Author Topic: primative versus traditional (Read 13910 times)

II BYRDS · « **on:** August 03, 2009, 04:14:43 am »

OK call me stupid. i am just starting out with shooting traditional/primitive. My mine set is primitive. i have my first bow Osage bamboo backed self bow? i have been looking for some shaft material for arrow shafts. my first set of arrows are port orferd crown dipped red and crested with the colors of the four directions with White cock feather and red hen feathers. so question is what makes the bow i have now traditional versus primitive. and can i us ash shafts and haft my own napped arrow heads to them what would it be primitive or not. i been trying to find some dog wood shoots in my area but cant seem to find any.

Pappy · « **Reply #1 on:** August 03, 2009, 07:52:55 am »

First everyone has there own thought on Primitive,get out the popcorn.

The bow you are shooting altho by some my be classed as primitive it is not a self bow .It is a backed bow .A self bow is self backed. I don't think just using homemade arrow is going to change primitive from Trad.I gave up worrying about that stuff a long time ago.I shoot what I like and build as much of it as I can.
Both are terms given by modern man anyway.Just shoot,Have fun and come up with your own Idea
of what is primitive.

Pappy

cracker · « **Reply #2 on:** August 03, 2009, 07:57:52 am »

Well put Pappy. Nothing more needs to be said. However I do have my popcorn ready cause I smell a debate looming on the horizon. Ronnie

Pappy · « **Reply #3 on:** August 03, 2009, 08:05:56 am »

Pappy

George Tsoukalas · « **Reply #4 on:** August 03, 2009, 08:46:50 am »

II, you can shoot with me anytime.

Jawge

PaulN/KS · « **Reply #5 on:** August 03, 2009, 09:48:09 am »

Traditional seems to include the glass lam bows while for primitive we try to keep our materials on the natural side of things...
IE: sinew, rawhide, horn backed...bamboo backed bows we're found in the past as well.

"Primitive" has various levels from person to person... don't worry about it, have fun with what you got and work your way back as time goes on...

yazoo · « **Reply #6 on:** August 03, 2009, 11:28:57 am »

I had to say something , but a 100% primitive bow is doesnot contain any modern man made materials,,a backed bow of bamboo or what ever could be primitive if you had used hide glue, urac etc, not primitive,I have no problem with any type of bow,,but a truley primitive bow set should contain nothing that was not available a few hundred years ago ,,, JMO

Hillbilly · « **Reply #7 on:** August 03, 2009, 12:59:03 pm »

All I'll say is that in order to shoot in the primitive class at most shoots, they allow selfbows or natural material laminates, i.e. bamboo/hickory backed bows; and natural material arrows-wood or cane shafts. That's pretty much it. If there's no fiberglass, carbon, or alumiminum involved, it's good to go. That's pretty much our cut-off point on this site, too. As to what is truly primitive equipment, I would say self/sinew backed bows with natural material string that was made from natural materials such as rawhide, sinew, gut, etc, not factory-spooled linen. True primitive arrows wouldn't have any store-bought stuff on them. Or I guess to be truly primitive, it would be have to be made by some member of an indigenous tribal society back in the woods somewhere.

But the main thing is, who really cares what anybody calls it? Go forth, shoot what you want to, and have fun.

markinengland · « **Reply #8 on:** August 03, 2009, 02:33:59 pm »

This seems to be an ongoing debate, partly because both words have quite literally a number of different meanings. Even if there are dictionary definitions about the words, what they mean in archery differs from person to person.This is just as true in the UK as it seems to be in the US.

I was talking to someone yesterday who seemed to think that a primitive bow had to be crude, that if it was well made, if it worked well, if there was intelligent "sophisticated" thinking behind the design it couldn't be primitive. This would rule out a huge number of ancient bows.

I think we would struggle to come up with an agreement on what either primitive or traditional really are, let alone compare them!

Mark in England

nugget · « **Reply #9 on:** August 03, 2009, 03:34:33 pm »

Here is my 2 cents. I agree with most of you. Get out there and shoot something you made. If it has some modern influence So What. If you made it be proud of it, call it what you want and have fun. My feeling on it is we are all following a hybrid primitive way of recreating primitive equipment.
Makeit, break it and repeat.

Ian Johnson · « **Reply #10 on:** August 03, 2009, 06:23:18 pm »

I shoot both, I like primitive self bows and backed bows, but i also like to shoot and hunt with my glass bows

cracker · « **Reply #11 on:** August 03, 2009, 06:35:20 pm »

OOOOHHH Ian said the "G" word.

Woodland Roamer · « **Reply #12 on:** August 03, 2009, 08:15:18 pm »

Quote from: Hillbilly on August 03, 2009, 12:59:03 pm

Dauntless · « **Reply #13 on:** August 03, 2009, 08:24:14 pm »

That might be the funniest emoticon I've ever seen.

I think we have a tendency to act a little smug because we make prehistoric bows and arrows. It's easy to ignore the modern steel tools we used in the process.

Shoot with what you have. I got into all of this shooting carbon arrows out of really short green wood bows. I used blue packing twine for bowstrings.

FVR · « **Reply #14 on:** August 03, 2009, 08:44:41 pm »

Wait one cotton picking minute.

YOU MEAN YOU CAN MAKE BOWS OUT OF FIBERGLASS!!!

I have to get out more.

Next thing you'll be telling me is that they make arrows out of metal and that new hockey stick carbon stuff.

SHEeeeeeeesh.

Primitive Archer