native bows

[Mountain man]

how did the natives build bows with stone tools? did they use a sharp piece of flint? I understand they made very good bows with only stone tools, and they didn't have a tape measure or a bow scale or anything. This is my First post and I have learned a lot, great site you guys got here.

[Blacktail]

yeah,stone tools was the only way too go...sure,flint,obsidian,jasper,agate,chert,basalt any sharp stone...even sand stone for smoothing it down...measuring tape..i would say no...i think it was just one of those thing where its just passed down through hundreds maybe thousands of years...if you look at the bowyers bible 4..and see Steve's drawings of ishi gear...and get a measuring tape and measure the nocks,shoulders of nocks,limb width,and so on...he was only an 1/16 to 1/8 off our perfect measuring system now...and he did it all by eye...its just what i think and i might be wrong...thanks for coming on to the site...john

[Peacebow_Coos]

A peice of string, folded in half is a good way to find center.  Also, the craftsmen of the Natives of Northern California and Southern Oregon were/are very skilled craftsmen. Like blacktail said, obsidian or flint, a sharp rock preferrably with a handle attatched (an adze) for a lot of wood removal.

[crooketarrow]

    Most tribes had bowyers just like now some people are better with there hands than others. Most bow builders had special scrapers they used only on bows and solf sand stone for sanding. They just went a lot slower to make a bow a plus when building bows. They just used a peice of sinew or some made string to find center. For arrows lenth most used from under there arm pit to longest finger. For spine they just knew by looking what was close and scraped and sanded it untill it shot from that bow. They were a lot more closer to the wood they hunted and the bows they built than we are today. Where you can take a band saw and cut and finish a bow in a day.

[Grunt]

I'm pretty sure that most of the bows that were built with stone tools were sapling or branch bows. Cutting a 3-4 inch sapling or branch with stone tools can be done in a reasonable amount of time.

[George Tsoukalas]

I've done it and others on here have to....more than I have. Saplings worked while green and allowed to dry are easy to work. Flint ax got the tree down.  Antler tines to split it. I used chips of fieldstone to work it.. I used the shadow of the bow to tiller. Back in the day they'd have each other to tiller with. Drawing and critiquing tiller as they proceeded. I much prefer iron tools. LOL. But it really isn't that hard using stone. Jawge

[Buckeye Guy]

My arms stretched out thumb tip to thumb tip = 68" bow length
From chest to tip of fingers with hands together = 28 "  arrow length
length of index finger form tip to first knuckle = dist to string nock
Width of tip same as finger tip
Width at fades 1 5/8 same as distance of middle finger across first two knuckles of middle finger
I'm sure you get the Idea , some of us where created to build bows

[Mountain man]

thanks for all the information.