Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: akbowman on May 27, 2008, 10:59:45 pm
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Guys i have only made 3 bows to date, one hickory board bow, one hickory backed maple and this selfbow out of birch. I realize that the tiller on this is not so great and i probably made a ton of mistakes, but i gotta tell ya, I think i got more personal satisfaction out of this bow than anything ive ever endevoured. What a joy to cut a tree, dry it and make a bow that actually shoots pretty nice. Dimensions are 71" knk, and 48# @ 28" draw. This particular piece of birch is a speicies that only grows on alaskas kenai peninsula called "kenai birch" it varies in color from a deep almost purple bark to a vivid red. I never thought in a million years that a knotted up piece of wood like this could actually be turned into such a fun bow to shoot. Even went so far as to make a birch bark quiver to go with it. Well enough said, hope you all enjoy, i know i do. Oh one final thing. it took a hell of a set after shooting it about 60 times on the lower limb, probably wont have a really long life but ill see how she does.
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Buddy, that thing's COOL!
I like it!
Nothing wrong with the tiller that I could see...
Enjoy shooting it, man.
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dude dat is sweet. i made a southern red ceder bow that looked kinda like that. i usually make bend in the handle bows, but yall dont. i think im gonna change my style.
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Tiller ain't all that bad, you done good, that's a fine bow.
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The tiller is not bad at all. Things are bending to the same degree and evenly with each other. The outer thirds of the limbs could perhaps bend a little bit more, but that's about it.
The bow is a fascinating expression in artistry, though. Looks like you made the bow out of a branch. I like how you kept the bark on.
great job!
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that bow is bad a$$ 8)
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You did good....this is an awesome Bow....And I love how you just carved it out of the Sapling...leaving that great looking Bark in place.....thats one thing nice about Birch...it don't Dry Crack and check like most Woods do....A1 Job......
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wow awesome bow. Havnt seen any with the bark left on. I love it.
Dont kick youself on the tiller.... looks good.
enjoy shooting it. that is a cool bow.
n2
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That thing is AWESOME!! ;D i love the look of that and tiller is great
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Thats a very cool bow. 8) I have tried the same method with hickory but the bark cracked and split, taking the bow with it. I love the simplicity of that style, also.
Will you post a few pics of your quiver? Marc St Louis sent me a piece of canoe bark years ago and I'm still thinking about it. ::) Pat
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That is way cool. Did the wood cure or is it still green?
Mike
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Bowman,
Dude yer bow turned out way sweet! What he didn't tell you is he he chopped out and tillered that bow with a gerber hatchet and a small 4 in 1 file while we were all on a family camping trip last weekend. He was shooting that thing in about 2 hours. What a blast. Great job, I want one! The one I built broke(thats normal) >:(
William
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one of them hard-to-tell fulldraw shots but i believe the upper limb should bend more from midlimb towards tip; that's what the bracehight seems to tell me, too!
BUT HEY.... GREAT JOB on that bow!!!
really fancy barkquiver there, too!
frank
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That looks so cool, I love the bark on that one, unfortunately our scandinavian birches has to low compression strength for such a bow.
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Thanks for all the comments guys.
The upper limb definately needs to bend more from mid limb to the tip, the problem was that one of the knots in the wood is right there and i was too scared to go any further into it without breaking it.
Pat i will get some pics of just the quiver tomorrow and post em for ya
Otoe, im so green at this that im not sure how to answer your question. What i did was cut the tree about a month and a half ago then, with a draw knife took the limbs down to say about half the thickness of the tree, then i put some helmsmans spar varnish on the ends to keep it from splitting, and let it set in my garage until our camping trip this last weekend. Moose Palm, who is responsible for getting me into this newfound passion told me that his dad was wanting to build a bow while we were camping for a 9 year boy that was going to be there. I figured that this piece of wood would do the job, never expecting it would turn out as good as it did. Now im at home halfway through a similar bow that is more fitted to the 9 year old boy.
Thanks again for all the comments
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wow. sweet. how you built it makes the bow even better!
Sweet build story.
I vote this one for BOTM...
Nice job...
I want to build one too...
N2.
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Very nice bow. Jawge
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Nice set up,cool bow,The tiller don't look that bad to me. :) Very nice for your 3rd.Wished my 3rd turned out that good. :)
Pappy
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Well done, I like the look of your bow with the bark left on. For a third bow you done great :)
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All i can say is SWEEEEEEEET !!!!
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Now THAT is super cool.
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The set is because the wood wasnt dry enough. Try force drying the next one in a heat box first. Most of Alaska has very high humidity. It will never get dry enough with out some type of heat source. Nice job on the tiller. I expect the bark will eventualy dry up and come off though, I just hope it doesnt break the bow when it does. Good luck. Ryano
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This is what Primitive Archery is all about, folks :)
Will that bark pop off?
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There was quite a bit of really flakey bark on it when i started, after i peeled that stuff off, the stuff that is left seems to be on there pretty good. I think with a few coats of spar varnish it will stay. Ive seen birch logs out in the woods that are almost completely rotten that still have that one layer of bark on em. Im kinda thinking that without the bark, with as many knots as there are that it definately wouldnt survive.
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But logs in the woods don't bend. The bark will come off after it drys. Its just a matter of time....Good luck in any case. Ryano
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Maybe it will stay on like Tim's plum branch bows or a typical Cherry bark backed bow? I am trying to be optimistic here cuz that is one cool stick.
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Guess all we can do is wait and see, i see Ryano's point though. I wonder if there is anything i can do to help it stay on other than just spar varnish?? I hope it stays too, cause i would really like to make another one with one of those birch trees that has the paper white bark with black as coal knots. Ill definately keep and eye on it and keep ya posted.
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I like!!!! it. David
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Nice lookin bow ,cool quiver
Dennis
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I think I heard that birch bark is used a protective covering on horn-bows, so there must be some way to attach it.
Cheers,
Grant
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After looking at the bark some more I'm wondering if you could give us a scientific name for the type of birch it is.
The bark looks like what we call tag alder(Alnus rugosa) here in northern michigan, I have a stave of it drying, alder is very similar to
birch in its leaves and such.
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This is what i came up with for the scientific name Dana.
Betula Papyrifera Marsh var. Kenaica (W.H. Evans) A. Henry Kenai Birch
This is where i found it.
http://plants.usda.gov/java/nameSearch#
We have quite a few speicies of alder here too and i can see how they could get confused, although ive personally never seen alder with the paper like flakey bark on them.
Hope that helps
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That is too cool. Really like the birch bark look. It looks like it fell right out of a tree. Awesome job.
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Dana here are a couple of pics of some "Kenai Birch" that i just took.
Other than the diameter of the tree and the slightly darker color, this is what the piece that i made the bow out of looked like when i cut it down. On a hike this last weekend i saw a tree about this size that was almost a blood red color, i was tempted to take it but it was on the kenai national wildlife refuge and you cant cut live trees there. Hope this is of some use to you.
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was that from a green sapling?
if not....when it dries wont the bark crack and come off? or does birch not do that. i have a lot of it around here and would like to try that.
~Nate
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Thanks for sharing this bow with us. It is really cool. I love the decoration, the primitive look, and the tiller, as others have said, is OK. Way to go. Experimenting with new styles and materials is what makes this hobby so much fun.
Dan
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Nate, That seems like the big question, weather or not the bark is going to come off, guess at this point its a wait and see thing. Hope it dont but if it does its a lesson learned. If it dont then Saweeet!!!
Oh and yes it was from a green sapling that i took down about half way with a draw knife then let it dry for a month and a half or so. So i dont know if that qualifies it as green or seasoned or what, wish i had a moisture meter so i could tell just how much it did dry.
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AK,
if the bow limbs are the same length from the center of the bow you can cut off 1 1/2- 2 inches off the bottom limb. This will some what correct the bow towards a 1/4" positive tiller. With the birches and hickories have a tendency the hold moisture, more that most other woods.
You can put the bow in 90-95 degree environment(constant) for two weeks. The moisture content can be felt w/your hand on the exposed wood.If you feel any dampness its too wet. Just keep in mind the bark covered wood will take longer the dry cure. When done you bow will gain several #s pull and shoot with better cast. Just limit the draw length to 27" or less.You can seal the bow w/any fat or a marine grade teak oil. Hand rub well to get a protective moisture barrier. Later touching up as needed. Bear tallow is a great sealant when hand rubbed numerous coats. Hope this can help you. Bob Brooks
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AK thats most definately birch, I've seen some small birch here that has color like that, always figured it was paper birch just weird guess I need to do some more research.
I have staves of paprer birch and yellow birch drying looking forward to trying em out.
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That is pretty cool. Justin
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AK if I get a chance I will grab a camera tommow and take a few pics of some birch here.
I'm sure we don't have Kenai birch, its probably just s variation of paper birch or something.
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That's the coolest set up you've got there!! 8) 8) Does it get any more primitive than that? Joe H
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thats one sweet bow.nice tiller,sweet backing..hey ,you got it made now..just have to kill a deer.john
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thats is sweet bro i always wanted to build a bow never got around to it
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I agree with all the others,,, that's a sweet bow for sure! :)