Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: loefflerchuck on September 15, 2012, 10:50:56 pm
Title: bighorn sheep horn bow
Post by: loefflerchuck on September 15, 2012, 10:50:56 pm
An artist in South Dakota named Chris Ravenshead had enough faith in me to send a $600 set of horns for me to try to make my first horn bow with. Thanks to everyone who has made and written about there experiences with these bows I was able to pull it off. The horns were 29 and 32" along the curve but had a bit of bug damage inside and some weathering outside. I played around with a few ideas before I flipped one horn upside down to join with the other horn with a 3.5" lap splice held together with 3 horn pegs. I added 9 layers of sinew, let it season for only about a month before I started to bend the bow. Over many sessions and a couple months of tillering and tweaking with mostly heat I got this bow. Having to remove so much damaged horn to get clean strips, the bow pulls 44# at 23". I would have liked to get a higher draw but it is still a good shooter. I made a set of dogwood arrows from the narrowest shafts I thought I could use. They all weighed within 3/10 of a gram before adding the points. They shoot extremely strait and accurate from this bow. I was only able to get the arrow speed between 138 and 144 fps. The weight of these bows are quite heavy as to slow the arrow speed a bit. I have 4 more in the works that will be finished in the next 12 months or so. You really do need to take your time with these bows. Also messing up on horns over $500 is not an option. Just under 38" ntn. 44# @ 23". I am making 23" full draw even though I think it has more bend in it. I'm not willing to test it more. Thanks for looking Chuck
Title: Re: bighorn sheep horn bow
Post by: loefflerchuck on September 15, 2012, 10:54:15 pm
pics. String by the way is 3 ply sinew
Title: Re: bighorn sheep horn bow
Post by: tattoo dave on September 15, 2012, 10:56:04 pm
That's awesome Chuck!! Nice work! I've been wanting to make a horn bow some time now. Maybe one of these days I'll get the guts to give it a go.
Tattoo Dave
Title: Re: bighorn sheep horn bow
Post by: Arrowind on September 15, 2012, 11:36:28 pm
AWESOME!!!
Title: Re: bighorn sheep horn bow
Post by: Badly Bent on September 15, 2012, 11:37:30 pm
Very nice indeed. Must have a high level of skill and a great deal of patience to pull that off I would think. That is a build to be proud of for sure. Love the arrows also, they fit the bow perfectly. Very impressive work. Greg
Title: Re: bighorn sheep horn bow
Post by: Weylin on September 15, 2012, 11:48:59 pm
Wow! :o Nice work, Chuck! That's really cool. I would have been paralyzed with fear to cut those beauties up. That is some serious bend, for sure.
Title: Re: bighorn sheep horn bow
Post by: KellyG on September 16, 2012, 12:08:51 am
Now that is just cool! I have would love to try a horn bow someday myself. Great job.
Title: Re: bighorn sheep horn bow
Post by: TRACY on September 16, 2012, 12:16:58 am
Heck of a challenge! Congratulations on your success with the bow and the beautiful dogwoods to match!
Tracy
Title: Re: bighorn sheep horn bow
Post by: raghorns on September 16, 2012, 12:29:06 am
That is very cool. Thanks for sharing.
Title: Re: bighorn sheep horn bow
Post by: mullet on September 16, 2012, 12:42:59 am
That is really cool, Chuck. I've got one horn that is 28' long that keeps shouting at me when I go in the shop. What is the string made from?
Title: Re: bighorn sheep horn bow
Post by: loefflerchuck on September 16, 2012, 12:46:02 am
Thanks everybody. Mullet, there are 2 strings in these pictures. The nylon tillering string and the 3 ply elk leg sinew string in the finished pictures
Title: Re: bighorn sheep horn bow
Post by: coaster500 on September 16, 2012, 01:28:46 am
Great work all around !!
Title: Re: bighorn sheep horn bow
Post by: mullet on September 16, 2012, 01:29:00 am
I thought that might be sinew when I saw the fibres sticking out. Makes it double sweet!
Title: Re: bighorn sheep horn bow
Post by: Carson (CMB) on September 16, 2012, 02:58:23 am
That is awesome. Looking at that unbraced pic, I have to think that was a tough one to tiller, but it looks like you nailed it. I hope you hit your heavier target draw weights on the next attempts. It will be interesting to see how those perform. BTW, hat do you use for glue between the horn and the initial layer of sinew?
Title: Re: bighorn sheep horn bow
Post by: Jodocus on September 16, 2012, 05:24:53 am
:o Watch it, that arrowhead's gonna cut your finger
That is one awsome little piece of horn, crazy. But in the first pic that looks like way more than 23" of draw, no?
They shoot extremely strait and accurate from this bow.
That is really what it is all about and not what I would have expected from a bow like this one. Anyway, very nice work, must have been a real challenge.
Title: Re: bighorn sheep horn bow
Post by: Del the cat on September 16, 2012, 06:45:06 am
Excellent, great bow, great pics. Del
Title: Re: bighorn sheep horn bow
Post by: lesken2011 on September 16, 2012, 09:39:09 am
Nice job on that. From what I read about horn bows, it is quite a feat and that one turned out great. The arrows are cool, too!!
Title: Re: bighorn sheep horn bow
Post by: Will H on September 16, 2012, 10:56:43 am
Very cool bow!
Title: Re: bighorn sheep horn bow
Post by: BowEd on September 16, 2012, 11:08:05 am
That was your first attempt at a horn bow?Very good job I'd say.You might be able to try to pull it to 25" on a tillering tree and I'm sure you thought of that.The speeds would probably get to 155 to 160 then.It should handle that.But it's your baby and I'd be very proud of it anyway.That bug damage was tough luck.It's a testament to patience and attention to detail.Sometime in the next couple of weeks I figure to show a bow I've been working on here with hickory,horn and sinew as its' components.Congradulations on your bow there.Look forward to seeing your next one.
Title: Re: bighorn sheep horn bow
Post by: Sidewinder on September 16, 2012, 11:33:57 am
Very challenging project and it looks like you nailed it. The dogwoods are great as well. Danny
Title: Re: bighorn sheep horn bow
Post by: JW_Halverson on September 16, 2012, 05:36:17 pm
I wouldn't even think about asking Chris how he got those horns because there hasn't been a season on bighorns in the Badlands National Park lately. And I doubt any of the trophy's taken in the Black Hills (and very bloody few of those) didn't go to a taxidermist to get mounted.
Those sheepeater bows are crazy. Great work, Chuck, I love it!
Title: Re: bighorn sheep horn bow
Post by: simson on September 16, 2012, 05:41:22 pm
wonderful set, you have made here. Very good tiller. congrats! please can you tell some specs about dimensions thickness /width of horn and sinew?
simson
Title: Re: bighorn sheep horn bow
Post by: SLIMBOB on September 16, 2012, 10:54:07 pm
He lives with the Lakotas, so I suppose getting the horn might be easier.
Title: Re: bighorn sheep horn bow
Post by: Oglala Bowyer on September 16, 2012, 11:16:02 pm
Sorry slim, we don't have the luxury of obtaining these horns that easily. I've gone that route and gotten nowhere. Unless...you buy them from the hunter who LEGALLY took the ram...like I did. Love the bow chuck. Soon i'll try my hand at it.
Title: Re: bighorn sheep horn bow
Post by: loefflerchuck on September 17, 2012, 12:45:41 am
Thanks again. These horns have been sitting around for a while. Like I say they had some weathering issues and bug dammage. I bought two sets of desert bighorn horns out here at a fish and game poaching auction. The bow is less than 1 1/4" at it's widest and 1/8" thick max. The sinew makes up a little more than half the thickness. I wouldn't call this a sheepeater bow. I tried to base it loosely on a Sioux bighorn bow miss labeled as cowhorn. These bows were quite popular with many plains, plateau and basin tribes. Not just the northern Shoshone
Title: Re: bighorn sheep horn bow
Post by: Josh B on September 17, 2012, 12:50:51 am
That is impressive! I believe that i would be more than a little hesitant to cut into those horns as well. Josh
Title: Re: bighorn sheep horn bow
Post by: Parnell on September 17, 2012, 10:00:15 am
Very cool Chuck. I started one last spring and put it down. I'm using Dall horn - One has a 22" curl and one 23". Got'em cut out and kinda straightened. Gotta get back on that project...
Title: Re: bighorn sheep horn bow
Post by: Pappy on September 17, 2012, 10:43:28 am
Love it,great looking bow and arrows also,looks deadly.Very nice work. :) :) Pappy
Title: Re: bighorn sheep horn bow
Post by: SLIMBOB on September 17, 2012, 10:49:44 am
Oglala Bowyer....I would have guessed otherwise. Thanks for the correction. Chuck...Great looking bow and arrow shafts. Friend of mine is friends with Chris. I had heard that this bow was in the works.
Title: Re: bighorn sheep horn bow
Post by: Gordon on September 17, 2012, 12:27:37 pm
What a great set - your work is amazing!
Title: Re: bighorn sheep horn bow
Post by: Trapper Rob on September 27, 2012, 09:57:10 pm