My New Fishing Bow. Inuit style.

[Pappy]

Cool project,beautiful spool.
   Pappy

[Bryce]

Cool thread and fishing reel, Bryce!  Be sure to show us how you attach it.  Are you going to braid sinew for the fishing line?  Holy-quacamole, Man.  That's a lot of braiding!

The spool is great and he said he wasn't even done yet he was gonna fill in some crack with blue. So I'm sure prairies inbox is gonna blow up.
I didn't really plan on braiding sinew for the line. I was just gonna use the trusty braided mason line.

[Elktracker]

That reel looks awesome! I have a couple chunks of yew I cut to send to him a whule back and I need to get ahold of him and see if he will still do it for me lol. Nice!

Josh

[Prarie Bowyer]

Progress on the spool:




Slow going.  Need to let the glue dry and build up the layers of super glue.

[Gus]

Nice PB!

I love using Turquoise as a filler.
It can Really push a piece OVER the TOP!



-gus

[Elktracker]

Look forward to seeing that finished up!

Josh

[Bryce]

I'm so stoked on this spool.

floor tillered the bow. and checked it with a long string and iam pleased with it. though the handle doesnt bend as much as i wanted due to a knot that passes through the handle....

Started soaking my antlers today. My baleen supplier fell through 
And put the bow in a bucket of water for a couple days before steaming and bending.  Soaking before steaming helps keep splinters down and this bow is going to have such a Sharp bend I want it to be as noodles like as possible.


 

 


I'll shape the bow tomorrow and post the results

[Prarie Bowyer]

What does soaking the antler do?

[Bryce]

What does soaking the antler do?

I should I have went into more detail about that I guess.

I cut the antler in half and rasped out the porous center. So now I have 2 prieces of antler that are going to soak for about a week. (Usually when making whole antler bows the beams soak for about 2 weeks)  after soaking they become soft. Then they'll be steam heated but not too much to cook the collegen out, and bent into the same angle as the curve of the angled tips on the bow. Then left to harden back up. Later it will be fitted to the back of the curve with filing and rasping. I usually use baleen or caribou but I wanna give elk a try. Baleen is super easy to work and bend. But difficult to get a hold of.

[Prarie Bowyer]

Spool is finished.

[Elktracker]

WOW that turned out awesome!

Josh

[Bryce]

Alright I had some time to work on the bow this weekend. I cut some antler gave it a rough shape and put it back in the water to soak for a few more days.
 


Finished steaming and bending the bows extreme recurves.
I let it steam for about 30mins, clamped it to the form then steamed it again while still in the form for another 5 mins.

 

 

It have 12 in. From bend to tip at 30 degree angles.

While all that stuff cools, and soaks. Time to braid some more sinew, keeping the pieces of sinew that are about to get married into the sequence in my mouth to moisten up and bond into the cable without slipping loose under tension. 


 

[Elktracker]

Looking good bryce, those crazy bends you do still amaze me that they hold up This looks like its gonna be a sweet setup!

Josh

[Bryce]

Looking good bryce, those crazy bends you do still amaze me that they hold up This looks like its gonna be a sweet setup!

Josh

ive never dont a curve like with with yew before. just with vine maple. theres alot of knots and pins, so this bow has about a 25% chance of surviving. but what the heck. nothing ventured!
the curves are going to be reinforced. just wish i had horn or baleen instead of antler. it will work its just not as easy to manipulate.

[Prarie Bowyer]

Those bends look broken! ... holy smokes!

Googling horn brings up some options.  I've been looking at some springbok.  Those ripples would look cool on a belly.

I wonder if there is a source for cow horn in bulk?