Native Amreican bow designs, how do they shoot?

[bradsmith2010]

my main interest is in bows similar to the Native designs
I find the most simple D bows will pretty much shoot as well as any wood bow I have made or shot,accuracy and cast,,,
I'm talking straight tip flat bows mostly,,
not Turkish flight bows or composit bows,,
the more I learn, the more I know they had things pretty figured out,, thats just my take, lots of testing with chrono too,,
I was testing a small flat bow,, Ishi inspired and was still amazed at the cast,, and just wanted to share my never ending enthusiasm bout Native Style Bows,,

[Swamp Thang]

I've been playing with some cypress that is very versatile great for flat bows. And quick to work.

[bradsmith2010]

I always wondered how that wood would work,,please keep us posted on that,,

[JonW]

There are too many variations to lump all NA bows together. Speaking of cast though I have an experience to speak directly of. I made a short (48") for a friend of mine of osage. Flat profile bend through handle. We were all flight shooting our bows and the little bow I made was shooting greater distances than all the other bows even other bows I had made. It would consistantly shoot about 20 yards farther than any other bow. Yes we took arrows into account and shot all arrows out of all bows. I can't tell you why this was happening it just was.

[Stick Bender]

I think that design is very efiecent design lighter mass more working limb etc , the only down side is stability & comfort on realease its the type of bow I hunted with last season , but the thing I have always wonder & would think all though no way of proving it is that they probably have a longer duty life compared to a handled bow of the same  dimension speaking to self bows I think on the shorter ones some speed is lost to stacking but they are fun bows to build & more challenging to get the tiller right then you would think 

[Pat B]

I've made a few Eastern Woodland style bows, simple with single side nocks and was impressed with how well they shot; no hand shock and smooth as silk.

[bradsmith2010]

nice points,, there are alot of designs,, and shorter bows do have their limitations,, but not all Native bows are short,, some war bows ,, I have not built that many like that,, but I think I could make a 68 inch,,28 inch draw flat long bow bow style that would shoot pretty hard,, and no stack,, but dont have any chrono stats on that,, but if you want to make a nice bow,, the Native designs are a good starting point,I think,,

[willie]

he Native designs are a good starting point,I think

and maybe even hard to improve on, in a lot of ways we modern types don't often stop to consider 

[bradsmith2010]

yes and one thing I have been giving alot of thought too,, also the way you shoot one has a lot to do with the performance,,I am just speculating,,
but when you shoot one almost like a snap shooting,, the cast is greatly increased,,
if you pull it back to an anchor hold and release like we might normally shoot, the speed of the arrow decreases,, this would be evident in shooting for distance,, or with a chrono,,
I find my accuracy at close range very good,, with no anchor snap shooting and increased cast,,making the bow even more effecient,, and I have a feeling alot of ancient archers killing game at close range may have had a similar more effecient release to get the most out of the bow,, ,, just thinking too much, 

[Stick Bender]

This one is a Cherokee inspired war bow  66 in.48 lb @29  I Chrono it at a averages of 157 fps b-50  11 gpp not a rocket launcher but good solid hunting bow, it has about  1 1/2 string follow but honestly it is a bit snappy in the hand It's bare bow no handle wrap but I think if I built one again I would add 4 in. of  reflex in hopes of keeping 2 in. &  use FF string and a built up cork handle it would probably out perform a handled bow of the same length and add some serious Fps with the bendy having 8 more inches of working limb & narrower limbs , less mass , I was just thinking about your performance comment , but there is a lot of room to experiment with the design maybe I'm veering off the NA bow but still the basic bow with some improvements

[bradsmith2010]

I think with fast flight,, and 10gpp, you gonna be 165,,  and maybe better with really good release,, I would say thats shooting really well,, for a simple bent stick,,  sometimes the follow doesnt seem to hurt the performance as much as one would think,,nice bow,,,,, with a good heavy arrow that gonna kill a buffalo, whew,,

[upstatenybowyer]

I made a Cherokee inspired war bow recently as well. I wish I had a chrono, but it pulls about 65# at 27" and I'm pretty sure it would shoot a heavy arrow fast enough to be a functional weapon of war. Like Pat said, it shoots very smooth with no shock. 

[Stick Bender]

You guys made a good point about the heavier arrows I tried a 750 grain arrow in that bow and it was dead in the hand I have a 62 in hickory/sinew bow that shoots a 530 grain arrow completly dead in the hand on the longer heavier wood osage ones they seem to me to be more arrow weight sensitive I was told some of the old timers used to use thin sheets of lead in the handle for damping , but it would be easier for me to learn to make the bow around the arrow I try to make all my hunting bows around a 530 grain arrow , hey Brad do you have a side profile picture of your Ishi inspired handle, thats a beutifull bend on your bow Upstate !

[bradsmith2010]

Ishi inspired osage

[Stick Bender]

Thanks Brad I wanted to see a concept of the thickness !