Pawnee Plains bow questions and advice.

[Mafort]

So sometimes I make bows and arrows to sell (yes I used a forbidden word but bills gotta be paid) anyhow I’ve got a gentleman who wants a plains style bow built from Osage however he mentioned that the Pawnee built their bows with a thin band of white sapwood on the back of the bow. My question is how true is that? Most I can find is they backed their bows with sinew. Did they do a rawhide backing at all? Did they cover the sinew with a rawhide backing and maybe that’s what he thinks is sapwood? Seems most of his Information is from pictures of Pawnee warriors and tribesmen. Also he wants a 52” bow but a 55-60@25” draw length. Is that feasible without the backing? Also when I bring this up to him he’s probably going to want information and proof and I’d like to give that to him. He said he wanted authentic And I intend to give it to him.

[PatM]

Never seen evidence of that. The Pawnee bow I most frequently see mentioned is a larger heavy double curve unbacked Osage with no signs of sapwood.

 A 25 inch draw is feasible for a bow of that length with the whole bow working.

[Pat B]

We have no problem with folks selling bows, just not on this forum.

[bassman]

According to Jim Hamm  Pawnee bows were mostly Osage, and Heavily built. He mentions nothing about backing, but that is not written in stone.