Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: PrimitiveTim on January 06, 2014, 08:04:06 pm
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This is my first character bow. I cut a limb off my neighbor's oak tree and put it up to season a while back. I only had a few seasoned staves and I didn't really feel like working on any of the others. I thought this would be a trash stave and it wouldn't make a bow. I knew there were a few small knots in it but I wasn't really sure how making a hole worked. I figured that out pretty quick when I pushed the little branch in and out it popped. That may have been the highlight of my day.
I heat treated the belly after I had it tillered and that gave it some weight and threw off the tiller. I was fine with that since it added some needed draw weight.
Sorry guys, I didn't take any measurements at all. What you see is what you get. Ain't no natives ever measured anything. >:D
Agave string tied to bottom limb
(https://scontent-a-iad.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/1503450_10151994692244865_63262881_n.jpg)
Hole in the wood
(https://scontent-a-iad.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn1/1503941_10151994693079865_741988314_n.jpg)
(https://scontent-a-iad.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-frc3/1471083_10151994692914865_278649390_n.jpg)
Side nock as usual.
(https://scontent-a-iad.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn2/1546178_10151994692344865_2063652478_n.jpg)
Braced
(https://scontent-a-iad.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/999940_10151994692339865_49657683_n.jpg)
unbraced
(https://scontent-a-iad.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn1/1601070_10151994692509865_1993874588_n.jpg)
Full draw
(https://scontent-b-iad.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-frc3/1506019_10151994692864865_188942675_n.jpg)
The tiller still seems a little bit off to me. I'm not really sure how to approach correcting it as I've already scraped and scraped at the areas I felt needed to lose some wood. Anyway, I'm excited to finally have made a bow that has holes in it. When I first got here a lot of character bows were being posted and I just thought, one day that will be me...
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I think that looks pretty good. Very abbo.
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Thats a cool piece of work there
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The bend in that bow looks pretty good to me :)
DBar
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I'm with the other fellas, don't see too much wrong with that bend at all. Of course I'm real partial to them 1/2 circles, eh?
rich
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Nice! Looks very primitave...Tim :)
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LOVE IT! im a non measuring man myself (most of the time). i feel like it gets in the way of enjoying the work. killer bow, love the knot and back of this sweet little number
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That's Awesome!
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Cool looking bow Tim. Like the texture on the back, it almost looks like bug damage. What kinda oak you have down there? I don't think that tillers bad at all, looks darn good to me actually. Hows it shoot?
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What species is that? Reminds me of live oak I've never come across a bow from it
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Live Oak was my guess as well.
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i aint neen around ..cept maybe a year..but that is the first oak stave bow i have seen ..all other oak bows have been red oak board bows...my hats off to ya!! well done..bet itll make some meat too!! good luck with her!
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Good looking bow Tim.
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Neat looking bow.
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Cool bow!
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Looks good the back is way cool.
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Loos good to me. Well done. Jawge
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Natives never took pics and posted them on the web either ;). Measurements help complete the picture. That aside, it does look good. I like how the drying checks formed down the limbs.
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Very cool bow Tim. The back looks real different, and I like different ;D
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<snip> Ain't no natives ever measured anything. >:D
<snip>
Nice Bow. It looks like a lot of fun too...
I gotta disagree with the above comment though. Ever heard of Machu Pichu? Native American astonomy? Seen the intricate bead work patterns? There are Aztec and Mayan masonry work that are still standing today WITH NO MORTAR. The Anastazi built some pretty danged complex irrigation systems. The roads used by the Cahokian people were engineering marvels for their time and location. I think the native people measured and engineered a lot of stuff. Just because we do not now know what they did or how does not mean that they did not do it. The feats of engineering they accomplished were simply NOT POSSIBLE without some intense math and measurement. I have no idea what or how they may have measured, but there is simply no chance that they did not.
OneBow
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Wow I'm overwhelmed with all the kind words. Thank you all so much. This forum is what helped me learn so much! I'm not sure we realize how valuable this forum is.
I love how it shoots. First time I shot it I noticed something weird. It was the total lack of noise. This thing is silent.
When I peeled the bark off that's just how the back of the bow looked. Didn't change at all while it seasoned. It's stained brown from all the tannin in the bark. When I peeled it the wood was white then a few minutes later it started turning brown like when you leave an apple out.
I'm not very good at identifying oaks but here's a shot of the tree and what the leaves look like. As far as I can tell it's either Quercus laurifolia: Diamond Leaf Oak which is of the red oak family or it's a Quercus virginiana: Southern Live Oak which is of the white oak family.
(https://scontent-a-iad.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn2/1483380_10151995962064865_934277820_n.jpg)
(https://scontent-b-iad.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-frc3/996076_10151996007744865_521773580_n.jpg)
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Looks like Southern Live Oak to me, which is supposed to be a really good bow wood (it's pretty much the densest oak in the states) if you can find a straight enough piece. Trunk and branches like to be twisty.
Nice bow!
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Nice bend and cool looking...What more is there to ask for ;)
Well done
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Funny thing is right when I tapped on this topic I was thinking about starting one to see if there were any live oak bows about, nice to see there are
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Funny thing is right when I tapped on this topic I was thinking about starting one to see if there were any live oak bows about, nice to see there are
this is the first piece I've worked with and I hadn't really heard much about it. I grabbed it when my neighbor was trimming his tree just cause it was free. I really didn't expect this stave to amount to anything. I'll definitely cut more this spring and summer.
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Cool, looks a lot like Australian Pine.
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Really nice bend on that piece of oak. Good work.
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Thanks guys! Ooh I'm going to have to cut me some casuarina!