Primitive Archer

Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: YewArcher on August 19, 2008, 10:01:17 am

Title: Pit River Indian (Acumawi) Yew and sinew
Post by: YewArcher on August 19, 2008, 10:01:17 am
Here is another of my Pit River Indian bows. I made one last year for hunting season. This will be one of my persoanll hunting bows this year.

Specs:
Yew heart wood and sinew
45" long
50#@26"
Holds 1.5" of reflex after heavy shooting creeps back to about 3" after an hour unstrung.

Great shooting bow. These people were ingenious!!!! ;D

Unbraced: (Look at that retained reflex :o)

(http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d114/yewarcher/achumawi%202008/unbraced.jpg)

Braced: (Look ate that unbraced profile. Once you see the full draw it really amazing. It goes to show that the unbraced profile really needs to be ignored sometimes. The bottom limb has a HUGE knot in it. At brace it looks stiff but at full draw it bends right through. Messes with your head when you are tillering!!)
(http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d114/yewarcher/achumawi%202008/strung.jpg)

Belly:

(http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d114/yewarcher/achumawi%202008/belly.jpg)

Back: (I painted the back black on this one for a nice dark silloette while hunting)
(http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d114/yewarcher/achumawi%202008/limb.jpg)

Tips and grip:

(http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d114/yewarcher/achumawi%202008/tip4.jpg)

(http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d114/yewarcher/achumawi%202008/tip1.jpg)

(http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d114/yewarcher/achumawi%202008/tip3.jpg)

(http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d114/yewarcher/achumawi%202008/grip2.jpg)

(http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d114/yewarcher/achumawi%202008/grip1.jpg)

Full draw: (Notice the wavy knots in the limbs)
(http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d114/yewarcher/achumawi%202008/fulldraw.jpg)

Thank you for looking!

Steve
Title: Re: Pit River Indian (Acumawi) Yew and sinew
Post by: DirtyDan on August 19, 2008, 10:05:21 am
Great job, Steve.  It just goes to show you that you can't judge a tiller by looking at the braced view alone.  When fully drawn, the tiller is just right.  I love your sinew tips, the paint job, the short length.  What are you using for string?

Dan
Title: Re: Pit River Indian (Acumawi) Yew and sinew
Post by: YewArcher on August 19, 2008, 10:13:33 am
Dan, Thanks,

For dislpay and demnstration I use a sinew string. For day to day and huntingI use linen. That there is a junky dacron. opps.....forgot to put a good one on for photos!

Steve
Title: Re: Pit River Indian (Acumawi) Yew and sinew
Post by: Dano on August 19, 2008, 10:25:07 am
Very cool bow. Nice job!!
Title: Re: Pit River Indian (Acumawi) Yew and sinew
Post by: Pappy on August 19, 2008, 10:28:51 am
Very nice job,Ha I seen that before. ;) :)
   Pappy
Title: Re: Pit River Indian (Acumawi) Yew and sinew
Post by: cowboy on August 19, 2008, 10:35:11 am
Amazing to me how much those shorties can bend with a little sinew glued to em. Looks good!
Title: Re: Pit River Indian (Acumawi) Yew and sinew
Post by: burn em up chuck on August 19, 2008, 12:54:59 pm
sweet !!! every time i see one those i want to run to the shed and start working on one. i've got a piece of yew thats deflexed maybe this would a good project for it. anyway excellent bow.

                                                                              chuck
Title: Re: Pit River Indian (Acumawi) Yew and sinew
Post by: OldBow on August 19, 2008, 12:57:13 pm
The Smithsonian is going to be hiring you as a talented maker of NA Indian replicas. Nice job! Got your bow all bookmarked, too!
Title: Re: Pit River Indian (Acumawi) Yew and sinew
Post by: DanaM on August 19, 2008, 01:56:58 pm
Man you've been busy :) Great replica bow and the fact that is a shooter makes it even better :)
Title: Re: Pit River Indian (Acumawi) Yew and sinew
Post by: Marc St Louis on August 19, 2008, 02:42:17 pm
Very well done.  Looks like it works just a bit through the handle
Title: Re: Pit River Indian (Acumawi) Yew and sinew
Post by: Postman on August 19, 2008, 04:11:07 pm
wow- what a cool design. Ingenious indeed
Title: Re: Pit River Indian (Acumawi) Yew and sinew
Post by: david w. on August 19, 2008, 04:36:53 pm
Awesome!  I love that
way cool bow :)
Title: Re: Pit River Indian (Acumawi) Yew and sinew
Post by: AndrewS on August 19, 2008, 04:53:22 pm
A great work!
Congrats ;)
Title: Re: Pit River Indian (Acumawi) Yew and sinew
Post by: cracker on August 19, 2008, 05:13:57 pm
Very cool I like it a lot.
R.C.
Title: Re: Pit River Indian (Acumawi) Yew and sinew
Post by: JackCrafty on August 19, 2008, 05:19:44 pm
Interesting bow you got there.....very nice.
Title: Re: Pit River Indian (Acumawi) Yew and sinew
Post by: The Burnt Hill Archer on August 19, 2008, 07:11:37 pm
what they said, well done. yew and sinew, a match made in heaven!

Phil
Title: Re: Pit River Indian (Acumawi) Yew and sinew
Post by: Hillbilly on August 19, 2008, 07:22:28 pm
Good looking bow-almost looks like you went back in time and snatched it from the hand of a long-ago bowmaker.
Title: Re: Pit River Indian (Acumawi) Yew and sinew
Post by: sailordad on August 19, 2008, 07:27:00 pm
impressive bow


26" draw from a 45" long bow,wow

gotta ask, those tips look like they could have been a bear to get bent back so far and keep them lined up properly,how did ya do it?


awesome job,love that bow keep up the great work.

                                                                              peace,
                                                                                    tim
Title: Re: Pit River Indian (Acumawi) Yew and sinew
Post by: Woodland Roamer on August 19, 2008, 09:51:18 pm
Wow, another great looking replica Steve. You sure make some nice ones.

Alan
Title: Re: Pit River Indian (Acumawi) Yew and sinew
Post by: Gordon on August 19, 2008, 10:11:53 pm
Fabulous bow. I was skeptical when I saw the braced profile, but the tiller looks good on the full-draw.  Congratulations on making the adjustment.
Title: Re: Pit River Indian (Acumawi) Yew and sinew
Post by: Shaun on August 19, 2008, 11:02:57 pm
I hate to be the odd man out but I think the braced tiller is reflected in the full draw being balanced only by knocking the arrow high above the center. I love the materials and the recurved tips and pin knocks, the general theme of the bow  but just can't get past the brace shape.
Title: Re: Pit River Indian (Acumawi) Yew and sinew
Post by: YewArcher on August 19, 2008, 11:20:46 pm
"I hate to be the odd man out but I think the braced tiller is reflected in the full draw being balanced only by knocking the arrow high above the center "

huh?? ::)

Take a  closer look. The arrow is nocked slightly above center. What you are saying makes no sence. If the arrow was nocked hig above cenet it would stiffen the bottom limb even more. I have made 12 of these now an kno exaclty where the arrow flies best out of the bow. What you are sugesting is slightly offencive to me as a bowyer. I would sugest that you look closer and know the dynamics of a tiller prior to making statements like that.

Steve
Title: Re: Pit River Indian (Acumawi) Yew and sinew
Post by: Shaun on August 20, 2008, 12:15:53 am
Steve, no offense meant and I almost did not post but I thought my input might be either helpful to you or a chance for me to learn more by telling what I saw and hearing the feedback. I believe - and am quite possibly completely wrong - that 90% of tillering takes place before full brace height is reached and that after that it is just touch up to finish. I have trouble seeing through what looks like a hinge in the top limb. I think that it is possible to "feel" for the correct spot on the string to find the balance point for drawn tiller but that this may not be the most efficient spot if the brace profile is off.

Again, I am fully open to the idea that I am wrong, very wrong.  Just trying to honestly say what I see and to live and learn.
Title: Re: Pit River Indian (Acumawi) Yew and sinew
Post by: YewArcher on August 20, 2008, 12:29:57 am
Thats ok,
To answer your question. I would say no. Meaning that not all the tiller is in the braced profile. I have seen bows that look perfect at brace but way off at tiller just as I have seen great tillers way off at brace. Sometimes you tiller to brace and ot looks good and from there you are golden with a smooth ride till the end....other times it des not work that way. When dealing with wood.....espically knotty wood all the rules go away and you have to go by tiller. Yew is a lumy wood that goes up and down. This piece is no exception it is very much a charecter piece. Its one of the things allot of people miss in charcetre staves.......hinges are one thing.......lumpy bows qujite another. there is not a hinge on that bow. What you are seeing is charceter. If you cannot see through the arc then keep trying and keep looing at snakey bows and it will come. You just cannot smooth out every hump in a bow.....espically one this short. It just does not work. That however does not equate to a hinge. A hinge is a distinct think that is not missable in a bow like this. These bows hide nothing.

Sorry if I took offence to what you said but it does bother me to hear stuff said like that , not because it nessecarily bothers me personally, but because it cause miss information in a art that is full of mis information and mis conceptions.

Hope that all makes sence for you.,

Steve
Title: Re: Pit River Indian (Acumawi) Yew and sinew
Post by: Pappy on August 20, 2008, 07:06:12 am
Shaun I am with you in most cases I like the brace tiller to be pretty even but in the case
of character wood that I use a lot of,Like Steve said that all goes out the window,then
it is all about full draw and even with that you can't always get it prefect where you have
knots and humps,this is a good example of a well tillered Character bow.  :)
   Pappy
Title: Re: Pit River Indian (Acumawi) Yew and sinew
Post by: YewArcher on August 20, 2008, 07:28:31 am
Ok, back to the technical stuff.

Tim, it was not to hard to keep alignment. When I do recurves I willer them to about 20" prior to sinewing to make sure taht everything aligns. I make the nesecary adjustments as i go. Sometimes you need a little heat to get them aligned. The hardest thing is because the limbs are so wide and the recurve so big the limbs want to twist if the tiller is not good in section....meaning side to side wood balance.


Mark, Yes. I made this handel a bot stiffer. I have made quite a few of these and have made the tiller differnt on every one from perfcet circle to this. I have come to prefer a little bot less bend in the handel on this style bow. They of corse still need to bend a bit.

Here is an earlier version:

(http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d114/yewarcher/Acumawi%20Replica%20o6o7/100_4578.jpg)

(http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d114/yewarcher/Acumawi%20Replica%20o6o7/100_4598.jpg)

That bow still shoots great and is holding tiller ok. But this new one seems to be a bit faster and has better early draw weight.

Thanks guys fr all the nice comments, espically Oldbow that is a great thing to say.

Steve

Title: Re: Pit River Indian (Acumawi) Yew and sinew
Post by: sailordad on August 20, 2008, 10:55:30 am
i just find that incredible, such a short bow with such a long draw, and 90 degree curves  wow :o

ya just gotta love 'em


                                                                          tim
Title: Re: Pit River Indian (Acumawi) Yew and sinew
Post by: Keenan on August 20, 2008, 10:49:25 pm
 Absolutely stunning replica. You really did hit the mark on that one. Congratulations,    Keenan
Title: Re: Pit River Indian (Acumawi) Yew and sinew
Post by: YewArcher on August 21, 2008, 08:14:00 am
Thanks guys!
Title: Re: Pit River Indian (Acumawi) Yew and sinew
Post by: GregB on August 21, 2008, 09:02:24 am
Beautiful bow...fine work indeed! ;)