Author Topic: western community bow (Read 21855 times)

M-P · « **Reply #30 on:** February 06, 2008, 02:54:24 am »

Hi Folks, I got the stave floor tillered over a month ago and spent some time smoothing the back. I kept thinking I would recurve the tips before sending it on, but every time I get ready something comes up. I think it's time for me to admit I'm holding things up and just send the stave on to the next guy. There's multiple choices for " the next step". You might want to tackle a little recurve (what Gordon calls flipping the tips.) Or maybe skip recurves and just put some reflex into the bow as you apply a good layer of sinew. Or maybe someone wants to cut in some nocks and tiller to ~ 1/2 draw length, before applying the sinew. So far the handle is left full width, but the stave could accept a slightly narrowed handle. Some one will have to make that decision before tillering gets too far. etc.
Somebody step forward and let me know where to send the stave! I know Gordon volunteered to tiller the thing and believe he's pretty good at that tip flipping thing.
I'll take a couple of photos to post before I sent the stave, but to tell the truth it doesn't look very exciting yet. Just another floor tillered stave.

Ron

Justin Snyder · « **Reply #31 on:** February 06, 2008, 11:43:37 am »

Quote from: juniper junkie on December 08, 2007, 12:19:41 am

where is the pioneer spirit??? the spirit which created the Oregon trail, conquered the new frontier (actually it was stolen from the natives), and helped to create the greatest nation on earth!! us decendants of these great pioneers cannot fail in this cause, a call to rally our troops in defense of honor and glory, which is ours! . let us show them yanks and confedrates what we are made of who is with me? (yeah, I have had too much coffee)

My grandparents rode the train, I guess that rules me out.

Justin

Gordon · « **Reply #32 on:** February 06, 2008, 12:59:55 pm »

I'd be happy to tiller it some and flip the tips up. I don't think, however, that sinewing a bow on the west side of the Cascades in the winter is a particularly good idea given the high humidity.

M-P · « **Reply #33 on:** February 07, 2008, 04:34:11 am »

Gordon, Your name came to mind based on your excellent build along. If you're ready to work on the tips I'll send the stave. PM me with an snail mail address. I'm sure we can find or draft someone in a drier climate to apply some sinew before final tillering. Ron

M-P · « **Reply #34 on:** February 12, 2008, 05:05:36 pm »

I sort of nominated Gordon to be next and he accepted, so the stave is on its way to him. Here are some pictures of the the progress to date. Floor tillering looks pretty good to me though I expect limb B to be stronger once a tillering string is used. Limb A has several small knots, including two punky transverse knots that are currently on the surface of the belly. Hopefully final tillering will cut deeper than those punky knots. There is a knot near each tip, with an especially large knot on limb A. I expect that a nice recurve can be placed distal to the knot on limb A, and the knot on limb B is small enough not to cause problems. It's up to Gordon to whether and how much to flip the tips. As I understand it the recurves on this style bow are partly there for cosmetics and largely to keep the string from slopping off. There's probably no reason why they have to be there on this bow.
Ron
http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc270/May-Pumphrey/floortillered.jpg
http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc270/May-Pumphrey/bellyafterfloortillering.jpg
http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc270/May-Pumphrey/bellytipB.jpg
http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc270/May-Pumphrey/bellytipA.jpg
http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc270/May-Pumphrey/tipBback.jpg
http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc270/May-Pumphrey/tipAback.jpg

cowboy · « **Reply #35 on:** February 12, 2008, 10:21:39 pm »

That stave has slicked up nice

. Looking foward to seeing it's progress..

juniper junkie · « **Reply #36 on:** February 13, 2008, 03:02:27 pm »

looking good! after Gordon does his magic, then Keenan said he will maybe apply the sinew and/or sturgeon skins.

Gordon · « **Reply #37 on:** February 13, 2008, 05:20:49 pm »

Quote

then Keenan said he will maybe apply the sinew and/or sturgeon skins.

Perfect!

Keenan · « **Reply #38 on:** February 13, 2008, 10:49:32 pm »

Sounds great Dave, Let me know when you get close to shipping it over Gordon and I'll make sure that I have some skins ready. Dave, if that one shots anything like your last juniper bow I'll have to do some serious bidding for that one.

Keenan

juniper junkie · « **Reply #39 on:** February 14, 2008, 12:03:19 am »

Keenan, MP has the stave, it is a yew stave.

Keenan · « **Reply #40 on:** February 14, 2008, 03:03:44 am »

Opps sorry Dave I was thinking that one was juniper. My missunderstanding. Keenan

Gordon · « **Reply #41 on:** February 19, 2008, 01:59:16 am »

I have the stave - wow, what a beautiful piece of yew! I've not worked with yew much or made a NW Indian design so a couple of questions:

1) At 1 1/4" the tips seem pretty wide - should I narrow them before I put curve the tips?

2) Should I use boil, steam or dry heat the tips to bend them?

Thanks!

Gordon · « **Reply #42 on:** February 19, 2008, 01:33:27 pm »

M-P · « **Reply #43 on:** February 20, 2008, 02:42:24 pm »

Gordon, I send this message as a pm, but the rest of the group might be prodded into adding their 2 cents, so:

I agree it's a nice looking stave. I don't claim to be an expert on west coast style bows, but I did as much research as my personal library allowed. Even with that limited amount of material it appears that there was a lot of variation on the theme of short, wide bows with short static recurve. I photo copied some pages from a couple of books you may not have and wrapped them with the stave. TBB also has a chapter that may be helpful. I assumed that everyone has a copy by now. I feel that the tips probably should be narrowed somewhat, but left them wide on the assumption that getting the recurves straight would be easier done first and the tips narrowed later, but then again maybe I'm backwards. Some of the illustrations in TBB show a fairly wide tip.
I like the dimensions that Pope published for one of Ishi's bows: yew with a rawhide back 55" 1 5/8 inch wide handle, 1 3/4 inch wide midlimb and 3/4 inch wide tips with a slight recurve ( see the table I copied.)
A similar Yurok bow was yew- sinew backed, 54" 1 7/8 wide handle, 2 3/8 wide limbs and 1 3/8 inch wide tips.
Recurves seem to have varied from none to very pronounced, with some done as a "bent tab".
Ron

juniper junkie · « **Reply #44 on:** February 24, 2008, 09:48:38 pm »

Quote from: Gordon on February 19, 2008, 01:59:16 am

I have the stave - wow, what a beautiful piece of yew! I've not worked with yew much or made a NW Indian design so a couple of questions:

1) At 1 1/4" the tips seem pretty wide - should I narrow them before I put curve the tips?

2) Should I use boil, steam or dry heat the tips to bend them?
I have only boiled them and it worked well. the tips could be narrowed some after the curving. that was some fire killed yew I got out of the cascades a couple of years ago, really dense stuff.
Thanks!

Primitive Archer