Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: marcelslot on April 15, 2015, 05:27:38 pm
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Hi all,
Last weekend I finalized a bow for my 14 yo daughter. She's a real big fan of the movie series "The Hunger Games", in which the main character uses a series of different bows.
The bow I made for her is the first one that appears in the movie series, and from the resources I found, the bow turned out to be a fairly exact replica.
The bow is made from a yew tree branch, most of it being sapwood, seasoned over a 4 month period.
It is 56" long, initially hade a nice natural reflex in it, and turned out to be 50 pounds after I made it.. However, alas, this is way too heav for my daughter, and I brought the weight down all the way to 30 pounds now at 28". A draw length that she will not reach anyway, so at her draw length it's perfect now for her. She really enjoys it, although I still feel kind of bad about having to lower the poundage of this little shooter ...
I stained the almost white yew bow wood with ironacetate made from vinegar and steelwool. First I added tannin to the wood with strong tea.... then the ironacetate.. and this really worked like a charm. Lot of info on the web on staining wood this way.. but it was my first try. I finished the bow with 3 coats of Danish oil.
The bow's tiller came out just fine, and although I am used to shooting heavier bows, I must say it was great fun shooting it myself over the past few days. No handshock, fast and accurate.. given it's size and poundage.
The staining technique is something I will definitely try out more often, and I can highly recommend it to you to try this out somethime if you'd like to make a darker coloured bow from lighter coloured wood.
I am posting some pictures, just to share the result. It was a real fun project.
Let me know what you think?
Be well, Marcel
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Looks very nice and the finish is great. Its a lovely gift for your daughter. :)
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Looks great! But there's just two things missing from this post. The money shot and a big ol' smile from the new Katniss.
Kyle
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Haha.. well... you have a point there... Will have to wait for her shooting the apple from the pig's mouth... Have an apple.. short of a pig ;)
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Looks great! But there's just two things missing from this post. The money shot and a big ol' smile from the new Katniss.
Kyle
Here's 2 pictures of my 'Katniss' trying out the bow before the finish was put on... Notice how light the colour of the yew wood was there compared to the final d. brown colour.
But, result of this trial: bow approved ;)
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Sweet bow I like the stain job. I bet she is one happy camper.
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I haven't seen the Hunger Games but it seems to have gotten a lot of kids interested in archery which is great. That bow looks real nice and your daughter has a smile that says she is very pleased with dad's work.
Nicely done. :)
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And when she turned and smiled, being "Daddy" suddenly was the best paying gig in the universe.
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Awesome! Good job dad good job!
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Yes! that is so cool.
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Very nice bow. John Scifres made the Catniss bow. It was made out of osage. Your bow is close but John's bow had the last 10" of the tips narrowed down like a holegaard bow to 1/4 " or less.
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You're exactly right. I found the reference to the bow made by John. He made the actual bows used in the movie. He organised an auction I believe online to sell an exact copy of it with the earnings going to a good cause, right?
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Would you mind posting some of the resources you found? I'm having a hard time finding anything about the bow. I got a cousin that's real into that as well.
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Have a look on this thread for more info on the bow made for and used in the movie:
http://auction1.tradgang.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=164;t=000009