Title: Re: Sinew backed Black Gum bow.
Post by: Stixnstones on July 01, 2021, 05:36:08 pm
Thats a good lookin bow...
Title: Re: Sinew backed Black Gum bow.
Post by: Pat B on July 01, 2021, 07:24:43 pm
Very nice, Bassman. What is your opinion of black gum as a bow wood?
Title: Re: Sinew backed Black Gum bow.
Post by: bradsmith2010 on July 01, 2021, 07:41:18 pm
nice one congrats,, :)
Title: Re: Sinew backed Black Gum bow.
Post by: boomhowzer on July 01, 2021, 10:55:57 pm
Sweet bow, bassman. The whole thing sounds interesting. You split the stave with a chainsaw? How did that go down? Tie it up on some saw horses and let 'er rip? And how thick was the stave when you split it?

Then you said it has a "cloth" backing. What do you mean by cloth? Like an old t-shirt? Something from the fabric store?  Whatever it was, what was the cloth made out of? Cotton? Linen? Polyester? etc...

Thanks for elaborating, and yeah, sweet looking bow!
Title: Re: Sinew backed Black Gum bow.
Post by: bassman211 on July 02, 2021, 12:39:14 am
boom the backing is fabric cotton cloth. Will B. cut the tree, and chain sawed the logs, and reduced them to staves. He said the wood would not split easily much like Elm.. He knows I like to play around with different wood to make bows so he gifted me with a stave. Pat B from what I can gather from making this bow Black Gum works pretty well as a bow wood.. The bow holds close to 1 inch of reflex. Takes rather nicely to heat treating, and I am pleased with it's speed. Will B., and I make bows together some times, and he has more staves. He wants to try a 68 inch recurve  for the next bow made from this wood. Then we will make more bows ,and get a better idea of what can be done with Black gum. So far not bad at all. Thanks guys for your kind words.
Title: Re: Sinew backed Black Gum bow.
Post by: burchett.donald on July 02, 2021, 01:26:19 am
   Bassman, Excellent bend man, looks well balanced in your hands... :OK   When you say Black Gum are you referring to Black Tupelo?  That grows here in S.C. and I enjoy the red color in the Fall, seems to hold on to it's leaves really late...We learned early on not to try and split it or any Gum tree for fire wood because of the interlocking grain...Had my axe bounce back at me when it was green!
                                                                                                                                                                          Don
Title: Re: Sinew backed Black Gum bow.
Post by: bassman211 on July 02, 2021, 06:16:00 am
Yes Don. Black Tupelo. Thank you. To be honest Will B. introduced me to this wood,  and did all the leg work to get it to stave form. It was a straight clean stave, and the wood was nice to work with. This was the first bow of the 11 staves that he has, so we will be making more bows from it in the future. Next is self bows. Seems to have promise.
Title: Re: Sinew backed Black Gum bow.
Post by: airkah on July 02, 2021, 09:43:07 am
Bow looks great and I love the experimentation on a new bow wood. I can't wait to see what else you are able to make out of it.
Title: Re: Sinew backed Black Gum bow.
Post by: PaSteve on July 02, 2021, 09:52:06 am
Good to see you posting another bow, Bob. Don't know if black tupelo grows around here or not. Sounds like it would be a good candidate for fire hardening. Great job on the bow. Your tiller always looks great.
Title: Re: Sinew backed Black Gum bow.
Post by: bassman211 on July 02, 2021, 10:42:17 am
airkah, thanks, and the wood seems to have some promise. We will know more when we make some self bows from it. Thanks Steve, we will try fire hardening in the future. Fun to try new wood with different methods.
Title: Re: Sinew backed Black Gum bow.
Post by: Will B on July 02, 2021, 05:43:41 pm
Nice job on that one Bob!  Hope mine turns out that nice. Love the full draw photo. Well done!
Title: Re: Sinew backed Black Gum bow.
Post by: bassman211 on July 02, 2021, 05:54:58 pm
Would like to thank Will B. publicly for the Black Gum stave you gifted me with, and for all the staves ,sinew, and other items that you have gifted me  with in the past.