Bison Horn Composite Bow Adventure

[Thesquirrelslinger]

Please don't make us wait much longer, but don't rush it.
Rushing kills everything.

[Patches]

Nice job on the bows fellar!  You are welcome on the sinew, I got more if you need it.  I like the Cheyenne style youth bow.  I bet it fits her well!    You need to get her a reel for it and take her to shoot some fish in the swamps.  I can't wait to see the final products in person (and maybe please please get to shoot one...I will be careful I promise).  Keep us posted!  Excellent work!

[Christian Soldier]

It looks pretty beast now! I really like the contrast between the horn and the osage. Looking forward to seeing the finished product! 

[anasazi]

Its looking great! Cant wait to see it finished.

[Peacebow_Coos]

Heck yeah man this is one awesome post!

[IsaacW]

I am pretty sure I am not competent enough to make a bow like this and I really have more interest in "Woodlands" bows and OLD Euro bow, but this is making me want to try a plains bow like this!!!!            

[LEGIONNAIRE]

This is so cool. Thanks for posting pictures this is cool. Whered you get the bison horns?

[swamp monkey]

The braced and shooting pix are of the bow I used the cut first and tiller later method.  Notice in the unstrung shot (inside on stair rail) you can see a gap under the bow on the left side.  The string is noticeable behind that gap. The Osage had a less than straight form.  So I had to keep that in mind as I tillered it.  The arrow is WAY too long for this bow.  Proper sized arrows will come later.  I measured a mark on my arrow and shot it in first by drawing back to 15 inches then 20.  I plan to work up to 22.  Why am I working up to it?  Because I'm like a first time bowyer all over again!  I feel my heart race with each draw and an exhilaration with each arrow pass.  This little bow has some serious pep.  I will measure it soon.

I need to dress this one up with a tassel and some felt/ leather affectations.

[Gus]

I'll be watching...

-gus

[BowEd]

Good thread swamp monkey.Thanks for sharing.Have fun with that little rocket launcher.

[swamp monkey]

Tomorrow afternoon I will pull out the scale and make an FD graph for the bow that I can brace.  Today, is family time but before we get at that, I wanted to mention I got further along on the second bison horn bow.  Below are pix of the core after I chased a ring and tillered it.  36" long, roughly an inch wide and it pulled 20# at 22".  Notice that side profile is flat.  I liked that a lot.

Last weekend I glued up the bison horn scales to the core.  I will unclamp that tomorrow afternoon, sand and take some pix to share. 

Enjoy.

Oh P.S.  I added a few pix to prior posts on this thread.

[Jodocus]

Ha, what a joy to read, thanks a lot for sharing.

Because I'm like a first time bowyer all over again!  I feel my heart race with each draw and an exhilaration with each arrow pass. 

 
great, isn't it. That's why I make bows rather than chairs. 

[PebblePlacement]

Great thread! Great information! Great pictures! Great appreciation!

[swamp monkey]

Horn scales glued on.  I have rough sanded to get uniform thickness, then scraped with a cabinet scraper, followed by 320 grit sanding.  I plan on using 400 grit before I wrap the joints in sinew.  Buffing wheel work should make this one gleam. 

Then sinew the back. 

Life is good.

[DuBois]

This is really cool! Do you cut the horns from base toward tip to make the scales? Also, do you overlap or do a splice between scales or just butt up to each other and wrap with sinew? Thanks for this post. I bet we'll see more of these now that you got something started