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California Indian Style Archery Set Build-a-long
JackCrafty:
This weekend I am resuming work that I started a while ago on an archery set for my oldest daughter.
It is based on California NA style archery equipment.
The bow is juniper, the quiver is a bobcat pelt, and the arrows will be river cane.
I've already tillered the bow and painted the back with acrylic paints.
The string is elk leg sinew and has been dyed to resemble backstrap sinew (don't ask me why....seemed like a good idea at the time ::) )
It still needs some fine tuning on the tiller and a final finish.
I'm not going to describe the process I used to make the bow in this build-a-long.....there's already quite enough bow building info out there. ;D
I wrapped thread around the tips (glued with TB) temporarily, so it wouldn't break during tillering.
I will remove this later and apply sinew or rawhide......haven't decided yet.
The handle is thicker than the rest of the bow, but it still bends through the handle.
madcrow:
Looks like you are well supplied and ready to go. I can't wait to see more.
JackCrafty:
The bow had about 2 inches of natural reflex when I started (can't remember exactly).
I used heat to remove some of it....and set has removed about 1/2" of reflex.
The bow's draw will be 20" and it pulls somewhere in the 30lb range.
I'll record all the stats later.....and tiller it so it will be pleasant for my daughter to shoot.
I'm not sure what the final weight will be yet.
The bobcat pelt is case skinned and commercial tanned.
It is in excellent condition except for damage to the face and a small bare spot in the fur.
My daughter did the sewing of the holes after I cut out the front leg skins, ears, and nose area.
I cut away quite a bit of the damaged face but there was still enough left to preserve almost the full length of the pelt.
JackCrafty:
Here's and end view of the river cane I will be using.
As you can see, there's a lot of variation.
I hope to get about 6 arrows out of this batch.
The way I process river can is probably different than most other methods.
First, I wipe off the dirt, mold, and remove the leaves.
Then I peel most of the outer skin off in order to remove blemishes (dark patches and stuff).
I also trim the leaves completely off the nodes.
I sand off the leaf stems and clean up with a knife.
I scrape the nodes with the knife to clean them up further.
Here is a "before and after" picture.
You can see there is quite a difference in the final look.
The bare shaft not only looks good (to me), the paint sticks a lot better to the shaft.
I will show details of how I straighten and finish the shafts later.
JackCrafty:
OK, while I still had some daylight left, I decided to make a few bone arrowheads.
The bone is from cow's leg and I cut the blanks on my band saw.
I used picture of an actual bone arrowhead as a guide.
The picture represents the arrowhead's actual size.
The first step is to sand the arrowhead to the proper thickness....a little less than 1/8" thick.
I'm guessing this is "proper" because most leg bone shards end up being this thick after they are sanded flat.
The next step is shaping the arrowhead so that there is a central ridge.
I've noticed this ridge in several pictures of this type of arrowhead.
More shaping and comparing to the picture....
Next, I sand down the hafting area.
Then I draw the shape of the notches and cut them out....
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