"Muscles" in wood

[Tom Dulaney]

P.s. guys thanks for the advice. I think I will continue shaving wood off the back of this bow since I heard Ishi violated growth rings with an axe anyway so it will just be more historically accurate that way. We will see how this bow turns out because I have a lot of sinew and it is a small stave after all. Maybe I will post pics.   



P.s.s. somebody here said "muscles" act like grain violations, anyway. My gut instinct was to take this stave down to a nice flat surface for the sinew.

[Tom Dulaney]

Okay so I went back down to the forest on my grandfather's property and picked up the other half of the log I split. This time I chopped it down on the back, and I now have an identical stave that is just 37.5 inches long. The back is still likely to be violated unless I chase it down to one growth ring, but it will be sinew backed regardless. What do you think about this length?

[DuBois]

If you gotta do it then you just gotta do it! Good luck! Yes that's a better length in my opinion.

Of course, the bowyers that made those bows had mucho experience and probably started with the best stave they could get.

You will learn something for sure.

[wizardgoat]

For a sinew backed yew or juniper bow, you can for sure violate the back, and shape it how you want.

[gfugal]

Yikes 32 inches? Thats way to short and thats coming rom someone who likes short bows. I agree if your this frustrated already i would find some other stave that won't make you more.

U sure? Do you think the little bow in this pic might be 32 inches? I have seen some really little bows in old Indian pictures, I think a lot of modern bowyers like to super size their bows.

I agree that many make their bows longer than necessary. but having made some short bows (one 33", and two 43"). I've learned that I was expecting too much from them. I tried to get them to normal draw lengths of 28" but at draws that far being that short it doesn't matter one bit if the wood could take it or not. String angle becomes your main enemy. and your bow will stack no matter what, which hinders performance.

Secondly, the wood for short of bows usually won't take long draws and will get set. If you design it right and use suited materials it may not. Large amounts of set is usually an indication your wood with that design won't meet your expectations, either that or you stressed it too way too much during the beginning phases of tillering. the two 43" bows got a large amount of set and the first one broke at only a 23" draw (it also was sinew backed and merely 20 lbs). For the sake of durability and assurance I now know to play it on the side of longer than not. Again the hard lesson I had to learn is that the wood is in charge. I had this idea that I could make any design out of any wood, and if I was skilled enough in tillering I could make it work. Turns out I was wrong. There's quite a bit good tillering can do, but it won't make a design the wood can't take.

Last of all, I wanted to mention the native bows you shared. Do you happen to know the intended poundage or draws for them? maybe that small one is a child bow? No doubt they were successful for their purposes, but you have to keep in mind that the native American draw is far different from the Mediterranean draw. pulling a native American bow like that to 28"+ inches will most likely damage or break it. You can get a 42" bow pulling 60 lbs at 22". But You would be stretching your luck to think you could get that at 28". Trust me I didn't want to believe this but the wood has been telling me otherwise.

[Peacebow_Coos]

My Tribe, Hanis Coos, and many in Oregon made short bows, 34-36 inch range.  The one Steve Alleley claims to be from a Western Oregon tribe in TBB1 or 2 I think it's 1 I believe is ours.  Those Modoc bows you have there in the pic are probably a bit longer?  These were definitely shot with a different kind of draw.  Here's one I made quite a while back, I violated the back to shape it like I wanted it and put down one thick layer of sinew.  http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php?topic=40212.0  I don't know about violating all the way to the heartwood, it just makes me shudder to think about but hey.
I've recurved all of the ones that I've made.  The highest poundage was a yew bow with one layer of sinew, real short but I'll have to find my notes for draw length and weight.  I left it in a hot car and it broke while stringing after probably 500 shots.   Kind of wish I would have done two just to see what happened.  Either way what you have is going to be a very short draw, but pretty awesome when it's done.  I've found that shooting these bows instinctually is the best way for me, and that out to about 25 yards they can be pretty accurate if you practice.  Worst case scenario you end up with a crossbow prod.  Looking forward to seeing what you come up with.

[mikekeswick]

For a sinew backed yew or juniper bow, you can for sure violate the back, and shape it how you want.

100% agreed. I have done it a good few times.
Tom - I think you need to learn how to relax and take things as they are....all this talk of 'swimming in rage' doesn't strike me as the best mindset for making a bow. Chill Winston