Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: Marc St Louis on October 31, 2014, 11:34:09 am
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A guy recently asked me to make him a bow that would have been used by the natives of his area, he requested that I use Elm. There were a few NDN that inhabited his area, I chose to make him a Delaware replica. I found an Elm stave I had cut probably some 20 years ago tucked away in the attic of my house, it came from a small diameter tree. It had dried with quite a bit of reflex, which amounted to about 3" by the time I cut it down to length. I figured that with his 29.5" draw I would need to make the bow a bit longer than the museum bow I was copying, I chose 65". After roughing it out and floor tillering I did a bit of heat-treating. It had enough reflex so I didn't bother adding any but by the time I straightened the one end to match the other, it had some deflex near one end, it ended up with about 5". I could tell from tillering that this wood was good, it hardly lost any reflex and ended up keeping nearly 2" by the time I finished the bow. The bow is 65" long and just over 1 1/4" wide with a finished draw weight of just under 50# @ his draw length. He also wanted some target arrows, a couple stone tipped arrows and a quiver. I have the bow drawn to 30" in the full draw Here's a few pics
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v355/Marc-St-Louis/Native%20Style%20Bows/Lenape%20Bow/Braced-1.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v355/Marc-St-Louis/Native%20Style%20Bows/Lenape%20Bow/TopandBottomNock.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v355/Marc-St-Louis/Native%20Style%20Bows/Lenape%20Bow/FullDraw.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v355/Marc-St-Louis/Native%20Style%20Bows/Lenape%20Bow/LenapeArcheryKit.jpg)
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Came out great, Marc! Jawge
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Simply elegant and elegant in it's simplicity. Thank you for sharing as I am working very hard to take the "complexity" out of my bows. Fighting my brain is an uphill battle on that subject I spose.
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Your customer should be delighted with this bow Marc. Very nicely done.....highly effective simplicity.
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Looks real good, Marc. It should sling an arrow or two.
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that is a very nice set he should be glad to have it.
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Nice and simple. Cool
Bow.
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Thanks guys
I don't have a 30" draw but it shoot quite well at my draw length. There's no finish on the bow as he wants to do some artwork on it
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Nice looking bow Marc, excellent tiller.
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I love the bend. Is the full-draw picture from before you tapered the nock tips?
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NICE!
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Looks great!gotta love elm!
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Thanks guys
The full draw was before I finished the nocks
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Pretty amazing how much reflex that bow retained, for a long draw like that. Bet she really zips an arrow. Have you ever noticed a difference between reflex induced with heat and reflex picked up in the drying process?
Gabe
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Woo, great tiller.
I'd like to know how far that would throw a 30" flight arrow!
Del
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Thanks guys
Gabe: Heat-treated reflex stays in the bow more so than dried reflex
Del: I made a long draw D bow years ago, it had recurves, thinking it would launch a flight arrow farther, not so.
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Beautiful tiller
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Nice bow Marc! If you don't mind me asking, what museum bow did you base it on? The Lenape lived in my area too and I'm interested in learning more about their archey equipment. Thanks!
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Marc, if that stave was 20 years old, do you do anything to prevent bugs? I live in Utah and work mostly slippery elm and Siberian elm saplings, when I do elm. Even when I dry staves very dry and fast by roughing them out, and sometimes even after I have heat-treated, I get these TINY borers of some type that eat the staves either under the bark or even between growth rings. I would thing heat treating would kill any larvae or eggs, but it happens a lot if I leave wod int he garage too long. first I know I am finishing front profile or somethign and I start to see powdered wood fluffing out. Or, I have even had a sudden "delamination" between summer wood rings, only to see little squiggles all over the separated surfaces.
I can usually cut elm, hack it out and finish in few weeks including drying, but sometimes I want to cut wood in fall for the winter. But I'd rather not have to work wood coated with pesticides. Ideas?
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Thanks guys
I don't have my book in front of me right now Adam but I believe it is the Museum of Natural History.
Sadly I've lost more than one Elm to bugs, usually the Powder Post Beetle. I find that if the wood is stored inside a shed or, as in this case, an attic then the wood is pretty well safe. The problem though is that these Beetles have a long incubation period and if the adult lays eggs on the wood before you have it stored indoors or even before you get your hands on it then the wood is toast. Also if you have contaminated wood then when the larvae hatches it immediately start the whole process all over again and you can have an infestation. In any case I've never had any bug problems with wood stored in the attic....yet.
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Man Marc that tiller is sooo sweet. When my tiller grows up I want it to be just like yours. Danny
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Slick and snappy 8)
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Excellent work Marc. I love that style of bow, made one myself a few years back like that only mine didn't have that spot on tiller that you got out of yours. The full draw and resting profiles on your example are
just perfect, well done.
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Thank you all