Primitive Archer

Ok maybe not THE last bow, but mine for a while anyways. We'll be moving to Scotland in a month or so and since the shipping company just loaded up all my tools I wont be making any more bows in the States for now.

This bow has a bit of history. It started out as my 2012 trade bow. It's Sassafras and I had it tillered out to 45# at 28" or so. One night I was in the house and was showing my wife how it looked at full draw when it blew up on me. Never had one blow like this though. You can see in the pictures how just the sap wood peeled off. It started at three pin knots but since I had just used the first ring under the bark, thought them to be ok.

It sat in the corner for a few months since the former draw weight was now down to about 24# I thought it was destined to be a kids bow. Then remembering seeing in one of the TBB a bow backed with Linen cord I went looking for some and found it.
Never want to back anything with Linen cord again. Sinew I think is MUCH easier. I thought I'd use half length pieces and lay each limb separate. You need six hands to do this, I made due with four, me and my son. I did heat treat the belly and reflex it on some blocks while backing it but all of the reflex pulled out as the linen stretched however when it settled in it gained 12 pounds. Now it's shot in and 36# @ 28". It's on it's way to my youngest brother's house in MO.

Here are a bunch of pictures, the plug is BW. Not real happy with the tiller but it is what it is I guess.
Mark

that looks sweet! good save. could you use the same technique for backing but with artificial sinew?

Good save and a cool fix. Well done. 

Thanks for the comments guys. It was a fun save considering where I thought it was heading after the blow up.

CORIUS- I guess you could use artificial sinew as backing but any type of art sinew will stretch and most defiantly will only raise physical weight. Just paper bags would be a much better choice than art sinew. The reason this backing added strength to the bow is that linen is a low stretch material, I believe it stretches less than wood. This backing stretched a bit despite laying it on in a reflex because it was twisted cordage. If it was un-twisted raw flax I think it might have held some of the reflex and added even more weight.

Mark