Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: willie on April 29, 2021, 07:24:33 pm
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9I8cUuRqMQ
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Pretty cool video.
As Clay says it wouldn't be a good idea to try this with a piece of osage.
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I watched this earlier today on another forum. Clay has tons of great info like this video.
Now when folks ask how long does it take to make a bow from green wood we can say with crude tools and a pit fire you can do it in 24 hours. :OK
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Pretty cool video.
As Clay says it wouldn't be a good idea to try this with a piece of osage.
My guess is that some woods are much more doable this way than most. Perhaps primitive bowyers knew this also and selected certian wood to suit their methods.
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I seem to remember reading indians would coat the stave(osage) with bear fat, before suspending it above a fire. I don't know whether I imagined it, or they said it was inside a tipi up near the top. I don't think they said how long they cured the stave for. I can't remember which book I read it in. Sorry not much help :)
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Good catch willie.....Great informative video.Nice to watch someone else make a bow.Gotta love elm too.It did'nt crack.Like his tools too.
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I made two hazel bows this way.
Saplings were a little smaller in diameter but they dried fast without checking and with small string follow after finished (string follow could be due to imperfect tillering)
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First 2 years of making many bows I used primitive tools too.Then I finally got a band saw.It made for me learning how to make bows out of many different types of wood including osage faster making more bows in the long run as it's all in the learning curve of executing the design and tillering of a bow to be a bow.
The second someone starts that chain saw up to fell a tree or buys a board or uses a heat gun and so on and so on their out of the exclusive primitive world.
Either way good video.
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Excellen video. I enjoyed it. No bandsaw here but i use a bench sander and chainsaw. I guess I'm out of the club, BowEd. :) Jawge
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I’m with you Ed. I have arthritis in my hands already.
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Don't worry old Clay has his power tools too.He just did'nt show them in that video.All of us I normally correspond with on the PA could make a bow in a pinch without power tools if need be.
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Well done Clay☝️. Arvin
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Of course. Made one with stones once. Once was enough. :)
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I often see new bowyers scraping away tentatively when they have quite a lot of wood still to be removed. I understand that approach if they only have one stave that they paid good money for. But that approach spreads the learning curve over years. A few catastrophic failures help reduce that learning period to a few days. It's not good to attack a stave with reckless abandon, but something just short of boldness reveals the results of our actions.
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I have made many bows with just steel hand tools. Ax, draw knife, hunting knife, rasps, and sand paper from saplings mostly. I had to have trigger finger ,and carpel tunnel surgery, so now I use power tools when ever I can. Makes live easier for an old man.
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Although that orbital sander is real hard on old Arthur too. So is sand paper. I guess I’m just going to hurt.😀😀don’t let this side tracking let you miss the video. It’s a good watch!
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Does steel tools count as primitive ? I only use hatchet. scraper. drawknife, rasp, and a knife some.... oh darn the heat gun, that I use a lot (-P
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Nice video. Thanks Willie
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Giving this drying method a try. I'm not going to be doing the 24hr speed run like Clay, but I had the day off and figured I see what it could do for a fresh cut stave. Its about 2 hours in and is staying between 140°F and 160°F in my little pup-tent. Going to let it go until about sundown tonight and then put it in low humidity storage. After today my work schedule gets pretty busy and it'll be at least a week until I get to work it. I'll update with some MC numbers as soon as the meter I ordered gets delivered.
(https://i.imgur.com/lWS2kbU.jpg)