Primitive Archer

Thanks guys.  Much appreciated.  It didn’t take too long to build this bow actually.  I’ve made a number of bows using the hld or semi hld now and once you get the hang of it it’s not too bad.  I had this bow brace in a couple days really.  I got lucky here I think with my layout I was able to avoid some potential catastrophic issues with this one.  I just did more shooting to 27” which is where I dare to go with it and it’s pretty snappy!  I don’t have my chrono with me at the moment but will try and get a vid up when done camp.  No handshock and very light in the hand.  It took 1/2” set only so far after shoot in more today. Prior to shooting it the tips were dead even with the back of handle with a balanced deflex/reflex.  The tips after shooting only lost about 1/2”.  Not too bad really.  Expected it to be worse.  I put about 100 shots through and no noticeable issues.  Still early yet I guess.  It feels like shooting a yew bow.  I have been wearing safety glasses to get to full draw as the whole time I’ve been waiting for it to just explode.  Not a good feeling.  Anyway so far so good.  I’ll get a full draw pic done soon. Sorry for the wait fellas just been sorta scattered with gear last week or so. 

A stavelikethat will definitely try your patience and skill level. Both of mine would have sent that piece to the burn pile.
You really turned out a great looking and unique bow out of it. Can’t wait to see the full draw as I’m sure it will look as good as the photos leading up to it. Hopefully the wood itself will prove to be durable for you.

heres a couple pics showing a comparison color difference with yew bow. its similar style in that its also a semi hollow limb bow and notice the tighter ring count of the yew bow compared to the russian olive.  this will vary wildly from tree to tree depending on a lot of factors.  this particular yew bow seen here for comparison happens to be a sinew backed yew bow from a stave that was about 4 or 5" diameter.  fairly high crown also so went with the hld design.  anyway i thought it might interest some with the comparisons.

I have been putting out a garden every year since I was 24, I rented in an old farm house out in the country back then, for my early gardens I had the land owner disc up a place up for me to make a garden. After I was divorced and moved into an apartment, I snuck in a small garden near an old share cropper cabin in a cow pasture that no one could see from the apartment house, I used a turning fork and a rake to make that garden.

When I married Miss Glenda and bought a house in a subdivision, I used the same turning fork and rake to make a garden in the back yard for the next couple of years then bought a front tine tiller to use.

The ground in Muscle Shoals was once a swamp that had been drained and developed, the soil was the richest I had ever planted a garden in and was completely devoid of rocks no matter how deep you dug. The rich soil plus a few tons of barnyard fertilizer and chicken litter produced this.



I used the same tiller when I moved to the country and could have a bigger garden. It took me all day to till up my garden with the old tiller, the ground is very rocky and the tiller beat me to death.

I had acres to mow at the new house, the old snapper mower used 5gal of gas to cut it all, again it was an all-day job.

I finally wised up and bought a tractor with a belly mower and a TILLER. Mowing the grass now takes about 45 minutes, tilling the garden takes about 15 minutes.



I often wonder why so few people plant a garden now, looking back I realize that I grew up picking out of my parent's garden and wanted the same when I started out with a family, money was tight and a garden just made sense. People that didn't grow up with a garden in the backyard don't have a clue about where to start to make one.

If I didn't plant through black plastic and have a tractor to do the heavy lifting and tilling I wouldn't have much of a garden either at 77 years old.

My brother just sent this from the Kroger store he shops at, down-right scary, I just put up 40 pints of green beans that cost me less than $5 to produce. I hope this isn't the wave of the future.

 

Bumping this one back up.

July has been rough here, not much progress on anything,  lots of life stuff in the way....

But...  I should be getting back in the shop soon to get mine finished up.  Still needs some heat and final tiller so hopefully that will go smoothly....

Hope everyone else is doing good with their builds, I'm excited to see them all.