Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Horn Bows => Topic started by: loefflerchuck on November 19, 2014, 12:32:26 am
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Here is my latest bighorn bow. Made for someone who wanted a Mountain Shoshone style hornbow. The handle splice I used is a butt splice with a tung groove to fit into the other side much like a form of a v splice with a horn riser on the back and front. I tried to copy as best I could the only archaeological complete horn bow. Found in the Wind River mountain range. The bow now lives in the Pinedale WY museum. The handle riser on the back of the bow is 6" and 4" on the belly. The bending section of this bow is only 14". It is the first bighorn bow I have made with no rivets. Just glued and wrapped.
Bow stats-- 35" nock to nock. The tips are sinew hook nocks. The bow draws a little over 60 pounds at 19.5". The ratio of sinew to horn is between 1/3 and 1/2 from handle to tip. The bow is completed with a 3 ply sinew string. A brain tanned deer handle wrap, and porcupine quill wrap mid limb and on 1 tip.
I made 10 Shoshone style arrows for this bow. Out of about 150 dogwood shafts I found 10 of the narrowest but stiffest shafts. These shafts are grooved and heat treated a few times to make light arrows with a stiff enough spine to shoot perfectly from this bow. The points are all Rose Spring style replica obsidian. The arrows all weigh nearly the same. The arrows shoot very strait and have a cast of 170 yards. I wanted to make a perfectly matched set from the mid 1700s of the Shoshone of the Yellowstone/Windriver area.
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full draw
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quill work and points
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Dang, I'm always amazed by your work chuck. Beautiful doesn't begin to say it
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impressive
I just keep admiring all pictures over and over again
great great job
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Amazing, very nice, Chuck.
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Always enjoy seeing these bows, Chuck. I really like the quill work on that one.
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Real nice bow and arrows always like looking at your work.
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Very very cool Chuck
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Oh, now isn't that the cutest little Cupid bow?
Sure... if Cupid was hungry and wanted some elk chops!
Top shelf stuff, Chuck, as usual. I admire your work for the authenticity, the skill, the beauty, and the effectiveness. There is no denying you have a passion for this stuff.
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beautiful bow man, and a set of beautiful arrows to match. ;D I can't get over how short that is though, guess I'm just used to longer than usual bows since my draw length is 32" XD
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Looks awesome. I hope my skill is one day a fraction of yours!
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One word: Wow!
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Beautiful!
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Amazing piece(s) of work!
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Way cool Chuck. Looks like you have a time machine to me.
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holy smokes, everything about that bow is awesome!
thanks for sharing chuck, and finish your horn bow build on your site one of these days!
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Incredible! Your work is just incredible. I'm always fascinated what you are doing on that sheephorn bows.
I would like to see more detail pics, for example the tips. Is the horn bent sharp and sinew wrapped?
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another nice one chuck :)
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That's a beauty,very nice work for sure. :) :)
Pappy
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Thanks everybody. Simson, the tips are of sinew that extends past the horn and shaped to a hook. When it dries it is as strong as anything. I have only seen Miwok, Western Mono, and hornbows with these nocks
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Beautiful work Chuck! Any chance you have pics or drawings of how you did that handle splice and tip hooks? I am little dense and images help me understand.
Great work I really admire what you can do.
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ASTOUNDING! I like the authenticity. If you ever make a video of this shooting, be sure to post a link!
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Superb! Excellent!
Cheers, Deerslayer.
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Here is the handle splice. The first picture is the museum bow
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Very cool, thanks for sharing Chuck.
I'm sure I wouldn't be speaking just for myself in saying that we would love to see you do a build-a-long of one of your horn bows!
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Thanks for the splice pics that helps me understand.
Ditto what Falcon wrote.
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Congrats Chuck. You deserve the win. Keep em coming. Danny
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Congrats on BOM. Geat looking bow you made there.
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Always have loved those short big horn sheep bows! That is absolutely spectacular work right there!! Only thing missing now is a mountain lion quiver and bowcase. I'd love to have that bow to put in mine!! 😀
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Wow is right! :o ;D
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Here is the handle splice. The first picture is the museum bow
In which museums this type of bows are exhibited？
tell me more about the history and story of these sinew-horn bows without wood core pls.
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Lee, the handle I tried to match is in the Pinedale Wyoming museum. The tips of this bow have more recurve than the old bow but that happens to bighorns naturally.
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The bows are known to be made by the Mountain Shoshone also called the Sheepeater or Tukadika.Tukadika,actually means meat eater in the Numic language.They were called sheepeater,because their primary source of animal protein was from the mountain bighorn sheep,in which they drove and herded the animals into traps with the aid of their dogs.They made their bows out of the sheephorns and backed heavily with sinew.The Tukadika were a mountain people who did not acquire the horse and other trappings of the plains culture,as their other relatives,but relied mostly on the mountains for their survival.They were also known for their quailty brain tan buckskin and the hides and bows were a highly sought after trade item by others.the tukadika were thought of as a very spiritual and sacred people,by other shoshone people down in the plains and valleys.Early pioneers to the region described them as small almost pygmy type people who were generally friendly to those that did not show aggression toward them and described them as a poor people because of their lack of possessions,but i wonder if that was a misjudgment on the part of the observer.It is often said,that other bands traded the tukadika for the sheep horn bow and while that may have been true in the beginning,i cant believe that other people didnt develop and make the bows for themselves.
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Thanks for the History and insight. That is the first time I've heard that.
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No problem Eddie.
They were a fascinating people.Im very impressed by their resistance to modern technology.They used obsidian points and blades up until their disappearance from the area.That,is up to speculation as to how it happened.Some say they were removed after Yellowstone was made a National park and having them there,made the tourist nervous.An explorer and journalist,claims he interviewed the last of them,in an old woman taken in by the Crow.She claimed a small pox infected Tybo,came into their camp and infected them and caused her to be the last one.Im inclined to believe her story,but i guess well never really know.
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So awesome. I love that bow.