Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Horn Bows => Topic started by: ChristopherHwll on January 29, 2016, 09:10:38 am
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Hey all, my name is Christopher and I am new to the PA community. I have been making bows for over twenty-five years, since I was about ten years old. I thought it was about time to join in and share some of my bows. So for my first bow building post I thought I would post a bow that I have wanted to build myself for many years. Acquiring the right horn took some time. So here is a build along for my current 50" stone sheep horn bow. I am about two thirds done at this point so I am going to bring this post up to speed quickly. This bow is constructed of stone sheep horns, elk leg sinew, elk backstrap sinew, and a glue I make of elk, bison, and white-tail sinew. For the finished bow I am considering naturally dyeing white-tail rawhide to a deep red and having it fade to black at the tips. So here we go...
The horns as I received them. One is 33 1/2" around the curl and the other is 33 1/4":
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Starting to process the horns. Same method discussed in TBB. Drill holes and go slow so that you do not ruin your horns.
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You must look for any imperfections in your set of horns like this one and remove material until the horn is solid.
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Once you have established a smooth surface around the outside curl it is time to reduce and uncurl the horn. Start at the open end and work your way to the tip. This process is slow. I use a dry heat method and apply oil or fat grease to the horn to help heat and evenly distribute the heat without burning the horn. Over the years I found that "boiling" almost always dries out horn to a degree. Even with short simmering times. This has always been the case with sheep, bison, and elk antler. The dry method is faster and much easier to control with excellent results.
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Once you have worked your way close to the horn tips you can remove any lateral horn from the widest portion of the horn staying inline with tip. For this bow I am using every bit of the horn possible all the way to the tip of the horn. The horn on the left still has the tip for comparison with the one on the right being final length. Dr. Grayson talks about this in the TBB. I worked slow and finally have the horns nearing final shape before splicing.
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Something to note about working with sheep horn. It is much more "elastic" by feel than bison horn or elk antler. It really does feel more like a rubber-band. The domestic sheep horn I have worked with is very similar but I have noted differences in species to the degree of this "elastic" feel and how solid the horn is throughout it's curl. All sheep have a "pithy" like core that connects the solid horn to the bone of the skull. This core has a tendency to pull up away from the more solid outer horn. This layer can be apart of the limb core but I have found it best to remove as much as possible.
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Time to splice the handle. First I make glue. This glue is a sinew glue made of Elk, bison, and white-tail sinew. The elk sinew is the very same that I will back the bow with. I always do this to make sure the properties in my glue are as similar to the backing as possible. The bison sinew makes for a very strong glue. The white-tail is for good "mojo" as it is from my hunt last year. I recycle as much of the deer after I process it myself. Meat, sinew, bone, and hide are all used. The glue shown is dry on the left and beginning to dry on the right.
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Splicing the two horns with a lap splice and then gluing on an under and over riser. You can barley see the glue lines. This glue is very pale and almost clear.
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Once I have the limbs glued and in-line. I start the final straightening and material removal working my way to the tips. Another note about working with sheep horn, using the dry heat method you can "relax" the horn and then remove the unwanted material so that the underlying horn is less affected by the stretch or compression. I built a quick lumber form specifically for this bow in order to "relax" the horn into correct shape.
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Final horn core shape before applying the sinew backing. Nocks are shaped as I will completely wrap them in sinew. Handle is now wrapped with backstrap sinew. Notice how straight the limbs are. Much time and patience to get the bow to this stage. It is the bow on the rack a bottom above the river-cane shafts.
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I used eight large Elk back leg sinews for this bow. The sinew strands run almost the full length of the bending portion of the limb. Heavy scoring first and then grooving to increase the glueing/sinewed surface area followed by a degrease before sizing and finally a heavy sinew application.
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I wrap the tips with cord to help the sinew take on the cut knock shape and then I use a varying cloth wrap and inner-tube compression method. It works very well. It really helps to push the sinew down into the grooving. I use a dark cloth as to be able to see the left behind string fibers so they do not show up in the backing later. I apply mild heat to help the glue weep from the cloth and inner-tube. Wrap, light heat, re-wrap, light heat, etc..
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Awesome build-along!!
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Notice how the sinew is nicely wrapped around the cut-in nock by wrapping with cord. Time to begin nock wrapping.
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This has brought the build up to speed to where I am. I am curing the sinew. A great time to tan the white-tail hides that I am making a highly decorative plains style quiver with sash strap for this bow.
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Thank you joachimM! Enjoy. More to come as the build progresses.
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Very cool, can't wait to see more from you
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Looking good! What do you want your draw to be? I have heard the opposite about dry heat drying the horn out more than boiling, and would be afraid to use grease before backing. I am looking forward to seeing this bow completed. Do you know how much the sinew weighed dry before backing?
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Thanks Aaron and Chuck!
I have been a fan of your horn bow work on here Chuck. Your an excellent bowyer sir, beautiful bows.
I am going to finish it out at around 50 pounds. I will see how it feels at 50 and go from there. I plan on hunting and competing with it. I do not know exact sinew weight. For these bows I have found it best to sinew to final ideal thickness, begin tillering aiming for just under your desired weight, once tillered a very light layer of sinew will be added to have a "pristine" back. Backstrap works well for this or carefully worked leg sinew. I read the same about dry heat awhile back too. I experimented with soaking, boiling/simmering, and dry heat and much prefer the dry. Very similar to the way I straighten my arrow shafts. The horn will discolor if it gets too hot beginning as a honey golden color and progressing darker quickly. My rule when heating is when the horn surface is just hot enough to be uncomfortable to touch but does not burn your finger it is ready to bend. I never try to get all the bend at once. I reheat again once in alignment to help the horn relax further, this has seemed to help prevent the majority of the horn returning some of its natural curl later. I usually work in about six to eight inch sections toward the horn tips. As far as using oil and grease, I always straighten the limb at a larger size and then once straightened remove material to the finished size so it has a fresh surface that has not been in direct contact with oil. I degrease the "fresh" surface three times after scoring and I am ready for backing.
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Awesome, static recurves?
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Thank you loon. Yes it has static recurves.
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Looks like the perfect no-wood horn bow :D
What are you using to tan the hides?
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this is so coooooool! bows look very clean.
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Very nice sir. I can hardly wait to see how the bow turns out.
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Thank you for the compliments LEGIONNAIRE and Redhand. I can't wait to shoot it! Patience is my friend on this one. Loon I brain tan my hides and then smoke them. I use my osage shavings to make ash for de-hairing if I am making rawhide. Eggs work if you you can't get the brain from the animal, and if you prefer "something over the counter" the Trapper's Hide and Fur solution works excellent too. As far as tools I built a nifty burnt finished fleshing beam from an osage log that has an interchangable hide stretching post top. It matches the shaving horse I built. Here is a pic of each one. I am a bladesmith as well so I hammer forge all of my own tools. The draw knife that is on the shaving horse and in some of my bow rack pics posted above is one I made from a coil spring.
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Lookin good, I have 2 bighorn bows with sinew curing, about the same step as you, so I'm looking forward to seeing how you bend and tiller it. Check my build along out a few topics down and give me some pointers if you got any! How many horn bows have you made? I'd love to see some pics of a finished one. Cheers
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Thanks wizardgoat. Your bows look great! Some fine work there. I just took a look at your horn bow post. Looks great, the pre-tiller looked very nice. As far as advice, what I have to say is optional, but I have found that it helps. I like to wrap my handle splice with fine backstrap before I add the sinew backing. It not only helps the pre-tiller, but it also prevents any unwanted pressures on the glued splice joints from the curing sinew shrinkage when you back it. Kind of an insurance. I doubt you will need much final tillering with this one if your sinew job was close to equal on both limbs. I can't wait to see it at full draw!
I have built a few horn bows each year for over 10 years so around 20 or so. Sheep horn is hard to come by in my area. I build more osage bows. I harvest my own and have an excellent "stash". I harvested an osage tree last year that was going to be chipped up to clear for a construction site. I got 14 excellent limb logs over 6 feet in length. I will include a pic. I had a buddy help me and he is sitting on the trunk. The first horn bows I built were more "testers" than anything as I was experimenting to learn as much as possible. I am still learning. I have built the most out of bison horn as my family has a bison ranch so I come by bison horn, bone, sinew, and hide rather easily. There is a way that I believe the Native Americans spliced bison horn without the need for wood core. I am testing it now. If it works then that will be my next horn bow post. With sheep horn I started with domestic sheep such as mouflon as it was much cheaper to experiment with. I have worked with bison, elk antler, domestic and native sheep, water buffalo, and gemsbok horns. I have taken notes on each horn/antler and method I used and now have my own "manual" if you will. Toying with idea of writing a book one day. Here is the osage, a very old tree with a great range of growth rings:
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Very cool, great to have you a part of the PA community Christopher
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Wow! What a great post. You have a totally different take on the limb than how I'd understood it. I tried this project but just haven't felt comfortable getting that last bend out toward the tip. You leave it in and switch the plane...it appears? What is your limb width?
Very interesting and welcome to PA.
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Thanks guys.
Parnell I am creating a static recurve out of the horn tips so yes the plane switches and the thickness increases at the start of the static portion to the tip. So my horn tips before sinew are 1/2" wide at the tips and and increase up to 3/4" in depth/thickness at the tip. My limb is 1 1/2" at its widest point and is tapered to 3/4" just before the start of the static recurve. Should make for a very powerful bow. I designed it this way as it is a bit longer than most horn bows of this kind. I have long arms and a long draw length so I had to increase limb width accordingly to limb length.
The easiest way that I have found to uncurl the tips is to straighten the curl inline so the limb is straight through it's length. It looks like a big "J". This is best accomplished by working the limb to just larger than your desired finished size. Then clamp the end of the tip to a flat board with a centerline drawn down it. I oil the horn lightly to prevent burning it and start applying heat slowly with a small amount of downward pressure on the other end of the limb in line with the drawn center line on the board. It acts as a lever. It will not bend at first but as it heats up you will feel it "give" very easily. Once your desired amount of uncurling is achieved, clamp in place and allow to cool. Rubbing with cold water rags help speed this cooling up. Finally finish the limb to final size. Hope that helps in the future!
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You may have just breathed some life into my project, CH! Thanks. I'm curious about the rack photo, also. Is that an Osage in the center?
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Thats great Parnell! Yes it is Osage. It was a previously very snaky piece that I straightened and now it's ready for sinew or rawhide. It was carved with a single growth ring back as a self bow but I will back it. The top bow in the back is the first sinew-backed ash bow I ever made. The one infront of it is the second bison horn bow I made years ago. The one that is strung below them is a glass "hybrid" horse bow that I made. And then the sheep horn bow is the lowest on the rack. Basically several experimental bows from years ago other than the osage and sheep horn bows.
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It's very interesting work. Glad you are here and you should really make it over to Twin Oaks, if you haven't yet. Hope to meet you at The Classic in a few months!
Cheers
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Cool. Would love to see some pics of any of your finished horn bows. There's not many posted here
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Love what you have going here. You are borrowing many designs to make your own unique sheep horn bow. I'm taking note of all the things you do differently than me that make sense. I have wrapped the handle before sinewing. Now I back it over 3 weeks and a few days after tha last layer I wrap the handle thickly. The sinew continues to shrink of course, so I cut it off after a couple , few months and put a new tight wrap on. For the record I corrected twist in one tip of a finished bow with a heat gun and it is fine. For anyone reading this- don't try any heat corrections for 6 months after adding sinew. It needs time to form complex bonds. I know from failure experience. I like to make my hornbows +10 pounds to compensate for the heavy physical weight. They also feel like they draw -10pounds.
I'll be looking for this finished bow in the future.
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Thanks Chuck. You are spot on. I have studied many designs of horn bows over the years being influenced mostly by Native American. As with any bowyer of today or yesteryear, I have incorporated all that I know into a design tailored by my experience and those influences. I often imagine about the horn bow designs, that most likely existed and are now lost in history, that were made by the Native Americans. What we see in museums and private collections are only a tiny fraction of what was once abundant. I love reading and looking at the paintings of Catlin and Bodmer. Excellent descriptions and visuals to reference. In those descriptions one can get the idea that horn/antler bows were in great multitude.
I can't wait to see your next horn bow Chuck!
Wizardgoat I just moved to a new place here in Tennessee. I am just getting my shop set up. I have sold all but a few of my bows but I do have some at my family's ranch. Next time I am up there I will get pictures to post for you.
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These bows were highly sought after it was looks upon as a high honor to have one of these bows. Native people would trade most of their horses for a horn/antler bow. And go to lengths to acquire one through blood shed. A lot of these bows were buried with their owners.
I'll have to give your method a try with heat. I usually soak my antlers until they are playable. It's taken up to 3 months. I know the sheep eaters, crow, and other tribes used the hot springs in the yellow echo system to aid in their horn bow making.
You make very nice bows. Thanks for sharing.
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Sounds like owning one could have been a death sentence. Probably part of why they were rare. Many may not have wanted one.