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Author Topic: Blackfoot Native American Yew Bow  (Read 23879 times)

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Offline YewArcher

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Blackfoot Native American Yew Bow
« on: October 12, 2008, 09:59:37 pm »
Here is a Native American Plains Bow. This is representitve of the Blackfoot Tribe. The were pretty high up in the plains, ranged allot so had acsess to Yew wood. They made some real stunning bows with porcupine quill work, snake skins, paints, flannel, cherry bark. Lots of differnt materials.
This bow is pretty close to the bow Jim Hamm and Steve Alley show in there books. Some minor difernces are lenght and snake skins. The original is 40" long, has quill work and Prarie Garter snake skins. This one is 48" long, I am working on the quill work and will have it on soon (Its hard to do!!) and has water snake skins as I could not find Prarire Garten snake skins. I have another that is in the works that I will be paitent with until I find the correct skins.

Here is the bow Blackoot yew bow Yew Heart wood and sinew 48" long 46#@26" Soft Inner cherry bark grip and tip wraps Ermine fur tassels (On the origianl the fur was held on with the quill work....still working on it)





















That Inner cherry bark is real cool. Its soft but tough and pretty tough to work with as well!!

Here are 2 full draw pics. One fully detailed the other with out.





Its a real lovely bow. Pics dont do it justice. Its also a good mock up for the next one wich will be 100% authentic except for the lenght.

Thanks for looking,

Steve
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Offline hawkbow

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Re: Blackfoot Native American Yew Bow
« Reply #1 on: October 12, 2008, 10:41:55 pm »
very cool bow Steve, looks authentic to me... HAWK
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Offline mullet

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Re: Blackfoot Native American Yew Bow
« Reply #2 on: October 12, 2008, 10:47:47 pm »
  Looks good Steve, was that Baleen behind you in the first picture?
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Shooter_G22

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Re: Blackfoot Native American Yew Bow
« Reply #3 on: October 12, 2008, 11:52:25 pm »
WOW!

   that is a very nice bow!!!  i love the little bow's   i like short bows... i really like em...  and that one is nice... 

  i need one like it... !!!   wow... i really mean it..  it is killer....

good job!

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Offline OldBow

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Re: Blackfoot Native American Yew Bow
« Reply #4 on: October 13, 2008, 12:06:59 am »
Wonderful replica of Blackfoot Indian bows. Must have been something like the bow and arrows that Meriweather Lewis threw into the fire after a deadly encounter with the Blackfoot on his return trip to the East.  This encounter is better explained in this link:
http://www.visitmt.com/categories/moreinfo.asp?IDRRecordID=511&siteid=1
or this one:
http://www.blackfeetcountry.com/twomedencounter.html
« Last Edit: October 13, 2008, 12:21:27 am by OldBow »
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Offline Sparrow

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Re: Blackfoot Native American Yew Bow
« Reply #5 on: October 13, 2008, 12:24:25 am »
 Yeah...that is a nice bow.(That's a thicket hunter).How's it shoot ?   Side note: What shade is that fingernail polish your wearing ?  ;D
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Offline JackCrafty

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Re: Blackfoot Native American Yew Bow
« Reply #6 on: October 13, 2008, 01:10:00 am »
Very Nice!....even without the quillwork. ;)
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Offline Pappy

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Re: Blackfoot Native American Yew Bow
« Reply #7 on: October 13, 2008, 06:02:52 am »
Beautiful bow,great job on that one. :)
   Pappy
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Offline YewArcher

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Re: Blackfoot Native American Yew Bow
« Reply #8 on: October 13, 2008, 07:20:42 am »
Thanks fellas,

That is a challenging bow to make. The details are real tough.......inner cherry bark, quills. Its a real cool bow though. I will hopefully have my quill work under control in the next few weeks. Thats an art on its own!

Mullet, Yes, thats quite a chunk of Baleen. I have a freind who was an Anthropoly Professor in Alaska for 20 years. He wants a few Baleen bows for his Plains Indian collection. We gifted my wife and I that piece for us to make them for him. I believe tehre will be sme left over for a bow of my own. It will be a treat and they do speculate that some of the NA may have used baleen instead of horn on bows as the trade routes were  in place for them to get it.

Shooter, Shes a looker thats for sure.

oldbow, good link!

Fishoonah, She shoots real well. I tried a differnt tiller on this one. I prefrer this tiller on this style of bow:



I wanted to try something differnt and this is the differnce between the 2. The way the Yew bow is tillered it is more shooter freindly. More stable, less stack. The tiller on the Osage one that I just posted is quicker but less fogiving. I prefer the second tiller but both shoot well.

Steve

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Bowbound

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Re: Blackfoot Native American Yew Bow
« Reply #9 on: October 13, 2008, 12:51:09 pm »
Looks really nice, this yew gives amazing bend.

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Offline ballista

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Re: Blackfoot Native American Yew Bow
« Reply #10 on: October 13, 2008, 01:59:59 pm »
my god, the second one looks like its about to give, but it does look real nice-I truley love that first one. the limbs have to pretty wide, right? nice bows, wondering how they shoot to be honest-jimmy
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Offline YewArcher

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Re: Blackfoot Native American Yew Bow
« Reply #11 on: October 13, 2008, 02:16:07 pm »
Quote from: ballista on October 13, 2008, 01:59:59 pm
my god, the second one looks like its about to give, but it does look real nice-I truley love that first one. the limbs have to pretty wide, right? nice bows, wondering how they shoot to be honest-jimmy

They shoot real good. They are a challenge to master as anyone who has shot one can testify. The deeply reflex handle that is behid the limb makes for a chalenge.

That second one is just awsome. Osage and sinew can take sever overdraw. I think that bow is 42" long and being drawin to 24". I have made quite a few to those same specs and they are all just awsome shooting bows. No where near ready to give. I drew a test one so that the limbs were 90 degrees to the handel, meaning flat and it worked well. Took a bit to much set though so now I contect with areound 2 24" draw for 42" and a 25" draw for 44" and for a 26" draw i make up 48-50". Any longer then that and i find the bows do not shoot as well with this design.

Steve
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Offline DanaM

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Re: Blackfoot Native American Yew Bow
« Reply #12 on: October 13, 2008, 02:19:47 pm »
Truly inspiring work, thanks for sharing with us :)
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Offline David Long

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Re: Blackfoot Native American Yew Bow
« Reply #13 on: October 13, 2008, 02:24:32 pm »
Now- THAT- is a work of art. I am blown away by the courage you have to make these short bows. Real inspiration. Dave
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NW Montana

Offline bambule

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Re: Blackfoot Native American Yew Bow
« Reply #14 on: October 13, 2008, 02:44:57 pm »
Wow, very great craftmanship - nice work, everything is great on that bow...

Greetz
Cord
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Niedersachsen, Germany
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