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Getting horn laminations from gemsbok horn.[Pics added]

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BowEd:
What you soon realize making bows with horn,sinew and wood is the amazing properties they bring to the table.To me well worth the effort.You learn things that carry over to making wooden bows only.Your skills get sharpened even more if only trying one.To make these though it helps immensly if you've  made at least a few dozen self bows with good success and a dozen or so sinewed bows too.That's to make horn bows.To just beef up a self bow is'nt that big a task to do.Myself I pay more attention to the percentages of depth of the surface area doing the work.The thinner the core gets the less it works but to only give stability and does no stretching or compressing.They are made to last a lifetime.Most guys making these self bows have more than enough bows hanging around and if you want to challenge yourself give it a try.I've shot out in the rain for hours with my maple with no loss of draw weight or cast in 90 degree heat.Very durable.

M-P:
Wow,  You sure worked fast once that horn arrived!  The result looks great.  I've got the horn bow bug bad, so this will come in handy.   Ron

BowEd:
Yea I was surprised myself too.Some thought out plans go quicker than others.It helps if you've done it a few times before.
I had a fella bugging me to try to get some whale baleen.He thought it was more dense than gemsbok & so much longer too.I investigated it and it has to come from a native of Alaska[Which is the only place I tried.Could be other places but I'm afraid it'll get expensive] like an eskimo.It's pretty well protected.Never tried water buffalo but I'm sure it's doable but a little more expensive.I think my way of heating flat would take the twist out of any water buffalo horn too.Bison horn most times will need butt joints and sinew wraps and wonderful little powerhouse bows have been made on this site too.I here water buffalo horn is denser than gemsbok horn or finer grained so to speak.Hav'nt used it yet though.Gemsbok horn is a horn that is plenty dense enough for bows,it's cheaper,and easier to work with in my opinion.Really I'm a fledgling in this horn bow making,but after a dozen or so made you get a good feel for what you are doing.
Now sheep horn I've never actually made a bow out of.Just used it for overlay tips etc.It seems to be plenty dense.More so than gemsbok horn.Maybe more brittle yet too.But I've seen sinewed sheep horn bows made on this site that are phenominal.Now if you want an education about getting twist out of horn there's the place.Amazing to say the least.
Bone and antler come into the picture here too but will need butt joints & most likely sinew wraps also.Still doable though as seen on this site too.That's why I like gemsbok no wraps or butt joints.
Shorter more reflexed bows get the best out of horn,but it can chrysal too like wood if put into too much extreme a design with poor tillering but pretty rare.
I'm sure there's someone on this site that can shed a little more light yet on the subject of horn on bows or for bows.
It can seem like an over whelming task but like I said earlier if you want to challenge yourself give it a try.We're all here to learn.

paulsemp:
thank you for doing this. It's one thing that's definitely on my bucket list one of these days

BowEd:
Your welcome.
One thing that stops a lot of people yet too is the fact that it can take 6 months for this sinew to cure.That's just on sinewed horn bows.OK...so what.What I do is just make more self bows inbetween the wait.Does'nt slow my stride down any in making bows.
To me woods to be used with horn should be elastic,tension strong diffouse pourous white woods.Ironwood and maple at the top of my list.Both woods air dried too not kiln dried.Just my opinion here and what I've read more so than what I've experienced.Although I did try a maple core kiln dried and thought it was too brittle.Using osage for this is too much of a wash, too dense and the fact that osage can have an oil most time that inhibits good glueing.Osage is such a wonderful wood that I feel it can stand on it's own alone in almost any design.
My first horn bow curing here has a ring pourous hickory core but the early wood was like just dotted lines.Hopefully my prep work before glue ups have been good.

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