Primitive Archer

Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: jamie on November 04, 2012, 10:11:40 am

Title: sudbury stone tooled
Post by: jamie on November 04, 2012, 10:11:40 am
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)
Title: Re: sudbury stone tooled
Post by: gstoneberg on November 04, 2012, 10:14:52 am
Impressive work.  I think the tiller looks fine.

George
Title: Re: sudbury stone tooled
Post by: SLIMBOB on November 04, 2012, 10:26:20 am
  One of my favorite designs.  Tiller looks good to me.  Nice work.
Title: Re: sudbury stone tooled
Post by: Del the cat on November 04, 2012, 10:38:09 am
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
Title: Re: sudbury stone tooled
Post by: sharpend60 on November 04, 2012, 12:05:10 pm
I like everything in this post!

I think the bow is lovely and it being done the hard way is also way cool.
Title: Re: sudbury stone tooled
Post by: blackhawk on November 04, 2012, 12:12:25 pm
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 ;)
Title: Re: sudbury stone tooled
Post by: Dictionary on November 04, 2012, 12:22:46 pm
I think the tiller is spot on too. Nice work
Title: Re: sudbury stone tooled
Post by: jamie on November 04, 2012, 12:38:16 pm
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.
Title: Re: sudbury stone tooled
Post by: Zion on November 04, 2012, 01:26:32 pm
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!
Title: Re: sudbury stone tooled
Post by: mikekeswick on November 04, 2012, 03:03:53 pm
Very impressive!
Top marks for using stone tools.
There is nothing wrong with the tiller of that bow.
Great.
Title: Re: sudbury stone tooled
Post by: Jodocus on November 04, 2012, 03:18:12 pm
That is very impressive. Nice work, I'd love to see how you do this. You should be mighty proud of this bow. 
Title: Re: sudbury stone tooled
Post by: blackhawk on November 04, 2012, 03:49:24 pm
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.
Title: Re: sudbury stone tooled
Post by: Badly Bent on November 04, 2012, 03:55:20 pm
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
Title: Re: sudbury stone tooled
Post by: simson on November 04, 2012, 03:59:42 pm
stunning workmanship!
Nice bow! Congrats

simson
Title: Re: sudbury stone tooled
Post by: jamie on November 04, 2012, 04:02:49 pm
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.
Title: Re: sudbury stone tooled
Post by: Bowman on November 04, 2012, 04:11:47 pm
Nice bow. Excellent work. :-)
Title: Re: sudbury stone tooled
Post by: Parnell on November 04, 2012, 05:37:39 pm
Looks good to me, Jamie.
Title: Re: sudbury stone tooled
Post by: lesken2011 on November 04, 2012, 06:21:33 pm
That's what I call patience! Good job on that one with or without stone tools!! :)
Title: Re: sudbury stone tooled
Post by: JackCrafty on November 04, 2012, 07:18:28 pm
Awesome. ;D 8)
Title: Re: sudbury stone tooled
Post by: BowEd on November 04, 2012, 07:34:01 pm
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.
Title: Re: sudbury stone tooled
Post by: TRACY on November 04, 2012, 09:02:50 pm
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
Title: Re: sudbury stone tooled
Post by: jamie on November 05, 2012, 06:40:34 am
thanks guys. arrows are in the making, tracy. then hopefully some killing
Title: Re: sudbury stone tooled
Post by: JW_Halverson on November 05, 2012, 11:58:42 pm
Holy schist, Jamie, you really don't take this bowmaking stuff for granite do you?  You nailed that tiller stone cold.  Brother, you rock!
Title: Re: sudbury stone tooled
Post by: randman on November 06, 2012, 01:25:05 am
Very impressive, specially considering it was made with a rock! Nice Job
Title: Re: sudbury stone tooled
Post by: Blacktail on November 06, 2012, 01:40:39 am
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
Title: Re: sudbury stone tooled
Post by: Dvshunter on November 06, 2012, 01:56:40 pm
Awesome.
Title: Re: sudbury stone tooled
Post by: Sidewinder on November 06, 2012, 02:26:31 pm
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
Title: Re: sudbury stone tooled
Post by: jamie on November 07, 2012, 05:55:39 am
thanks guys, nice play on words jw  ;D
Title: Re: sudbury stone tooled
Post by: TRACY on November 07, 2012, 06:57:57 am
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!
Title: Re: sudbury stone tooled
Post by: soy on November 07, 2012, 11:04:42 am
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 ;)
Title: Re: sudbury stone tooled
Post by: Deo on November 07, 2012, 01:01:41 pm
Awesome bow, congrats. Making a abo bow is on my to do list.
Title: Re: sudbury stone tooled
Post by: ionicmuffin on November 07, 2012, 03:57:53 pm
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...
Title: Re: sudbury stone tooled
Post by: JW_Halverson on November 07, 2012, 09:50:10 pm
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?
Title: Re: sudbury stone tooled
Post by: Keenan on November 07, 2012, 10:19:53 pm
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!
Title: Re: sudbury stone tooled
Post by: jamie on November 08, 2012, 12:33:52 am
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.
Title: Re: sudbury stone tooled
Post by: George Tsoukalas on November 08, 2012, 09:17:58 am
Jamie, that looks great. Very nice. Jawge
Title: Re: sudbury stone tooled
Post by: RidgeRunner on November 08, 2012, 09:49:30 am
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
Title: Re: sudbury stone tooled
Post by: crooketarrow on November 08, 2012, 11:11:23 am
 I've only built 3 stone toll bows a long time ago. Ypurs looks than any of mine.
                                                                         GOOD JOB
Title: Re: sudbury stone tooled
Post by: bubby on October 08, 2016, 01:09:10 am
Just brought this up my phone wouldn't let me post a link
Title: Re: sudbury stone tooled
Post by: BowEd on October 08, 2016, 01:16:43 am
Awesome build.Tiller looks fine before and after shooting.
Title: Re: sudbury stone tooled
Post by: Joec123able on October 08, 2016, 03:04:54 am
What a neat bow. Looks like the guy who posted it hasn't logged in for almost four years.
Title: Re: sudbury stone tooled
Post by: ajooter on October 08, 2016, 11:47:07 am
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!