Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: Aksel on October 14, 2025, 08:39:55 am
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Hi all, wanted to share my latest bow. It´s a replica of a 6500 year old bow from Denmark. It is Elm, over 75" long which is interesting since average height at the time was about 66". It has a lenticular cross section on the inner limbs and circular on the outer limbs.The grip is bending just a tiny bit at full draw. The sapling stave took over 8" of reflex upon drying so I actually had to reduce that to 4" before tillering because it was just impossible to get the string on it. It has now settled at 3" reflex. Draw weight now is 55lbs at 28". The wood is 11% moisture so I expect it to pick up a few pounds of draw weight with dryer weather.
I expected it to be a bit sluggish but it shoots surprisingly well and is also accurate. It reminds me of Tim Bakers very long bows from TBB4.
Thanks for looking.
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Very cool bow, Aksel. Amazing how sophisticated those ancient bows were.
I built a similar bow a few years ago by copying an artifact found in a fjord. Mine is 66" long. I called it "ELG BUE" because I added ELG(moose) sinew to the back.
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Very cool bow.
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Nice Job! Those long ones can present their own set of challenges. Hand shock can be one of them
Id bet that bow can shoot a heavy arrow very well.
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Nice work
Del :)
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Pat, yes I remember that bow ! Based on the bow from Horsens fjord. Hard not to feel a lot of respect for those guys who came up with very smart designs..
Sleek, I would guess this bow must have been used by a very tall archer. Original bow was a bit thicker and highly stressed, probably over 80 pounds at 28" draw length but maybe optimized for a 30 inch draw and close to 100 lbs I´d guess. The original artefact broke on the back during use so probably was drawn quite far.
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Yes, Aksel, very smart indeed. Makes me wonder about the predecessors, where they are and how the bow had progresses before then. I believe it is universally thought that bows came about some 15000 years ago. Wouldn't it be interesting if there were ancient bows from back at the beginning that still existed.