Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: Almostpighunter on November 12, 2016, 01:51:11 am
-
This is a story of 1 + 1 = newfound inspiration.
I haven't posted in a while and, to be honest, I haven't done much bow making lately either. I kind of fell flat on the whole bowering thing over the last year or so. Don't get me wrong I still love the craft and the bows, but I just wasn't inspired like I used to be. I've been doing more leatherwork recently and decided to sell off a lot of my bowering materials to make room for the leather. In the process of cleaning out my work space I found some old staves that I either been hoarding or never finished and decided to just go through the motions one more time. The 54" osage stave became a rawhide backed,bend through the handle, bow a few days later... but I already have/made several of these bows and I felt it was "just another bow" to me. I also had found a 60" hickory bow that I had backed with rawhide as well and got into tiller, but I never finished because the limbs had some minor propeller twist in them. Something about the 60" length of the hickory bow tweaked a memory and I checked this book (pic 1) for this picture (pic 2) and suddenly I had my inspiration.
I converted the osage into the smaller "back" bow and left the hickory as is. The resulting penobscot bow is made as close to the specs of the book as I could manage but with the obvious differences of wood type and sturgeon skins (lil' primitive archery bling-bling). I was very excited about the look, but nearly jumped out of my skin on firing the first shot! The bow draws incredibly smooth and feels like a 45-50# bow despite it having weighed in at 63# @ my 29" draw. The arrows screamed to the target and hit really hard. I can't wait to shoot through a chronie the next time I make it out to the range. In the end I am very happy and hope you guys like what you see!
If you'd like to see the bow in action, I posted a video on my YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXEVqVzVS48
Long bow:
Rawhide backed Hickory
60" nock to nock length
Sturgeon Side skin with scutes
Short "back" bow:
Rawhide backed Osage
30" nock to nock length
Sturgeon Dorsal skin with scutes
63# @ 29"
-
more pics
-
Tiller
-
I've always been a Fan of Sturgeon Skins - Cool Bow ! Bob
-
First I have seen of sturgeon skins and I like em a bunch!
-
Cool bow!
-
Gutshot, Orrum, Chamookman, thanks guys!
-
very interesting......fine workmanship.....and I really like the wood combination.
DBar
-
Very cool. Wonderfully executed. Never seen one like that :o
Cheers
-
Nice job Mike! Good to see you posting again
-
Very cool bow Almostpighunter.Nice video too.It really snaps them out there from 2 of the favorite types of wood I like.Dazzling finish with those sturgeon skins.Like you said a starry starry night look.
-
I really like those skins. Nice work.
-
I've never been a fan of the Penobscot bow but you have done a good job on this one from the well done tiller to the sturgeon skin backing. I think the sturgeon skin would have been plenty strong enough backing but understand it was a second thought.
-
very very cool
chuck
-
Very cool bow Mike I watched your vid last week & thought that was a unusual bow for you but realy nice , sorry to here you lost your bow mojo you sure inspired me long before I became a PA member & I learned a lot from your vids hope that bow inspires you again !
-
Really nice bow. I like those skins.
-
Thanks so much to all for such nice comments!
Pat B: Yes I agree, you are absolutely right about the sturgeon being enough backing on its own and would have left it out had it not been a second thought.
Stick Bender: Glad to hear the videos went over well. I'm just so busy these days that I don't have the time to get outside in the shop as much as I have to work at a desk. Still love everything about this sport/hobby/craft and always a pleasure to share.
-
That is one unique bow. Nice work and those skins are beautiful!
-
thanks for sharing,, congrats on a beautiful bow,, I have heard several times how well these bows shoot,, but to my knowledge,,, no one has posted chrono results,,, if you have time that would be so interesting,, thanks again for sharing,, B
-
BradSmith2010: Chronie results: 63#@29" , finger release, 525grn arrow, avg. 157fps (Actually surprised by the result as it seemed faster than that to me). Do not know if this is typical or just this individual bow, but i am going to make another and we'll compare.
-
Nice bow! If you make another you should try getting more reflex on the back bow. Just my 2 cents. Cheers- Brendan
-
Those are surprising numbers I was wondering if the original was designed for heavy arrows ?thanks for the honest results !
-
Absolutely an awesome bow!
I like the way it flings an arrow and hammers the target.
Kevin
-
Congratulations on the BOM Mike. You don't know me but I'd just like to say same as Bubby you where a big help and inspiration in me starting this primitive bow building addiction. It was almost enough help but still needed some personal attention from some others on this site Thanks to all of you who have so generously shared your knowledge
Bjrogg