Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: jamie on November 04, 2012, 10:11:40 am
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been a long time since ive done a bow. 65"ntn, 52#@26". all stone tools and antler wedges to build. cut it down with a piece of schist that was on the ground. it was a 3 1/2" hickory sapling. tiller aint the best . i like a little more bend in the tips. however it spits an arrow equal to my glass bows or better. started it last spring and have just been poking at it when i had time.roughly 80 hrs of work for this one. grip area sucked to do with stone tools but i wanted to do a sudbury design rather than the typical eastern woodland bows i have done before. dacron string at the moment. had a dogbane string but it let go after a dozen or so shots. it will be getting a sinew string. coloration on back is grass stain . i just rubbed grass into the back and let it brown up in the sun. took 3/4" of set
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v288/coyotebow/IMAG0170.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v288/coyotebow/IMAG0172.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v288/coyotebow/IMAG0171.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v288/coyotebow/IMAG0173.jpg)
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Impressive work. I think the tiller looks fine.
George
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One of my favorite designs. Tiller looks good to me. Nice work.
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Nice work.
Doing a bow with stone tools is there on my 'to do' list... mind someone has written 'put up shelves for Mrs Cat' waaay above it >:( ;)
Del
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I like everything in this post!
I think the bow is lovely and it being done the hard way is also way cool.
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Sweet ...I still haven't done a stone tool bow...maybe next spring.. I'd use an elm,ash,or hackberry sapling as its a lil easier to work with tool wise. Hickory can be tough with stone,as I'm sure you found out ;)
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I think the tiller is spot on too. Nice work
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thanks guys. black hawk. ive done a dozen or so abo bows. elm is by far the toughest to work. eastern cedar would be next. not because of the wood . the knots in it are very difficult to work. ash definitely being the easiest. i do my best to have the limbs thinned down to a floor tiller when the wood is still green. the difficulty with this bow was the grip. the buchanan dips are tough with rocks. also it did twist a bit in the grip area while drying. all the other bows i did were just simple d bows that worked through the handle. definitely the way to go with stone tools. one tip for anybody wanting to try this. a little trick i learned while building theses bows, cut through one side of the sapling first, then bend the tree. it will start a split that can be used to pry it in two with the antler wedges.
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Very nice. I personally like that kind of tiller since it allows for narrow tips. The stain is awesome too! sounds alot easier than waiting for stains to dry for days. I'm gonna have to try that!
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Very impressive!
Top marks for using stone tools.
There is nothing wrong with the tiller of that bow.
Great.
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That is very impressive. Nice work, I'd love to see how you do this. You should be mighty proud of this bow.
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thanks guys. black hawk. ive done a dozen or so abo bows. elm is by far the toughest to work. eastern cedar would be next. not because of the wood . the knots in it are very difficult to work. ash definitely being the easiest. i do my best to have the limbs thinned down to a floor tiller when the wood is still green. the difficulty with this bow was the grip. the buchanan dips are tough with rocks. also it did twist a bit in the grip area while drying. all the other bows i did were just simple d bows that worked through the handle. definitely the way to go with stone tools. one tip for anybody wanting to try this. a little trick i learned while building theses bows, cut through one side of the sapling first, then bend the tree. it will start a split that can be used to pry it in two with the antler wedges.
Thanks for sharing your experiences..ill prob change n try ash first over elm...did you temper it over coals? I'd prob go that route with mine. Hmmm..now to go make my hands bleed n make some stone tools this winter..lol.
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Now thats a bow to be proud of, not a lot of people could pull that off and make it look that good. Great bow.
Greg
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stunning workmanship!
Nice bow! Congrats
simson
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Thanks again gents. Blackhawk seeing how long I took to do this there was no need to temper. Spent most of its life leaning near the woodstove too. :) a primitive bow made green can be made in a week if you work it daily and then dry it a bit over a fire though.
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Nice bow. Excellent work. :-)
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Looks good to me, Jamie.
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That's what I call patience! Good job on that one with or without stone tools!! :)
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Awesome. ;D 8)
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Kudos to you Jamie.Very nice work.No flint knappin skills here but a scraping tool edge is'nt as hard to come by as an arrowhead.You got something to be proud of for sure.Thanks for sharing.
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Tiller looks great to me Jamie. You're an abo animal man! I really like the design. Can't wait to see the harvest pics.
Tracy
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thanks guys. arrows are in the making, tracy. then hopefully some killing
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Holy schist, Jamie, you really don't take this bowmaking stuff for granite do you? You nailed that tiller stone cold. Brother, you rock!
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Very impressive, specially considering it was made with a rock! Nice Job
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jamie,still has the touch with the stone tools..its great to see you get back into it...the tiller is good too..thanks for sharing..john
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Awesome.
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Very impressive bow Jaimie. That is truely primitive by using the stone tools but there is nothing primtive about the outcome. The bow looks as good or better than some that are posted using metal tools. Once again great job. Danny
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thanks guys, nice play on words jw ;D
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Holy schist, Jamie, you really don't take this bowmaking stuff for granite do you? You nailed that tiller stone cold. Brother, you rock!
You really need to be teaching middle school students JW!
Tracy
Jamie, what type of stone did you use to scrape the belly down and was it a large chunk? Thanks!
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J dub teaching? ????kids ??? I'm not sure if it's a grand idea...or a really bad 1 :-\
As far as the stone tool made bow Way to go! man that is really cool ;)
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Awesome bow, congrats. Making a abo bow is on my to do list.
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I agree deo! although, for me, i want to have made an abo bow and set of arrows, and string. and then to have killed a deer with it before the age of 30. That gives me 12 years...
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J dub teaching? ????kids ??? I'm not sure if it's a grand idea...or a really bad 1 :-\
As far as the stone tool made bow Way to go! man that is really cool ;)
Heck, when I was a kid, they used to warn strangers to not take candy from me.
Have you thought of doing a video of a paleo bow build, Jamie?
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Awesome Jamie. Glad to see ya back at it. The one stone bow that I started is still half finished and sitting on the back bench. Sure gave me and understanding of the effort involved. Well done!
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Hop to it Keenan!!!! Tracy i really just use debitage. Antler chisels and wedges too. Don't care much for halfted tools. Jw I have a lot of vids I'd like to do but when I do this stuff its because I found fifteen minutes of freedom and don't think about taping it.
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Jamie, that looks great. Very nice. Jawge
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Jamie:
That is one nice looking stone carved bow.
You inspired me to make one a few years back.
Mine looks like something some low brow, knuckle dragging cave man hacked out with a rock. ;D
It shoots. But the tiller is off and it has quite a bit of hand shock.
May have to make another some day.
David
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I've only built 3 stone toll bows a long time ago. Ypurs looks than any of mine.
GOOD JOB
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Just brought this up my phone wouldn't let me post a link
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Awesome build.Tiller looks fine before and after shooting.
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What a neat bow. Looks like the guy who posted it hasn't logged in for almost four years.
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That one he'll of a bow with just Stone tools. Sweet bend to boot! I will have better luck donating blood then building a bow if I was to attempt that!! Very impressive work!