Primitive Archer

Congratulations, Pat!

Eric, I'm a little jealous about all that deer fat, though I want it for leather dressing and bow varnish, not patches.  The last couple deer I killed haven't had enough fat on them to grease a toothpick!

It's been a pretty good day around here.  Woke up early, walked over to my school, and got in a good practice session on the horn before the ladies woke up.  Then put a pork shoulder in the smoker and took them out to try the new cinnamon roll place (highly recommended if you're ever in Lander, Wyo).  Finished putting a new arrow pass and handle wrap on my snakey bow, then headed up to the canyon to cut some shoots--I have a friend making me some hand forged (hopefully Damascus) trade points, and I thought it was time to try my hand at shoot arrows again. 

Then I took a nap, went for a walk with Mrs. Badger, and helped one of my adult students fix her broken flute.  Turns out she and her hubby are elk hunters too, so we stood around way too long and told stories.  Shot a few arrows in the back yard, and the bow is a lot quieter with the leather arrow pass than it was with the hoof one.  Also learned how to tie on a nock point.

Now I'm just taking it easy, pondering whether to order some new fish for my aquarium (stupid question--of course I will!), and waiting for that pork shoulder to get past the stall so we can chow down.

Mrs. Badger has been really suffering with her health.  She caught whooping cough way back in October, and never really got over it. We have a pulmonologist appointment in a couple weeks; hopefully the lung damage isn't permanent.  Those of you who are believers, please keep her in your prayers.  She's an outdoorsy, active gal by nature, and it hurts me to see her stuck to an oxygen machine.

I added too many details, 95% of the guys shooting B/P guns just buy a gun, some powder and balls and start shooting them, they don't have clue about barrel rifling and such because it is not that important to the average shooter.

Being a gun builder I need to know the fine details but but everyone else in the sport, not so much.

I drew plan for my latest build that I just started, it will be a cherry stocked Haines rifle, my favorite design to date. This one will be a very slender .50 cal.

 

OK, I've done been overwhelmed.  I guess if I draw a bison tag I'll just borrow my dad's .338.  Or make a much heavier longbow.

Great looking bow. I think you nailed the tiller, and wouldn’t change a thing. Impressive speed confirms it. I bet it’s a smooth shooter.

Thank you all! I appreciate the encouragement and support

In his video Gary Davis says "native americans didn't go hungry when they didn't have any osage". Neither did stoneage Europeans when they didn't have yew.

Very nice bow in all aspects. Including speed.

h well I completely forgot to say what the inspiration for the bow was. I  gave a bow to a mate last month (eastern woodlands) and he was asking what bows were likely used in the Bronze Age and Neolithic settlements near him in Cornwall. All the bows from that period in Europe that I know of are yew apart from the Scandinavia ones. I’ve got the feeling (with no evidence) that the yew bows just survive better in the ground and that all sorts of woods would have been used. Yew isn’t that common a tree and I can’t imagine it being used to make the kids and youth bows. So I set about making something that felt kinda prehistoric and might have used by those Neolithic /BA people
   

Quote from: jameswoodmot on March 06, 2026, 10:35:53 am

I’ve heard mixed things about Hazel from it being a very good bow wood to “passable at best” . I had a couple of shots with one of Del the cat’s hazel bows and it definitely wasn’t “passable”!

There is a lot of it around but it’s surprisingly hard to find a piece that isn’t corkscrewed and large enough to use. I found a very clean and straight stave about 2 1/2” diameter at the base on a walk and brought it home.

I underestimated how thick it needed to be so over thinned and narrowed a bit before heat treating and tillering and it only came out at about 29lbs. I took 3/4” off of each tip and it’s up to 31 at 28” and holding an inch of reflex after shooting. Getting 160-163fps 10gpp.
I had planned for it to have a bit of bend in the handle but as I took the limbs down too much it’s stiff though the middle. I’ve got the other half of the stave though so I’m now set to go with that.
Took the heat really well and was very soft to work with.

A little bit of leather stain, an arrow test and handle wrap.

65” total length
31@28”
162fps 10gpp

Let me know any improvement you can see in the tiller. It had a bit of deflexed in both mid limbs but it then also took a bit of set there, I think I could get the inners and outlets bending a bit more?

I happen to own one of Del's hazel flatbows. He left the bark on the stave all the way to the bitter end. With the natural white wood and the color of the bark, it simply reminds me of a nice floury baked potato. And if you know my deep and abiding love of carbohydrates you will recognize that is a compliment of high order.
 
That cute little wide limbed bow is snappy and has a very sweet draw. Honestly, I'd love to go back 45 years and plant a nice thick row of hazel, come back 10 years later to coppice it, and now go and harvest some nice pieces for bowmaking! Hazel is a wonderful wood and is used in so many wonderful tradition crafts in Britain, no sense ignoring it when bowmaking time comes.

Well you luck so and so!I tried to do the same with this bow but it cracked and started to come off in some areas. I wonder if it’s because I dried it fast?

As it happens my partner and I are going through the house buying process now and we will have enough land for a small area of coppice. It’s in an area that hazel and wych elm both grow readily so it’s one of the first things we will be doing!