Hi everyone. Well, here it is, and not a minute too soon! It's my trade bow. Finished it last night and will ship it this afternoon.
It's an Inuit bow, not a replica but based on general info from North American bows arrows and quivers by O.T.Mason. It's based on other bows from south Alaska. I chose to emulate this design because it's long and wide for a cable bow... added insurance.
I'ts 55'' long, 42lbs at 25 '', has about 3/4'' set . It's maple backed with braided moose sinew, about 50' of it. Took a while to make it! Sinew cable is really tougher than I thought. you can put quite a bit of tension on it and it just won't give. I floor tillered the bow with a nylon mock-cable for I did not want to put the sinew cable on and take it off after. Bad idea. A splinter popped off the back but it was mended with braided sinew and it didn't move since.
It was a bit tricky to finish cause of the cable being in the way and all so I finished the back after floor tiller, put the final braided sinew backing, twisted it tight, final tillered it and finished the belly and sides at the end. Very simple beeswax finish. I did not want to put a modern or solvent based finish on the bow because I didn't know what it would do to the sinew cable. Not the most resistant finish but easily repaired and refreshed. You got to be careful though when putting molten beeswax on a cable backed bow as heat will damage the sinew.
So there it is, enjoy and have a nice day!
Matthieu