50" Stone Sheep Horn Bow

[ChristopherHwll]

Thank you joachimM!  Enjoy.  More to come as the build progresses.

[Aaron H]

Very cool, can't wait to see more from you

[loefflerchuck]

Looking good! What do you want your draw to be?  I have heard the opposite about dry heat drying the horn out more than boiling, and would be afraid to use grease before backing. I am looking forward to seeing this bow completed. Do you know how much the sinew weighed dry before backing?

[ChristopherHwll]

Thanks Aaron and Chuck! 
I have been a fan of your horn bow work on here Chuck.  Your an excellent bowyer sir, beautiful bows.

I am going to finish it out at around 50 pounds.  I will see how it feels at 50 and go from there.  I plan on hunting and competing with it.  I do not know exact sinew weight.  For these bows I have found it best to sinew to final ideal thickness, begin tillering aiming for just under your desired weight, once tillered a very light layer of sinew will be added to have a "pristine" back.  Backstrap works well for this or carefully worked leg sinew.  I read the same about dry heat awhile back too.  I experimented with soaking, boiling/simmering, and dry heat and much prefer the dry.  Very similar to the way I straighten my arrow shafts.  The horn will discolor if it gets too hot beginning as a honey golden color and progressing darker quickly.  My rule when heating is when the horn surface is just hot enough to be uncomfortable to touch but does not burn your finger it is ready to bend.  I never try to get all the bend at once.  I reheat again once in alignment to help the horn relax further, this has seemed to help prevent the majority of the horn returning some of its natural curl later.   I usually work in about six to eight inch sections toward the horn tips.  As far as using oil and grease, I always straighten the limb at a larger size and then once straightened remove material to the finished size so it has a fresh surface that has not been in direct contact with oil.  I degrease the "fresh" surface three times after scoring and I am ready for backing.

[loon]

Awesome, static recurves?

[ChristopherHwll]

Thank you loon.  Yes it has static recurves.

[loon]

Looks like the perfect no-wood horn bow

What are you using to tan the hides?

[LEGIONNAIRE]

this is so coooooool! bows look very clean.

[Redhand]

Very nice sir.  I can hardly wait to see how the bow turns out.

[ChristopherHwll]

Thank you for the compliments LEGIONNAIRE and Redhand.  I can't wait to shoot it!  Patience is my friend on this one.  Loon I brain tan my hides and then smoke them.  I use my osage shavings to make ash for de-hairing if I am making rawhide. Eggs work if you you can't get the brain from the animal, and if you prefer "something over the counter" the Trapper's Hide and Fur solution works excellent too. As far as tools I built a nifty burnt finished fleshing beam from an osage log that has an interchangable hide stretching post top.  It matches the shaving horse I built.  Here is a pic of each one.  I am a bladesmith as well so I hammer forge all of my own tools.  The draw knife that is on the shaving horse and in some of my bow rack pics posted above is one I made from a coil spring.

[wizardgoat]

Lookin good, I have 2 bighorn bows with sinew curing, about the same step as you, so I'm looking forward to seeing how you bend and tiller it. Check my build along out a few topics down and give me some pointers if you got any! How many horn bows have you made? I'd love to see some pics of a finished one. Cheers

[ChristopherHwll]

Thanks wizardgoat.  Your bows look great!  Some fine work there.  I just took a look at your horn bow post.  Looks great, the pre-tiller looked very nice.  As far as advice, what I have to say is optional, but I have found that it helps.  I like to wrap my handle splice with fine backstrap before I add the sinew backing.  It not only helps the pre-tiller, but it also prevents any unwanted pressures on the glued splice joints from the curing sinew shrinkage when you back it.  Kind of an insurance.  I doubt you will need much final tillering with this one if your sinew job was close to equal on both limbs.  I can't wait to see it at full draw! 
I have built a few horn bows each year for over 10 years so around 20 or so.  Sheep horn is hard to come by in my area.  I build more osage bows.  I harvest my own and have an excellent "stash".  I harvested an osage tree last year that was going to be chipped up to clear for a construction site.  I got 14 excellent limb logs over 6 feet in length. I will include a pic.  I had a buddy help me and he is sitting on the trunk. The first horn bows I built were more "testers" than anything as I was experimenting to learn as much as possible. I am still learning.  I have built the most out of bison horn as my family has a bison ranch so I come by bison horn, bone, sinew, and hide rather easily.  There is a way that I believe the Native Americans spliced bison horn without the need for wood core.  I am testing it now.  If it works then that will be my next horn bow post.  With sheep horn I started with domestic sheep such as mouflon as it was much cheaper to experiment with. I have worked with bison, elk antler, domestic and native sheep, water buffalo, and gemsbok horns.  I have taken notes on each horn/antler and method I used and now have my own "manual" if you will.  Toying with idea of writing a book one day.  Here is the osage, a very old tree with a great range of growth rings:

[Aaron H]

Very cool, great to have you a part of the PA community Christopher

[Parnell]

Wow! What a great post.  You have a totally different take on the limb than how I'd understood it.  I tried this project but just haven't felt comfortable getting that last bend out toward the tip.  You leave it in and switch the plane...it appears?  What is your limb width?

Very interesting and welcome to PA.

[ChristopherHwll]

Thanks guys. 
Parnell I am creating a static recurve out of the horn tips so yes the plane switches and the thickness increases at the start of the static portion to the tip.  So my horn tips before sinew are 1/2" wide at the tips and and increase up to 3/4" in depth/thickness at the tip.  My limb is 1 1/2" at its widest point and is tapered to 3/4" just before the start of the static recurve. Should make for a very powerful bow.  I designed it this way as it is a bit longer than most horn bows of this kind.  I have long arms and a long draw length so I had to increase limb width accordingly to limb length.
The easiest way that I have found to uncurl the tips is to straighten the curl inline so the limb is straight through it's length.  It looks like a big "J".  This is best accomplished by working the limb to just larger than your desired finished size.  Then clamp the end of the tip to a flat board with a centerline drawn down it.  I oil the horn lightly to prevent burning it and start applying heat slowly with a small amount of downward pressure on the other end of the limb in line with the drawn center line on the board.  It acts as a lever.  It will not bend at first but as it heats up you will feel it "give" very easily.  Once your desired amount of uncurling is achieved, clamp in place and allow to cool.  Rubbing with cold water rags help speed this cooling up.  Finally finish the limb to final size.  Hope that helps in the future!