Juniper-sinew kid's bow

[WhistlingBadger]

Finished tillering.  I made this bow for my hunting buddy's kindergarten boy, from a scrap of Rocky mountain juniper I had lying around in the shop. Backed with bison sinew, with elk antler tips. Draws 10 pounds at 18 inches: A mammoth killer for sure!    First arrow through a new bow is always fun.

Juniper wood is such a joy to work with. It's so soft it's almost like carving chalk (I usually work with hickory), it makes the shop smell absolutely wonderful, and the heartwood has an absolutely stunning, purple-red grain. I'll post some closeups once I get it sanded and oiled. Hoping to find a nice snake skin to cover up the sinew, too. Anyway, here it is.
https://youtu.be/019DMUSTA6M?si=0dmSCP7UPhM6BDi2

[bjrogg]

I always enjoy making kids bows. I think everything about them is fun.

Including shooting them

Bjrogg

[Will B]

Very nice kids bow!  He’s gonna love it. I have made and given away a number of kids bows and it is such a joy to see them shoot them. Great job!

[WhistlingBadger]

Thanks, guys.  Yeah, it's been a lot of fun.  I really want to try another juniper-sinew hunting bow, but the last one broke.  So I decided to build a little one out of this scrap, just to try and get a little bit better at the techniques. 

Getting on with the finish work.  Elk antler tips.  I plan on smoothing down the sinew with a bit of warm hide glue soon.  The grain on this stuff is unreal.  Should be even prettier once I oil it.

[WhistlingBadger]

Man, it's hard looking at photos on this forum now, with a moving ad in between each one.   

But anyway.  The Badgerling found me a garter snake the other day that donated its skin to cover half the bow.  Need for find it a buddy for the other half.  It was about to shed--milky eyes, really dull, disappointing lack of pattern.  But as I was cleaning the skin, I discovered that the old skin peeled right off, leaving a shiny, new, beautifully patterned skin underneath.

Here it is laid on just to see how it will look.

[bjrogg]

Man, it's hard looking at photos on this forum now, with a moving ad in between each one.   

But anyway.  The Badgerling found me a garter snake the other day that donated its skin to cover half the bow.  Need for find it a buddy for the other half.  It was about to shed--milky eyes, really dull, disappointing lack of pattern.  But as I was cleaning the skin, I discovered that the old skin peeled right off, leaving a shiny, new, beautifully patterned skin underneath.

Here it is laid on just to see how it will look.

When I was going to trade school I had a tarantula. I remember one morning I woke up and there were two of them.

One the dull worn empty shell of one. It was just standing there like it still had a body in it.

And a shiny new full one. That did have a body in it right next to it. Amazing how they can do that.

Bjrogg

[WhistlingBadger]

Yeah, BJ, sometimes the shrimp in my aquarium do that.  The first few times I thought they were dead shrimp.  It is pretty cool.  I've wondered about using snake sheds on bow backs...seems like they'd look interesting, and add some waterproofing.  I don't know.

Anyway, I'm still waiting for another garter snake (actually just the skin of one) to finish this bow and gift it to my little buddy. In the meantime, I made some arrows out of phragmite reeds from down at the creek, fletched with some flicker wing feathers we found, tipped with bamboo skewers, and held together with bison sinew. I would never use these arrows for serious hunting--a heavy bow would explode them. But they're strong enough for a 10# bow, and they weigh next to nothing so they should fly well.

[superdav95]

That’s pretty cool WB.  Ya the juniper is gorgeous stuff.  I hope the kid getting this bow appreciate that efforts and work that went into this bow.   

[bentstick54]

Very cool little bow. It look great once you get it finished up. I bet the little guy will love it.

[ajooter]

That's a snappy looking little stick!!  I pity any chipmunks that are within range!!

[WhistlingBadger]

I finally finished this bow! The bamboo skewers are complete failures as arrow tips; they came apart on the first shot into the target. I'll have to go pop off a few .22 rounds tomorrow and use the shells to make blunt arrowheads. But wow, does this thing zip out those cane arrows! No problem at all penetrating a target butt at 10 yards, and I suspect it will shoot fine out to 20 or so. I think my little buddy is going to be very, very happy with this.



Elk antler arrow rests.  I put them on both sides so it can be shot right or left handed.


Have I mentioned that juniper is really, really beautiful wood? This is after I oiled it with two coats of lard/beeswax/pine resin varnish. Hopefully that will preserve the purple color, which tends to turn to a rich brown over time.


Leather handle wrap


Elk antler tip overlays. I put overlays on all my bows, mostly for looks. But on this bow it's functionally important: Juniper is so soft that the string would wear into the wood over time. I think I'll use bison hoof on my next one, as the black would look really nice against the red-ivory wood.


This was my first time backing a bow with snake skin. I learned a lot, and despite a few goofs, I'm fairly pleased with how it turned out.


I don't usually name my bows until after they've made a kill, but the name of this one seemed obvious so I went with it. 10# @ 18".

[Pappy]

Yep that should make any kid happy, nice job.
 Pappy

[superdav95]

Very cool WB

[WhistlingBadger]

Thanks, guys!  I'm very happy with it.  Once I get the arrows repaired with new tips, I'll give it to Aza.  He knows nothing about this, but he's a real up-and-at-em kind of kid, so I can't wait to see his reaction.

I'm going to drop this here just for my own future reference.  Here some some things I learned from this project:
1.  Juniper requires a very soft touch and finer tools than other woods I've worked with.  It is very soft and very, very easy to mess it up.  On the other hand, once it's backed, it becomes very springy, almost like rubber.
2.  When applying sinew, smaller bundles and a slower pace make for a smoother finished surface.  So does wrapping the sinew layer in an ace bandage for a few hours when it's still wet.  This, in turn, makes the snake skin easier to apply.
3.  Allowing the sinew to dry overnight before applying the next layer makes it a lot easier to keep the layers even and avoid losing my place.
4.  Tillering:  On a bendy handle bow, leave the handle thicker at first; get the limbs bending first then move the bend into the handle gradually.  This was my first bendy-handle bow, and it still has a little too much bend at the handle.  I made it from a small scrap of wood that was uniformly thin all the way across.  I couldn't really fix the handle bend without reducing the weight below useful level, or redoing the backing...but I want to get on to other things.  It's good enough, but something to keep in mind.
5.  The edges of the snake skin can be trimmed off with a file, just like I do with a rawhide backing, for a nice, clean edge.  This works much better than painting the edge.
6.  Dings in the snake skin can be nicely repaired with a bit of egg yolk tempera paint, colored with ground rock or charcoal to match the color.
7.  Acrylic paint pens will still adhere nicely, even if you forget to write on the bow until after you've already applied a layer of grease to the wood.   

[Muskyman]

Very cool WB, I’m sure the boy will love it. Next thing you know he’ll be out there elk hunting with you.