Primitive Archer

Yeah, BJ, sometimes the shrimp in my aquarium do that.  The first few times I thought they were dead shrimp.  It is pretty cool.  I've wondered about using snake sheds on bow backs...seems like they'd look interesting, and add some waterproofing.  I don't know.

Anyway, I'm still waiting for another garter snake (actually just the skin of one) to finish this bow and gift it to my little buddy. In the meantime, I made some arrows out of phragmite reeds from down at the creek, fletched with some flicker wing feathers we found, tipped with bamboo skewers, and held together with bison sinew. I would never use these arrows for serious hunting--a heavy bow would explode them. But they're strong enough for a 10# bow, and they weigh next to nothing so they should fly well.

 Attached is a pdf of the design I had in mind, call it what you will.

Interesting find Mark. I guess the original (HHill) wood bows were quite rounded in the belly.
http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php?topic=45081.0

I can see why a bit of stringfollow was Howards preference as some of his big game hunting  was with bows reported to be 115#

I believe ASL stands for American Semi Longbow(which is essentially what Mark said, an American style longbow).  Most people today recognize it or refer to them as a Hill Style Longbow(fg backed and faced). It developed from Howard's pre fibre glass design, usually backed with boo, slight stringfollow. John Schulz, RIP used to specialize in these bows, deep handle, longer fades than the usual 2" fades that most people use these days, and narrow limbs rather than wide.
Miller Longbows (taught by Schulz) still make this style of bow, really nice-looking classic style of bow.

Is it the same thing as an American flatbow?

Asking for a friend... What's 'ASL'?

40/male/North Carolina

sorry, I don't know either.