Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => HowTo's and Build-a-longs => Topic started by: THoward on September 08, 2012, 01:54:43 am
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I have been working a vine maple stave into a short 44" horse bow. I have it down to target draw weight, short string and tiller. A few minor adjustments to come. I was going to make a functional wall hanger then a co-worker who rides horsed asked about horse archery. I told her I'd give it to her and she was stoked. I plan on finishing the tiller, draw length 21", weight to 30ish pounds, staining it with black cherries, black berries and some red dirt I found near Reno. I'll use horse hair from her favorite horse to top it off. Here are a few pics unstrung. It has a nice shape after several trips with the steam and bench vises. More pics to come. T
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That's way cool!! You should post in the bow section when done, or now.
Tattoo Dave
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Here are few pics of the bow with the short string and on the tiller stick. A little stiff near handle. I'll take care of that before moving on.
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Just catching up. Up at 5:30am. Applied blackberry over dirt stain on arrows and bow. It turned out to be a nice reddish salmon color. Should look nice with tru oil over the top. Will try to get most of it done by Saturday before I take off to go elk hunting. Hope a little of Gordon's luck rubs off.
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don't we all and thats a very nice bow. I want one too but I think thats going to be one I do next year when I got more time and space.
good luck.
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A few more pics. Working the grip time. The bow has 6 coats of tru oil. Contact cement to build up the grip with layers of leather. I work it down carefully with a razor knife. Did I say carefully. I tried a Dremel once but the leather dust was nasty. Next I wrapped it with 80lb. braided fishing line. Note the wood arrow rest. The grip wrap and arrow rest (a whittled down golf tee) are both John Strunk tricks of the trade. I'll be out of touch of a while because I am off to chase elk on a solo hunt. I'll post grip pics soon. After that all that's left is to serve the string and fletch the arrows. Maybe during the week I am back. I hope you enjoy the pics.
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looking good cant wait to see it finished. good luck on your elk hunt
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When I'm on a solo hunt I take projects, like this one, to pass the time while at camp or not hunting...
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oh man that looks Awesome!! i hope you do well on your hunt.
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I'm back. I couldn't convince an elk to take a ride in my truck. Had fun on my 6 day solo hunt and saw a handful of elk. I left off at the grip wrapped in fishing line. Since then I finished off the grip, added the string serving, arrows and horse hair topper. I'll sign, name and put on the details tonight. I have pics. See below.
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Oops! here are the rest. The pic down the limb shows the color off well from the dirt and blackberry skins. I like the color and will experiment again with natural dyes. The only problem I came across was poor fletching adhesion on the dirt/juice portion of the arrows. A little Native American super glue helped solve that problem. This time.
Just to wrap up the bow is vine maple, 44" ntn, 30lbs at 21" and the arrows hand planed cedar on a John Strunk arrow plane. She did not want turkey feathers so I went with black and white.
Thanks for taking a look, comments and feedback.
Todd
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Awesome work! My son and I need to get to work on ours!
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I like it!
And I really like VM.
My favorite bow wood for sure.
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Sharp looking bow.
Rob
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Nicely done - great lookin' bow & arrows. Bob
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Sweet! ;D
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Todd where have you been. Just saw this post and I'm very impressed with that bow. Nice work Bro. I want to see that in person. Congratulations
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Sweet looking bow and great arrows. You should be real proud of those.....
Dave H.