G'day all,
Colin from Australia here. Finally got my act together and became a part of this great resource for primitive/historical/traditional archery enthusiasts.
There are some very talented folks around the world I must say. Love looking at all the different things folks are making about the place.
Living in Aus there amount of really quality bow timber is a little limited but there are a few that you can get a good stick and string out of.
Just thought I'd would share a recent project of mine. Set myself a small challenge after looking at a ton of primitive bows on youtube and decided to see how few tools I could use to make a hunting weight flatbow. This is the result.
The bow is Australian Ash, 68" ntn and pulls 55lb@28". I included some buffalo horn tip overlays to help keep the tips strong and the bow has a 8 strand main, 12 strand loops fast flight string.
I used a total of 4 tools on the bow not including sand paper and oil to heat straighten some twist out of one limb. Tomahawk, Shinto rasp, chainsaw file and steel ruler as a scraper. The tillering on the bow was done by eye and feel. The only time the bow was on a tiller stand was to get its weight (and even that wasn't really required, just for the specs on the belly)
Photo of the bow drawn is my younger brother (I'm currently incapacitated with a shoulder injury, cant shoot them but I can still make them)
Learning how to flint knap at the moment in an effort to make a decent set of primitive style arrows to go with this bow but they're a while off yet haha.
Cheers,
Colin
