First off, beautiful work on these!
For anyone with some experience with this....how long of a core would you recommend to get to a 27" draw with this design. I have a 55" belly split of osage chased to a ring, only about 3/8" thick 1" wide and thought this might be a good way to use it. I am unsure whether I should leave it the full 55" or cut it down some to make the sinew/horn really work. Also, would you be willing to share any good sources for horn? You can PM me if you like.
Thanks a lot!
uncle duck thanks for the kind words. I appreciate them.
Concerning bison horn bow length, I think sinew will be more limiting than the horn. I know Eric (Indian Guy) has made some of these with 5-6 bison horn scales. Mine uses 4 and is 36 inches long. Add two more sections and you get just over 50".
However, read up on your sinew backing and you will find that the bow you have is getting to the upper limit for sinew backing, but should work fine. The additional mass added with sinew and glue, starts to cut into your performance as the bow gets longer. That is why most sinew backed bows are short. Whether or not you should put bison horn on there to fix the split is another matter. I may not have enough experience to say much. IMO it wouldn't hurt.
I noticed I forgot to post pix at full draw.
I got wrapped up in my sinew cable making project and forgot. (posted in primitive skills) I will try to address the lack of pix on this one sometime soon.
So many projects . . . So little time. I know ya'll know what I mean.