Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: bradsmith2010 on June 21, 2020, 08:18:15 pm
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ok this bow has little bit of back story,,its made from a split of a split, and was pretty questionable if it would make a bow,,
so I tried it just for fun,, had not made a sinew bow in a while and it gave me a good reason to get my stuff together to make one,,I degreased the bow with ashes and boiling water,, and put about 1000 grains of sinew on all at once, not processed very thin,, then wrapped with a string, Im not recommending that,, I think inner tube or ace bandage would be alot better ,,,,
I was working outside and had little day light left and didnt do a very neat job of putting it on,, thus the ugly bow title,, thats how I decribed it to my bow making friend as I worked on it,,
it had some issues,, knots on side of limb etc,, some roller coaster that I just left,, I did but slight set back and reflex in tips but I would call it moderate,, then I didnt wait to long to string it and shoot it,, less than two weeks,, its very dry here and I can get away with it sometimes,, I was interested to see what it would do anyway,,,, its seems fine,, and was not really picking up weight so I thought it was pretty dry,, probably not cured ,, but shot fine,,
I made some 23 inch arrows which I have not done much ,, trying to learn about Sioux arrows,, some dogwood some maple and some cedar,, the dogwoods were in the 500 grain weight,, even being short,,
the cedar arrow was light and I tested with that 417 grains,, I considered that ok for hunting weight for deer,,at that point the ugly bow turned to a Swan,, it shot the 417 grain arrow 182 fps,,,53#@ 23 inches,, I know its not 10 gpp but for the shorter draw bow I thought very respectable and huntable,,
its my favorite bow to shoot right now,, enjoy the pics,,
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pics
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pics
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pics
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more pics,, cowhide scrap handle,,
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full draw 23 inches
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it looked like the grain was splitting a bit on side of bow,,, so I put sinew wrap just in case,, at that point,, it was not gonna hurt the looks,, the tiller has stayed very stabel ,,
as has the weight,, its been several weeks and the bow is the same weight,, so I think its pretty good to go,,, I have noticed in this climate they dont change much once settled in,, the bow was more narrow than I would like on one limb,, buts thats all the wood I had to work with,, the sinew application did not seem to have adverse effect on performance,, I usually do one layer at a time,, and its easier to make it look nice,, Im not gonna try putting it on at one time again,, it was too hard to keep it even,,
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Neat story and equally cool little bender!tiller looks spot on...very nice work!!
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thanks Bushboy, i was hesitant to post this one its so rough,, but thought some might enjoy it,, :)
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Sweeeet bow, Brad. I like it, can't see why you call here ugly. The profiles are great, esp. fd!
congrats and happy hunting out of the bush - let's see some turkeys. :G :G :G
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The sinew job looks pretty ugly, but you have made it safe. Tiller looks good, that's all that really matters. Lovin these short bows.
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A lot of nice features in that bow which makes it pretty to me. Nice unbraced profile, and tiller looks great. That is a sweet shorty for sure.
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I really like the pics and the tiller/full draw looks really nice. Giving me some ideas for an osage stave with some knots along the edge. Great job!
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Great job Brad. Nice full draw pic shoeing the tiller. Next step is take her to the mountains and do some stump shooting.. That swan will prove to be even better where we stump shoot.
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thanks Guys,, I really feel like I learned something with this one,, i am working on two more now, I tried putting on the rawhide with hide glue, I had done that before and it was a little more difficult than I had thoght it would be , but got it on there, I will post some pics here of those two bows,, the sinew looked good on them, but I wanted to add some protection from the weather and didnt have snake, so went with goat skin on one and calf skin on the other,,artwork in progress on both of those,,
on a side note,, I have put the sinew on running it all the way to the tips,, and also feathering out so no sinew on the tips,or non working area,, on this one I did as Laubin suggested and started at the tips running it over the end to the back and worked to the handle on my first layers, seemed to work fine, my tips were so thin,, I think the sinew helped keep reflex from bending out of the tips,, but I am sure both ways work fine, but thats how I did it on this one and was happy with the resusults,,
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three bows,,sinew backed osage,, sinew backed osage with goat hide,, sinew backed osage with calf skin,, art work in progress
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They say you cant fix ugly, But you did a good job proving that theory wrong. Good on ya Brad, great job!
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thank you High Eagle,,
if anyone has a favorite short bow or project in the works, would love to see it,, would not be hi jacking the thread,, I think enhancing the thread,, or a bow thats not that pretty but just shoots great,, beauty is in the eye of the beholder ,, one of the bows I killed the most deer with ,, still had the rasp marks in the belly and still does,, if your bow is fine tuned for the eye,, love those too,,,, just saying like to see any bows you would like to share,, ,,,,with back story if any,,,did I tell you I love bows,,, :)
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Or rather,,"beauty is in the eye of the Bowholder"..
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Brad ,here is an Osage 40 inch Plains Indian Horse bow with a Jute grip, cloth backing that is 40 lbs, at 20 inch draw. Braced at 4.5 inches. Also a 24 inch Turkey feathered wild choke cherry shaft with a stone point with grooves cut the length of the shaft ,and fire hardened to help keep the arrow straight. With a three under grip I can shoot it decent to 15 yds. Pinch finger style the way they shot I stink. I built this one in 2018. Amazing what our natives could do with the short bow on horse back.
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More Pics
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thats beautiful, thanks for postiing, I have not tried to learn pinch grip yet, but want to,, so I can shoot more authentically,,I think I need to go down quite a bit in weight go get used to it ,, but really want to learn,,
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Their is northern California style pinch finger Ishi's way. Then their is Souix style pinch finger, and Comanche style pinch finger. Though they are all pinch finger they are all different even to the point of using different finger grips with the bow hand. Get on utube . Billy Berger shows northern California style. Others will show Souix style,and Comanche style. For me Comanche style gives the most leverage,and is the easiest way for me to shoot pinch finger. It is three fingers under with the thumb pinching the side of the nock. You will have to research, and experiment to find out which is most comfortable to you.
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ok it shows some different grips in Laubin book,, too,, thanks for the utube info,, I will check it out,,
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great bow Brad
love the profile and tillering and love the real, glitterless look
I'd dont put a white handle on hunting bow but that's just me :-D
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Nice bows Brad. and Bassman.
Sorry I haven’t been able to visit the site much lately. I know there have been some bows I should have complimented. Haven’t had the time to do so.
I’m thinking that ugly bow turned swan, is going to take a turkey.
Bjrogg
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Very nice Brad!
Arvin
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Great performance on that short draw bow Brad, Kill anything you want to kill with it. Good Job!
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Nice art work on your other two bows Brad. Three really nice bows.Good for you.
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Very nice Brad, beautiful to me . 😉 Pappy
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Cool bow.