Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: DesertDisciple on December 18, 2016, 12:28:49 am
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Please forgive me for my hiatus. I am back with a bow that is a little late to the show. :)
This bow was actually completed back in October, but I have only just got around to getting some good pictures. This one is special to me. Everything about this build pointed to failure. For starters, it is my first bow from a stave, first sinew backing and my shortest bow to date. I traded with Clint for this stave and the sinew over 2 years ago, and he sent me some extras that ended up on the bow as well. Not long after receiving the stave, I promptly attempted to saw it in half. Why? because I thought I could rough out the handle area with a table saw. Wow, I think now; how far I've come. after the near sawing in half, it somehow ended up across the room with a crack in the end... ::)
So, it sat in the corner for 2 years until I finally decided I needed to make the attempt to salvage it. This was partly spurred by my father in law stating that he had little hope for it once I told him my intentions. This was after a maple board bow had broke on me so I was ready to redeem myself. The saw scar was filled with wood glue and wood dust and the spaces filled and filled and filled again with super glue. Given the damage, it was necessary to go with a stiff handle, not my original intention for this stave. I brought the raw stave to tiller a few inches short of my draw length, and with tons of help from you all, applied the sinew and let it dry for a month before continuing. Despite all odds, it has survived and is my favorite bow build to date.
Enough banter, here are the specs: bow is 59" nock to nock and pulls 56# at 27". It is made from a hickory stave backed with sinew, both from Osage Outlaw. The tips are buffalo horn, and the skins are water snake. I wrapped the handle area with leather lacing, and could have used a few wraps more. Arrow rest is a piece of shaped bone with some leather cut to fit as a strike. The belly was rubbed with earth pigments and lamp black in grease to add some color and the whole thing was finished with 5 coats of tru-oil and 2 coats of wipe-on poly. Thank you all for your help and all of the excellent material on this site that has helped me to create these marvelous tools. This post will be followed up with some more pictures, as it was too cold for the wife to stay out too long. ;)
(https://c3.staticflickr.com/1/521/31339676730_ffed7850e2_c.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/PKo32Y)
(https://c2.staticflickr.com/1/697/30902816233_82e3ef8f61_c.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/P5M1Cr)(https://c5.staticflickr.com/1/523/31566015252_63b0104176_c.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/Q6o5Ah)(https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/302/31566033312_31a465e65c_c.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/Q6oaXE) (https://c5.staticflickr.com/1/362/31339682540_2a020e5c89_c.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/PKo4L9) (https://c2.staticflickr.com/1/588/30902936793_206ba1c96b_c.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/P5MCt4) (https://c7.staticflickr.com/1/620/31566111182_8f25779fdb_c.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/Q6oz7f) (https://c7.staticflickr.com/1/600/30871090974_80ffce219c_c.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/P2YpPd)
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Oh and the full draw picture is about 2" short of full draw. It's been 3 weeks since I've shot it and it's been dry and cold here so I was paranoid to pull back all the way. Got it on the tree at home and it made 27" like a champ so I will follow with more pics of actual full draw. Should also mention that the top limb is 1" longer than the bottom and the limbs twist opposite directions, hence the wonky looking tiller in the pic. I used a side nock in the top limb to get the string to track center, will take pics of that as well. Thanks!
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Hey hey, a bow is born! That looks sweet.
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That's a good looking bow. Tiller looks great! I wouldn't worry about going to to full draw
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Very nice bow! The pigment on the belly was a good idea.
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That looks great. Good job saving it from the table saw incident. Those water snake skins look awesome on it.
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Congrats on the success of all of the firsts done by you on this nice bow.
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Very nice.
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Nice looking bow .....
DBar
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Nice save
looks good
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Killer littile bow. Nice work.
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Nice looking bow. I like the profile.
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Thanks all for the kind words. Will try to get an unbraced profile photo soon
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Looks great man! Those skins are killer!!!
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Beautiful bow.
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Nice one.
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I would say that is one of the nicest bows I've seen in quite some time... I really like the profile. You should be proud of it for sure. I haven't used much hickory here in humid Arkansas, but that bow makes me want to try some.
thanks for sharing.
Bob
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Beautiful bow!
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Nice combo Hickory/Sinew beautiful bow congrats !
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That I a fine looking bow, very nice in all aspects. ;)
Pappy
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Thank you all again! Finally ready to start the next one. Life had been busy.
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Excellent bow DD, looks great in all aspects. Way to persevere
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I hope you enter this one in the BOM contest.
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I like everything about it, nice work.
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Sweet bow! I love the profile!
Patrick
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Very nice bow, pulling off the 'firsts' is a great feeling! Those snake skins really top it off.
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That is a all-around good looking bow! And I'm really glad that you included the steps of how you saved the stave.
I have a similar project sitting in the corner and you've given me the motivation to complete it.
Thank you,
Ed
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Man, I can't see a dang thing wrong with that. Gorgeous.
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Awesome looking bow Andrew!
Kevin
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wow out standing work,gotta love this one thanks for showing us,5stars
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Forest Farmer, thanks and definitely pull that project out again. It's always worth trying.
And you're all too kind. Thanks and keep making beautiful bows.
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that is a beautiful bow. :o
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Would like to see more pics :P
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That is spectacular
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wow that's a real beauty
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Very nice bow. I like what you did with the mass. Arvin