My Last Bow

[Redbow]

That I will ever make more than likely. Its from a hickory stave that has been drying for 14 years or more so it should be dry. I cut it 58 inches and I have been working off and on with the stave for probably 3 years now. I'm finally getting it down a bit to where it will bend a little.

Now, working on the bow this morning in my shop I wondered what the Native Americans used to work the wood down on their bows when they needed to make a new one. I have the advantage of 4 wood rasps, a couple of electric sanders and sand paper. I can go to the hardware store and buy anything I need for staining and sealing the bow, need to get some true oil or maybe some linseed oil. I guess a sharp rock would work for working the bow down I once saw a man in South America in a documentary working on a new bow he was making using a wild boar's tusk to shave the wood off his bow and it worked just fine. They even showed him shooting his new bow when he had finished with it that thing looked very powerful the way it slung an arrow.

If I can get this thing to function without breaking I will probably give it to a friend of mine who lives up in Johnston County NC were I was born and raised. He is a few years younger than I am but I used to take him hunting with me when we were growing up and he has never forgotten the good times we had back then in the woods. I gotta make me a new tillering post for some reason I threw both of mine out one day when I was cleaning out my shop. I am gonna throw in some river cane arrows working on those as well and tip them with some arrowheads I made a few years ago. My neighbor has chickens and I have some feathers to fletch them with that she gave me when she clipped their wings to keep them inside her yard all right winged feathers so the arrows should fly pretty good. I don't want to get them mixed up with left wing feathers but I'm safe there I don't have any.




Maybe someone here will chime in about the way Native American's made their bows and what they used to work the wood down, someone that knows a lot more than I know about this stuff. Yeah I know I can look it up online at to what they used for making what they needed to survive.

Nic? NC Hillbilly?

 

[Redbow]

Would one of you mods move this to the traditional archery forum please, thanks.

 

[JustUs4All]

Done and thanks for sharing the story.

 

[bear claw]

Very cool. I have a few hickory staves myself. But haven't taken the plunge yet to try and make a self bow although I plan too.

 

[trad bow]

Always working on one as y’all speak.

 

[Nicodemus]

I`m not a bowyer but I`ve seen them built where a polished stone celt cut the tree down, stave was split out with dogwood and antler gluts, stave worked down with a stone ax, and finished with chert flakes.

Tremendous amount of work and time, but the finished bow was well worth it. And then you need to make the arrows. That I could do.

 

[Redbow]

I appreciate the info Nic, thanks a lot. I have made several self bows some function good others have broken. I like persimmon and dogwood for bow making my BIL gave me the hickory. Way over 20 years ago I cut a low hanging limb off a hickory tree down in SC. I made a bow out of it and still have it today, it still pulls around 40 lbs.

The roughest one I ever made was with cocobolo wood hard stuff ruined 2 wood rasps working that wood. Made two self bows out of the cocobolo but the shorter one broke, the long bow still functions but hard for me to string anymore. The shorter one was more powerful than the long bow it would sling an arrow faster than any bow I have ever had except for my compound bow. Looks like my bow building days are over after I finish the one I am working on now.

 

[trad bow]

Most native Americans used a limb off a tree as it was easier to work than cutting down a tree and then trying to split it but it was done by using a tree trunk at times. The hard part of the process was making the arrows.

 

[Al33]

Check out Ryan Gill's You Tube channel "Hunt Primitive. He shows how it was done and does it. Not to mention many other tutorials on primitive bow and atlatls.

 

[Ga Waters]

Always working on one as y’all speak.

I too am making a hickory bow. This will be my 5th try. Two were mildly successful if badly under powered. After reading (about 7 times) Bent Sticks and Clay Hayes' book on building bows I feel I have a good chance of being successful if I take my time. Great way to spend time in the shop.

 

[David Hill]

Clay Hays is hunting with a fire hardened hickory bow. His build is on his YouTube channel. I’ve made a few never fire hardened but that will be my next project.

 

[kmckinnie]

Y’all need to post some pics of these works of art. ?

 

[Kaisrus6]

I too have been experimenting with self bow building. Three attempts with Osage resulted in one kids bow. One fire hardened sweetgum also turned into a bow for my grandkids. Ended up with a bad hinge and had to lighten it up. On my second attempt with fire hardened hickory. So far I’ve made a bunch of fire wood but the learning curve is getting straighter! It’s fun!