Cherokee-inspired long D-bow

[upstatenybowyer]

I usually don't cut sugar maple on my property cause we make maple syrup, but when a very large linden fell on two of my favorites I knew it was time to make a few maple bows.

This is the first bow I roughed out with my new bandsaw and man did that ever save time. I used the dimensions for a Cherokee warbow Herrin describes in TBB 2 as a starting point.

70" ntn
65# @ 27"
thin walnut lams glued onto the handle w/ sea grass wrap
rosewood on the tips (thank you again Greenriverwoodcraft)

Aside from not being used to a 65# bow, it became very easy to control after some practice. Quiet as a mouse and hits incredibly hard. I'd hate to be an enemy of a Cherokee warrior aiming one of these bows at my head.

[upstatenybowyer]

a few more...

[DC]

Nice one. In the second to last picture the belly looks brown, did you heat treat it?

[upstatenybowyer]

Sorry, yes DC I did. Very light job though. The wood also has some streaks of dark brown from some kind of infection, so not all the brown you see is from the heat.

It was already pulling about 60 before the heat treating and anything above 65 is a little much for me at the moment. I kinda wonder how much more weight it would have gained had I done a heavier job. 

[selfbow joe]

Nice bow!

[penderbender]

Nice bend on that one jeff! Cheers- Brendan

[chamookman]

Well done Sir  ! Bob

[Benedikt]

Really nice bow! I love the look of the rosewood tips

[Stick Bender]

 Nice bow I love maple nice to work with bet that bow is pretty snappy

[FilipT]

What other woods are good for this kind of bow? I like the look of these eastern woodland tribes bows.

[bjrogg]

Real nice bend upstate. That pretty crazy how the colors turned out. Almost looks like heart wood and sap wood. Glad you like your bandsaw. I'm sure you'll find all kinds of neat things to do with it.
Bjrogg

[upstatenybowyer]

Thanks a bunch guys. Stalker, I believe the preferred wood of the Cherokee was Black Locust, although Herrin says Oak, Ash, and Hickory were used as well.

[bradsmith2010]

very nice

[BowEd]

Nice work Jeff.Tiller/handle/tips.Bow does'nt look stressed at all.Thought you were going to show a linden bow at first read.I've never tried one of those.
My bandsaw serves me well for roughing out a few bows to acclimate to 50% humidity.Then down the line in time they're ready to tiller.

[Marc St Louis]

Very nice.  The limbs look a bit thick for a 65# bow