Native American bow?'s

[whitewoodshunter]

That kind of bow would the eastern Native Americans used. I  imagine one would be long( no need for a short bow because they hunted on foot), made of hickory,ash,maple, or an oak.  Would this bow be backed or self bow? And what design would it be?

[onemississipp]

Try this link: http://books.google.com/books?id=ajkTAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover#PPA629,M1

There is a ton of free information if you look!

[Hillbilly]

The typical Eastern Woodlands bow was/is about 55"-72" long, a little over an inch wide with about 5/8"-1" wide diamond-shaped nocks. They bend through the handle, and were commonly made from black locust, hickory, elm, mulberry, ash, white oak, sassafras, or a variety of other woods. Most tribes who lived in the range of locust preferred it. There are many variations  on the basic theme-recurves, deflex-reflex, and stiff-handled wide-limbed flatbows, etc. Nine out of ten probably fit the first description, though.

[Pat B]

The Sudbury Bow is probably one of a few truly primitive Native American Eastern Woodland style in existence. It was taken from a Native back in the 1600s.   The style that Hillbilly spoke of is probably a more common Eastern Woodland style and a very effective yet simple weapon.     Pat

[orcbow]

I have a book called Encyclopedia of Native American Bows, Arrows, And Quivers, Volume I, which covers the Northeast U.S.
It's by Steve Alllely and Jim Hamm, 2 of the writers of the TBB's.
It is a book of scale drawings of bows which have been preserved in museums around the country, and some even made it to European museums. So these bows are post-contact, but probably still a good snap-shot into the archery traditions of the area.

The long,narrow,and straight bow mentioned by Hillbilly above is seen in the book over and over again. There are over 30 bows which fit that description, many of them made of hickory. It's interesting that many of the arrows are also made of split pieces of hickory.

Below is a bow that I made in this style. It's hickory, and I was very pleased with the results.

[sailordad]

pretty nice looking stick

is just me or is the draw a little short for the length of the bow

[whitewoodshunter]

I recently put the finishing touches to a bow that was similar to the " D"  style mentioned, only it was sinew backed.

[orcbow]

pretty nice looking stick

is just me or is the draw a little short for the length of the bow

No I don't think that's full draw. But I sold that bow and that's the only picture I have.
Here's some stats though: 65" long 1 1/4 wide in the middle, tapers to 1" for most of length, then  finishes at 3/4" wide at the tip.
thickness goes from 3/4" in the handle to 1/2" tips. 45# @ 29"
It was made from a peeled bark stave, which is a great time saver. That bow I used for my Indiana History Re-enactment days.

[Hillbilly]

I've made a couple of those, and they're surprisingly efficient weapons. Also pretty easy to make-I guess that's why they were the dominant bow type here for so long. They can also be made from small-diameter trees that it would be hard to get a good wide-limbed flatbow from. I've got a couple more in the works. Orcbow, I have the same book, it's a good source of ideas. One of the community bows we made a couple years ago was a semi-replica of the deflex/reflex slippery elm Cayuga bow pictured in the Encyclopedia.

[richpierce]

I'm with Hillbilly on this one.  Such a narrow straight design can be mostly made by splitting.  Seems they may have preferred ease of making and durability to speed and cast.

[Hillbilly]

Rich, those type bows don't sacrifice a lot of speed or cast-they aren't absolute speed demons, but are pretty darn efficient, I would compare them to a typical ELB shooting-wise.

[orcbow]

I think it's interesting how much Eastern Woodland bows are similar to English Longbows.

[Coo-wah-chobee]

I think it's interesting how much Eastern Woodland bows are similar to English Longbows.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       Ya mean " Its interestin' how much English longbows are similar to Eastern Woodland bows dont ya ?. ....bob

[Hillbilly]

 

[boze]

   Is this the type of bow that the settlers at Jamestown faced?