Decoration

[CraigC]

Howdy, new member intro and a couple questions. Been a shooter all my life. Seems like as time passes, the further back in time my interests go. I've gone from cartridge guns to blackpowder to having an obsession with flintlocks and now I want to start building them. Started piddling with traditional archery several years ago with a $300 longbow but never spent enough time on it to get good enough to hunt with it. Tried a modern crossbow and it just doesn't interest me. I got into leatherwork in 2013 making holsters, belts and sheaths, then started into more primitive rawhide stuff, beadwork and hunting pouches. I'll provide a link to my website below for reference. Now I'm back into traditional archery, wanting to do archery-related leatherwork and would like to not only decorate the bows I have to build my own. Or at least finish a kit bow or two. I'm very interested in the historical context of Egyptian angulars and Asian/Turkish horsebows.

My questions relate to decoration. I've always loved embellished guns and leatherwork and archery is no different. I've seen all sorts of wraps and overlays from snakeskin to cowhide. My question is, how much crap can you attach to a bow before it starts to impede performance? Does a leather wrapping (on the limbs) work or are you restricted to very thin snakeskin or similar? I've got some ideas for some really cool exotic skin overlays but most of it is much thicker than snakeskin. What kind of thread or cord is best for wrapping/binding? What about glue? I see many references to super glue. What about epoxies, contact cement or wood glue? What paints and finishes work best when applied to the limbs? Are there books that answer these questions and more? I see lots about building bows and I've ordered the full set of Primitive Archer backissues but I'd like to have something that goes into detail about this sort of thing.

[vinemaplebows]

You better go back and read the rules if you are not a sponsor.

[CraigC]

That thought never even occurred to me. I'm not soliciting business, in any way, shape, form or fashion. In fact the front page of my site says I haven't been taking orders for two years and that won't change any time soon. Any archery related leatherwork I do will be for my own use and not for sale. I simply posted the link and pics for reference. If  that's still outside the rules, I'll remove the link.

[PatM]

It doesn't matter. Mods don't have the time to read each site for that sort of info.  It's about selling stuff in general, not custom orders per se.  Just delete the link.

[TimBo]

That's some beautiful work.

[CraigC]

Thanks, TimBo! I'm excited to take what I've learned and apply it to bows, arrows, quivers, arm guards and such.

It doesn't matter. Mods don't have the time to read each site for that sort of info.  It's about selling stuff in general, not custom orders per se.  Just delete the link.

Like I said, I'm not selling anything and that was not my intent.

[Mesophilic]

I'd really like to know how the answer to how much crap one can put on a bow without suffering performance loss, too.

[Soggydog]

Well I'm about as far as you can get from an expert (I've only built 3 bows), but I would have to speculate that anything that adds weight to the limbs is going to have some effect on performance just from the Force=Mass*Acceleration relationship, whether or not that performance is worth the loss is up to you. In other words, anything that goes on the limb is accelerated along with arrow. That being said, not all snazzy looking things on a bow will necessarily have a net loss on performance; after all, wood generally needs to be sealed from the elements somehow, and a comfy handle can't hurt.

[Hawkdancer]

Nice work!  Those would make a neat show at a rendezvous!
Hawkdancer

[PEARL DRUMS]

If performance means nothing to you, you can glue and stitch anything you want to any part of the bow. If performance does matter, then simply add skins or rawhide to the limbs. The latter can be used as your canvas. You can do whatever suits your fancy in the grip area.

[stuckinthemud]

Turkish bows are wrapped in very thin leather

[mullet]

Turkish bows are a whole different animal. Just think, the more weight you add to the limbs the slower performance your bow will have.

[stuckinthemud]

No argument there from me but the question was about possibilities for decoration where impact on performance was not an issue, also, the leather used in these bows is the finest quality such as would be used by a book-binder and as such I don't believe it actually would have that much of a significant impact on performance as it has very little mass

[mullet]

My point exactly.

[CraigC]

Thanks for the input. I figured it would have to have some effect, I just wondered what the tipping point was. Of course, a before-and-after session with the chronograph could be used to see the impact. At this point, I ordered a kit from Dave Mead but want to experiment on my longbow with a leather handle wrap and do some binding at the tips and handle with thread. Might use shark for the handle wrap.

Can I get any input on thread, paints and finishes? I see that 3Rivers has silk thread but I have some relatively heavy polyester leather stitching thread that looks like a good weight for this purpose. I can get that stuff in big 1lb spools and use it for other things. Does it really matter? Again, if there are books that explain all this stuff, I have no problem doing my own research.

I'm going to be drawing up my first quiver this week.

Wow, real friendly crowd, or something. I came here with a lot of enthusiasm and lost it almost immediately with the crappy response in this thread. No wonder it's going to hell in a hand basket.