I made my last West Coast Indian bow back in 2000, and decided it was time for another. With a self-imposed aversion to glues and sticky mess, and an affinity towards unyielding osage, I decided make an unbacked bow rather than a sinew backed bow, as were perhaps the majority of West Coast bows. I perused the Bowyer's Bibles for ideas, and came up with what seems to best fit the Modoc style. I came up with my own painted design, loosely based on geometric shapes from similar bows. "Warrior", as I named it, is 50" long, with a semi-bending handle and pyramid shaped limbs, and draws 65# @ my 25" draw. The 1-13/16" wide limbs took just over an inch of set. I finished this bow at the end of last month, put it through its paces at the Eastern Traditional Archery Rendezvous, and have been shooting in the weeks since. Being so short, the draw weight stacks in the last couple of inches, but I quickly grew used to that, as if it were a built in draw stop.
Due to the wide handle, I kept the string slightly off center so that it would more closely mimic the shooting manners of my rigid handled bows. It has in fact, and I've been pleasantly surprised with the accuracy that I'm getting out of it. So much so, that I'm considering making it my go-to hunting bow this fall.
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