Primitive Archer

Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: YewArcher on November 18, 2008, 06:01:51 pm

Title: 5 Curve, Cupid bow, ash-sinew-cherrybark
Post by: YewArcher on November 18, 2008, 06:01:51 pm
Here is an Ash “Cupid” style bow. This is also sometimes called a “5 curve bow”. Either way it sure is a nice sleek look! Like a Plains Bow with recurved tips. It is important to note that the Plains natives did not recurve there tips that I know of. This is more of a modern bow but has the look of a lot of ancient bows put together. Its really nice to shoot with little stack due to the tips.

Ash/Cherry bark/ Sinew

48” nock to nock

50#@25”

Here is the back:
(http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d114/yewarcher/cupid%20bow/039-2008-ashcupid-back.jpg)

Belly:

(http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d114/yewarcher/cupid%20bow/039-2008-ashcupid-belly.jpg)

Unstrung profile:

(http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d114/yewarcher/cupid%20bow/039-2008-ashcupid-unbraced.jpg)

Here is the braced profile. In this and in the full draw you will notice that the bottom limb is stiff. This has been a very intentional design I have been ding lately on my short sinew bows. The bottom limb holds up much better over time. Its just a  slight stiffness you are looking for.



(http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d114/yewarcher/cupid%20bow/039-2008-ashcupid-braced.jpg)

Tips. Laquered black:
(http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d114/yewarcher/cupid%20bow/039-2008-ashcupid-tip1.jpg)

(http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d114/yewarcher/cupid%20bow/039-2008-ashcupid-tip3.jpg)

Grip:

(http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d114/yewarcher/cupid%20bow/039-2008-ashcupid-grip.jpg)

(http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d114/yewarcher/cupid%20bow/039-2008-ashcupid-grip2.jpg)

Here is the full draw. Again note the lower stiff limb.

(http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d114/yewarcher/cupid%20bow/039-2008-ashcupid-fulldraw.jpg)


Overall a great design. This is the first of many I have planned.

Thanks for looking,

Steve
Title: Re: 5 Curve, Cupid bow, ash-sinew-cherrybark
Post by: redwasp on November 18, 2008, 06:17:37 pm
wow nice bow, I love the look of that . keep em coming
Title: Re: 5 Curve, Cupid bow, ash-sinew-cherrybark
Post by: JackCrafty on November 18, 2008, 06:22:12 pm
Dang!  You're a one-man bow factory. ;D
Title: Re: 5 Curve, Cupid bow, ash-sinew-cherrybark
Post by: Cool-Aid on November 18, 2008, 06:27:05 pm
Very cool looking bow! How accurate can these sorts of bows be ???
Title: Re: 5 Curve, Cupid bow, ash-sinew-cherrybark
Post by: GraemeK on November 18, 2008, 06:47:02 pm
Great looking Bow -
Did you have much trouble bending the end of the limb that sharply ?
Graeme
Title: Re: 5 Curve, Cupid bow, ash-sinew-cherrybark
Post by: David Long on November 18, 2008, 07:05:27 pm
Very cool Steve. I have the same question as Graeme. Looks like 90 degree bends in radius of maybe 3 inches? Dry heat?
Dave
Title: Re: 5 Curve, Cupid bow, ash-sinew-cherrybark
Post by: DanaM on November 18, 2008, 07:10:03 pm
Awesome bow Steve, I love your bows but I have to wonder if you have a real job ::) ;) :)
Title: Re: 5 Curve, Cupid bow, ash-sinew-cherrybark
Post by: Dane on November 18, 2008, 07:51:26 pm
Steve, admit it now, you plunder museums and pass these off as your own.

Fantastic work, and very inspirational.

Dane
Title: Re: 5 Curve, Cupid bow, ash-sinew-cherrybark
Post by: YewArcher on November 18, 2008, 10:06:02 pm
Dane, LOL.......

Dana, I am a Design Architect by profession.

David and Graeme, I boil my tips. I did a short how to a few months back. I will bring it to the top of the list for you guys. Its called "how I do Recurves"

jack, you aint kidding. I make bows like a mad man! I love it. I will die in a hospital bed one day whilst rasping a bow much to my doctors dismay  :o

Steve
Title: Re: 5 Curve, Cupid bow, ash-sinew-cherrybark
Post by: YewArcher on November 18, 2008, 10:13:23 pm
I forgot about Cool-Aids question.

real acurate. they just take more time and dedication to master.

Steve
Title: Re: 5 Curve, Cupid bow, ash-sinew-cherrybark
Post by: Keenan on November 18, 2008, 10:45:15 pm
 Steve, you are continually raising the bar on this site with the quality and complexity of the bows that you are building. Great job and oustanding bow. Congratulations.    Keenan
Title: Re: 5 Curve, Cupid bow, ash-sinew-cherrybark
Post by: Pappy on November 19, 2008, 05:39:30 am
Very nice bow,I love it. :)
   Pappy
Title: Re: 5 Curve, Cupid bow, ash-sinew-cherrybark
Post by: Ryano on November 19, 2008, 10:26:30 am
Whoo-ee you got that thing bending.  :o
I can't beleive you can get ash to take a bend like that with out fretting. It must be the sinew, thats all I can say.
Nice bow Steve. You da man.  :)
Title: Re: 5 Curve, Cupid bow, ash-sinew-cherrybark
Post by: Hillbilly on November 19, 2008, 10:34:25 am
Another great looking weapon, you da man.  8)
Title: Re: 5 Curve, Cupid bow, ash-sinew-cherrybark
Post by: cowboy on November 19, 2008, 10:43:39 am
Awesome bow Steve! Inspirational work of art :).
Title: Re: 5 Curve, Cupid bow, ash-sinew-cherrybark
Post by: OldBow on November 19, 2008, 12:09:16 pm
What a fine bow. Looks like the recurves are working not static.
Great pictures....but I wish you could take your full draw pictures closer up >:D
Title: Re: 5 Curve, Cupid bow, ash-sinew-cherrybark
Post by: a finnish native on November 19, 2008, 01:26:56 pm
This is one nice bow.
From what I have heard/read the plains indians did use this desingn. not all of them of course but a few tribes. For example the Nez-Perce and the Spokane tribes ahd some bows of this design. The nez-perce had a special bow of this design that was made from the horn of mountainsheep and backed with sinew. But for example the Spokane (soshone is also mentioned in the text) had these types of bows made from wood and backed with sinew. One of these is featured in a paint portrait of a Spokane chief painted by Paul Kane in 1847. The chief was called Tum-se-ne-ho, In english The Man Without Blood.
Title: Re: 5 Curve, Cupid bow, ash-sinew-cherrybark
Post by: Ranger B on November 19, 2008, 01:43:50 pm
Nice bow...that is some incredible bending. 
Title: Re: 5 Curve, Cupid bow, ash-sinew-cherrybark
Post by: YewArcher on November 19, 2008, 03:05:22 pm
Thanks for all the kind words guys. She sure is a nice bow.

Finnish. The devil is in the details. They did use bows similar to these espically the nez-perce........except no recurves.

Steve
Title: Re: 5 Curve, Cupid bow, ash-sinew-cherrybark
Post by: a finnish native on November 19, 2008, 03:18:28 pm
I was talking about gull winged bows WITH recurves. or 5 curve bows if you will.
The recurves on your bow are quite dramatic. so maybe the recurves were not as dramatic, but they were there in some bows.
Title: Re: 5 Curve, Cupid bow, ash-sinew-cherrybark
Post by: YewArcher on November 19, 2008, 03:38:14 pm
I have not seen one. I certainly would like to but have not. The Nez-perce sheep bows had a very mild reflex at the tips not recurves same with the elk antler bows. That is not to say that none existed its just that I have not seen them or heard of them and there is a whole lot I have not seen yet.

 Are you sure that you are not thinking of a mild reflex and not a recurve?

Steve
Title: Re: 5 Curve, Cupid bow, ash-sinew-cherrybark
Post by: Bowbound on November 19, 2008, 05:48:49 pm
Very  nice, cherry bark as well. Looks very quick.
Title: Re: 5 Curve, Cupid bow, ash-sinew-cherrybark
Post by: JackCrafty on November 19, 2008, 06:04:15 pm
Nez Perce horn bow, 97cm (38-1/8") long.  Recurved tips.


[attachment deleted by admin]
Title: Re: 5 Curve, Cupid bow, ash-sinew-cherrybark
Post by: JackCrafty on November 19, 2008, 06:16:10 pm
Also see link:

---http://books.google.com/books?id=vhITAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA24&lpg=PA24&dq=nez+perce+bow&source=bl&ots=t826jywS95&sig=sj1RweO-tnbfC8uYSmmXwcBxliQ&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=4&ct=result

Title: Re: 5 Curve, Cupid bow, ash-sinew-cherrybark
Post by: YewArcher on November 19, 2008, 07:30:42 pm
Yes, those are the mild reflex tips I was speaking of. Those are not recurve.

Steve
Title: Re: 5 Curve, Cupid bow, ash-sinew-cherrybark
Post by: a finnish native on November 19, 2008, 07:57:10 pm
I myself had only heard descriptions of the Nez-Perce bows, so I would not by that picture call them recurved, but at least the portrait of the Spokane cheif painted by paul kane in 1847 features clear recurves in a gull winged bow that would be classified as recurves even today. The cheif is holding a bow of this type in his hand and has another in his quiver that would show more of reflexed tips. I have also read about a Spanish man called Cabeza de Vaca who travelled in the southern plains in the 1530's. He described some bows to be simillar to the turkish bows by profile. This would indicate that some bows had recurves while being gull winged. He also described sinew backed bows and selfbows. Hornbows were also mentioned.
Title: Re: 5 Curve, Cupid bow, ash-sinew-cherrybark
Post by: akila on November 20, 2008, 08:56:03 am
Incredibile job.....its amaizing......and u didnt get no frets on that ash wood??????gr8 job.
Title: Re: 5 Curve, Cupid bow, ash-sinew-cherrybark
Post by: YewArcher on November 20, 2008, 09:53:45 am
Reflexed tips yes.......recurved I cannot be so sure about. First is that I do not beleive that a sheep horn bow would hold a recurve without belly support. Second on tha antler bows......it woyuld have been very very hard for them to recurve the antlers in a way that is a true recurve. A lot of people consider recurves in a lot of ways. We should keep the convesrtasion to the context of recurve style of the bow that I posted and that style I think we can be sure did not exist becuse I do not think ther is any evidence. That is whay I made the remark in the original post.....so that people would not confue this with an authentic design. That is very important to me.

Akila, I have made quite a few ash bows. everything from short sinew backed bws to ELB style to long static recurves. I never have a fret problem with it.

Steve
Title: Re: 5 Curve, Cupid bow, ash-sinew-cherrybark
Post by: a finnish native on November 20, 2008, 10:04:36 am
I did not mean that sheephornbows or antlerbows would have had recurves. I thought so at first by reading some descriptions, but after seeing some pictures I would have to say that I would not hold them as recurved bows. But I still do believe that sinew backed wooden bows had recurves while being gull winged. My evidence is in my earlier posts. The Spokane bow was not made from horn, but from wood. So were the bows described by the Sanish man Cabeza de Vaca.
Just trying to say my sight to this matter. nothing else.
Title: Re: 5 Curve, Cupid bow, ash-sinew-cherrybark
Post by: Blacktail on November 20, 2008, 11:22:45 pm
WOW STEVE.that is one sweet bow.you work is great...i think you should move out to oregon....ohhh i hear a yew tree calling your name...LOL..great job.john
Title: Re: 5 Curve, Cupid bow, ash-sinew-cherrybark
Post by: ricktrojanowski on November 21, 2008, 07:10:52 am
That is a beautiful bow.  Amazing work.