50" Stone Sheep Horn Bow

[ChristopherHwll]

Hey all, my name is Christopher and I am new to the PA community.  I have been making bows for over twenty-five years, since I was about ten years old.  I thought it was about time to join in and share some of my bows.  So for my first bow building post I thought I would post a bow that I have wanted to build myself for many years.  Acquiring the right horn took some time.  So here is a build along for my current 50" stone sheep horn bow.  I am about two thirds done at this point so I am going to bring this post up to speed quickly.  This bow is constructed of stone sheep horns, elk leg sinew, elk backstrap sinew, and a glue I make of elk, bison, and white-tail sinew.  For the finished bow I am considering naturally dyeing white-tail rawhide to a deep red and having it fade to black at the tips.  So here we go...

The horns as I received them.  One is 33 1/2" around the curl and the other is 33 1/4":

[ChristopherHwll]

Starting to process the horns.  Same method discussed in TBB. Drill holes and go slow so that you do not ruin your horns.

[ChristopherHwll]

You must look for any imperfections in your set of horns like this one and remove material until the horn is solid.

[ChristopherHwll]

Once you have established a smooth surface around the outside curl it is time to reduce and uncurl the horn.  Start at the open end and work your way to the tip.  This process is slow.  I use a dry heat method and apply oil or fat grease to the horn to help heat and evenly distribute the heat without burning the horn.  Over the years I found that "boiling" almost always dries out horn to a degree. Even with short simmering times.  This has always been the case with sheep, bison, and elk antler.  The dry method is faster and much easier to control with excellent results.

[ChristopherHwll]

Once you have worked your way close to the horn tips you can remove any lateral horn from the widest portion of the horn staying inline with tip.  For this bow I am using every bit of the horn possible all the way to the tip of the horn.  The horn on the left still has the tip for comparison with the one on the right being final length.  Dr. Grayson talks about this in the TBB. I worked slow and finally have the horns nearing final shape before splicing.

[ChristopherHwll]

Something to note about working with sheep horn.  It is much more "elastic" by feel than bison horn or elk antler.  It really does feel more like a rubber-band.  The domestic sheep horn I have worked with is very similar but I have noted differences in species to the degree of this "elastic" feel and how solid the horn is throughout it's curl.  All sheep have a "pithy" like core that connects the solid horn to the bone of the skull.  This core has a tendency to pull up away from the more solid outer horn.  This layer can be apart of the limb core but I have found it best to remove as much as possible.

[ChristopherHwll]

Time to splice the handle.  First I make glue.  This glue is a sinew glue made of Elk, bison, and white-tail sinew.  The elk sinew is the very same that I will back the bow with.  I always do this to make sure the properties in my glue are as similar to the backing as possible.  The bison sinew makes for a very strong glue.  The white-tail is for good "mojo" as it is from my hunt last year.  I recycle as much of the deer after I process it myself.  Meat, sinew, bone, and hide are all used.  The glue shown is dry on the left and beginning to dry on the right.

[ChristopherHwll]

Splicing the two horns with a lap splice and then gluing on an under and over riser.  You can barley see the glue lines.  This glue is very pale and almost clear.

[ChristopherHwll]

Once I have the limbs glued and in-line.  I start the final straightening and material removal working my way to the tips.  Another note about working with sheep horn, using the dry heat method you can "relax" the horn and then remove the unwanted material so that the underlying horn is less affected by the stretch or compression. I built a quick lumber form specifically for this bow in order to "relax" the horn into correct shape.

[ChristopherHwll]

Final horn core shape before applying the sinew backing.  Nocks are shaped as I will completely wrap them in sinew.  Handle is now wrapped with backstrap sinew.  Notice how straight the limbs are.  Much time and patience to get the bow to this stage.  It is the bow on the rack a bottom above the river-cane shafts.

[ChristopherHwll]

I used eight large Elk back leg sinews for this bow.  The sinew strands run almost the full length of the bending portion of the limb.  Heavy scoring first and then grooving to increase the glueing/sinewed surface area followed by a degrease before sizing and finally a heavy sinew application.

[ChristopherHwll]

 I wrap the tips with cord to help the sinew take on the cut knock shape and then I use a varying cloth wrap and inner-tube compression method.  It works very well.  It really helps to push the sinew down into the grooving.  I use a dark cloth as to be able to see the left behind string fibers so they do not show up in the backing later.  I apply mild heat to help the glue weep from the cloth and inner-tube.  Wrap, light heat, re-wrap, light heat, etc..

[joachimM]

Awesome build-along!!

[ChristopherHwll]

Notice how the sinew is nicely wrapped around the cut-in nock by wrapping with cord.  Time to begin nock wrapping. 

[ChristopherHwll]

This has brought the build up to speed to where I am.  I am curing the sinew.  A great time to tan the white-tail hides that I am making a highly decorative plains style quiver with sash strap for this bow.