Madake-horn, 57#@28"

[superdav95]

There’s the money shot!   Beautiful bow and love the idea of the horn belly lam under the handle.  Seems to work just fine on the d/r bow too.  Nice work. 

[Tuomo]

I even owned a Watusi horn bellied Dryad longbow many years ago that was drop dead beautiful, but it was very sluggish.  I thought at the time that it must have been the added belly mass.

I remember those Dryad bamboo-backed, horn-bellied bows, they were great-looking bows. It’s interesting to know that they were slow, because they seemed very fast. The physical mass of this kind of bow is the main thing to consider. The heavier ones I made (98# and 70#) are fast, but that’s because they are strong relative to their mass. This bow is also quite heavy but has a lighter draw weight, so its performance may suffer. I have to make chrono tests. Making low-draw-weight bamboo-horn bows can be difficult, although "Simk" has succeeded at this very well.

[superdav95]

Simk’s bows are wonderful.  He and Ed have been an inspiration to me over the years for these type of horn bellied bow builds.  I’ve made a number of them and have seen a slight increase in mass compared to non horn bellied bows of similar style but the performance is noticeably better.  Mind you these bows have also been sinewed too.  My fastest bow to date though have been my bamboo backed and bellied bows.  They would be similar to what James Parker made. 

[RyanY]

Absolutely stunning in every way. Really love that reflex shape. I need to make more laminated bows.

[Bob Barnes]

I remember those Dryad bamboo-backed, horn-bellied bows, they were great-looking bows. It’s interesting to know that they were slow, because they seemed very fast. The physical mass of this kind of bow is the main thing to consider. The heavier ones I made (98# and 70#) are fast, but that’s because they are strong relative to their mass. This bow is also quite heavy but has a lighter draw weight, so its performance may suffer. I have to make chrono tests. Making low-draw-weight bamboo-horn bows can be difficult, although "Simk" has succeeded at this very well.
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Mine had a silver gray and black horn belly.  Mike said that changed from the mild DR form to his more radical DR form to pick up performance.  It seems like it was 64" 50#@28".  It was beautiful though.  It would be great to find a source for that Watusi horn.  The breed has massive horns.