Bow woods NM

[gifford]

J19 - you didn't specify your region of NM, but as I recall from my time on the Mogollon Rim in AZ, Alligator juniper was found with Pinon Pine, on drier sites, and interspersed with Ponderosa Pine.

The alligator juniper (Juniperus deppeana) makes great firewood (and has other uses) so it may be on available under a firewood cutting permit on National Forests in NM.

[Badger]

  The alligator Juniper can be taken with a permit but I believe it has to be dead.

[gfugal]

I second the splice method. It opens up a whole new world. Instead of trying to find straight 65" mostly knotless, branchless pieces, you only have to find 35" ones. So much easier! As Tom suggests, you can go even shorter with handle splices and siyahs which is making a bow from 5 different sections of wood.

[sleek]

Sleek - I recall seeing an article in an early Primitive Archer on making a bow from ax handles (or maybe pick handles). Z spliced and glued together. You need to mind the grain in picking the handles.


Tom - excellent reference on the Great Basin juniper stave gathering. Thanks for posting it.

Ive made a few axe handle bows. Lots of fun, and powerful enought to take a deer. I had a problem getting them to a longer draw, than 25 due to length, but, knowing more now, i think i will go build a few just to see how well I can make them draw further.  Id bet  i can get 50-60 pounds at 28 now. ....
I find Z splices tedious and just use scarf joints now.
I wonder, if i were to write an article on it, would the magazine be interested in publishing it?

[burtonridr]

You should source some lumber hickory. In a pinch, axe handles work and make nice take down bows. Youd love it.

hmm this might be my next build, i've been thinking about a take down 

[burtonridr]

Look for Tamarisk a.k.a salt cedar, it makes an excellent bow.

To get straight grained knotless Juniper, natives in some states found a big tree and extracted them using the methods described in this excellent PDF file:


http://pub-jschol-stg.escholarship.org/content/qt4v5249w9/qt4v5249w9.pdf

This method yields perfect Juniper staves.

Mesquite makes good bows but you will have trouble finding suitable lengths that are straight grained enough. To get around this, splice two pieces together with sinew glue. I have also done this with juniper staves taken from smaller trees than described in that PDF. You can make even smaller "staves" or billets (~5 to 11 inches) work by gluing them to handles and splicing outer limbs/siyahs on to that, reinforcing it all with sinew backing/wraps and more wood laminations. There are a lot of possibilities with combination bows and you will find that this is ultimately a more satisfying experience than searching for unicorn big perfect staves in an area that just doesn't permit their growth.

Another interesting PDF:


http://www.atarn.org/chinese/Yanghai/Scythian_bow_ATARN.pdf



Even pre-contact Eskimos managed to splice bows together so you don't even need a saw or a good knife:


http://elfshotgallery.blogspot.com/2009/08/tuktut-nogait-bow-second-glace.html

And the same techniques apply to arrows, as well. If you can find greasewood, assuming it occurs out there, it makes very tough arrows when spliced together with glue and wrapped with sinew.

(If I were you i would look for pieces of greasewood to splice in to a bow, and that might he a world's first!)

http://elfshotgallery.blogspot.com/2013/12/independence-i-driftwood-arrow-completed.html?m=1


Steam the joints and tie them tightly and let them dry for a tight fit. Don't let the process intimidate you because it's too easy.

This post is going to keep me in good reading for awhile! thanks for sharing