Monacan tribe and eastern native American bows

[Teal_Seal]

I'm gonna be making my first bows here in the next few months. I've got two black locust staves I harvested back in early spring of 2020. I want to try and recreate the bows of the Monacan tribe, which are local to my area of the Piedmont region in central Virginia. I made a post on r/Bowyer as well, and there is more information about what I have and what I want to do https://www.reddit.com/r/Bowyer/comments/j0tq9y/first_time_making_bows_i_have_2_black_locust/.
Do you guys know anything about Monacan bows? If not where I could go to find out more info? Anything helps, Thanks.

[willie]

there is a rappahanock bow in Encyclopedia of Native American Bows, Arrows & Quivers by Steve Allely Vol 1

if you can not find the illustration, I could scan it tonight for you.

[dylanholderman]

I have the same book and can also post a picture of relevant pages if you have trouble willie.

[bradsmith2010]

I looked at the Rappahanock bow,, its about 40 inches long,, slightly narrowed handle,, it would be a nice design for hickory,,I think a 50 inch bow might be a bit easier to shoot,, but I can shoot a 40 inch bow pretty good too,,

[willie]

for a first bow, keeping it long helps. Do you shoot already or know what draw length you like intend to shoot?

Since so many of the eastern woodlands bows are similar in many ways. you could just about build in any length the staves allow. the first bow in the book is a powhatan at 68.5" collected in 1665

[Woody roberts]

I’m not an experienced bowyer. Just finished bow #9. My advice would be to buy a couple decent red oak boards as practice bows. I’m slow and dumb so bow #5 turned out ok. 6 was better. 7 better yet. There is a learning curve.

[dylanholderman]

agreed, longer is better for a first bow particularly with a compression sensitive wood.

i have plans to do a rough copy of one of the Powhatan as i think they look quite elegant in a understated way.
i also went looking on the Monacan tribes website once i got off work and it says they traded with the Powhatan and the Iroquois so making a bow based on those designs wouldn't be out of place.

[bradsmith2010]

,, I dont find the shorter bows harder to make,,
could I suggest making one of each and see what you think,, a long one, and short one,,

[George Tsoukalas]

Wanting to make a replica is very laudable.
I'm thinking learning how to make bows first is prudent.
MY site has info.
http://traditionalarchery101.com
Jawge

[bownarra]

Get the Traditional Bowyers Bible series of ooks. Learn what tiller logic is. Then make a few board bows first. The pyramid is the 'best' design for a first bow. Make it 68". Then start to experiemnt with different width profiles.
Once you have a few bows under your belt then have a go at your BL staves.

[Teal_Seal]

Sorry for the late reply everyone, and wow thanks for all the good info and advice.

[Teal_Seal]

there is a rappahanock bow in Encyclopedia of Native American Bows, Arrows & Quivers by Steve Allely Vol 1

if you can not find the illustration, I could scan it tonight for you.

I can't seem to find it, could you send that over?

[Teal_Seal]

for a first bow, keeping it long helps. Do you shoot already or know what draw length you like intend to shoot?

Since so many of the eastern woodlands bows are similar in many ways. you could just about build in any length the staves allow. the first bow in the book is a powhatan at 68.5" collected in 1665

I do already shoot a little bit. my draw length is 28in. I definitely plan on making a longer bow, maybe even 70+inches.

[willie]

one rule of thumb is to make a bow man height for a full draw length. this usually works out to about 2.25 times your draw length for the bow length. the powhatan bows on P16, the first bows in the book, are somewhat rounded in cross-section, while many Eastern Woodlands bows were quite rectangular. a more rectangular cross section will yield a higher poundage bow, all other things being equal.

these scans are reduced in quality to meet the size limit of this forum. the originals are show better detail. If you PM your email, I can send the higher resolution copies.

[Teal_Seal]

one rule of thumb is to make a bow man height for a full draw length. this usually works out to about 2.25 times your draw length for the bow length. the powhatan bows on P16, the first bows in the book, are somewhat rounded in cross-section, while many Eastern Woodlands bows were quite rectangular. a more rectangular cross section will yield a higher poundage bow, all other things being equal.

these scans are reduced in quality to meet the size limit of this forum. the originals are show better detail. If you PM your email, I can send the higher resolution copies.

I think this will work just fine for me, Thank you!