2 Osage Plains bows

[YewArcher]

Here are a few Osage Orange Plains bows. The one pictured on the top has conventional nocks. The lower one is more authentic with side nocks.

These are the other horse bows. We seldome here of them, seldom are they replicated. They are not the most efficiant design, not utilising much of the limb but boy are they cool!! They shoot an arrow hard and fast. Tough to get acurate with but that is part of the challenge of primitive bows. I have no doubt they could take down any big game animal with a well placed arrow. The hardest part is holding them.....the tiller is extremly delicate and if you hold the bow a tad off the tiller gets off. No big deal they shoot great.

Here are the specs.

Bow # 1 The conventional
40" n 2 n
Osage Orange
7 white tail tendons
Conventional nocks
53#@23"

Bow #2 The Authentic
40" n 2 n
Osage Orange
7 white tail tendons
Side nocks
55#@23"

Here they are unbraced:


Belly:


Back:


Braced:


Close up of top nocks. The Plains Indians would have used horse hair for the bundle on the Authentic bow. I used dyed white tail deer tail.....should be good MOJO for hunting.






Lower nock. Notice the wraped excess string on the Authentic. This was common on the originals




Full draw on the Conventional


Full draw on the Authentic:


There you can really see how the tiller can get strange depending on how you hold the bow and string. I think the pinch draw wuld be of great benifit to these bows. Something I will have to learn.

Thanks for looking.

SJM

[George Tsoukalas]

Yew, your bows are authentically awesome. Very impressive. Jawge

[ricktrojanowski]

Really Sweet looking pair of bows.  They look so authentic.  Really beautiful work.  Thats an amazing amount of weight and draw length for such short bows.

[Dano]

Great lookin bows, they do look like they would be tough to get real accurate with. But hey on a horse a few feet from a Buff, whata need?

[Woodland Roamer]

Beautiful work Yew!! I really like replica bows, I think they are a great way of keeping a part of history alive and yours are great examples. Are those sinew strings on them?

Alan

[RG]

Good looking bows yew I might try that sometime

Ron

[Roger]

Nice!....try drawing that bow with a pinch grip to the breastbone and use a snap release. You may find that you like it better. It's better for the bow for sure.
great bows...sinew is a lot of work.

R

[Justin Snyder]

That is quite a draw.  Look at those string angles.  Justin

[medicinewheel]

WOW!!!...that's quite some draw on these little bows! i'm impressed!
frank

[Pappy]

Very nice ,that is getting all you can get out of a piece of wood.Well done.
   Pappy

[DanaM]

Very authentic looking, one question would these have been shot with a pinch grip release?

[YewArcher]

Thanks guys, Yes. These would have been shot with a pinch release. That is something I will need to practice. They are probably to heavy for that style of release though. I would suspect that the true pinch style bows were closer to 45#. It will be a challenge.

SJM

[DanaM]

Thanks fer the answer

[Keenan]

 Very authentic looking bows Yewarcher, Looks like they could be in a museum   you did a great job on the sinew and nocks. I noticed the handle section looks relatively stiff, Was that intentional as per authentic style or your own liking?

[YewArcher]

Thanks for the comments. These are not supposed to bend through the handel. The handel area is curved forward (see unbraced) and the limbs start bending after this section. This is my understanding of these bows after much research and study, They are not suppsed to bend through the handel. If they did they could easily be drawn to 26" or so but if you tillere dit so I believe that you would pull the profile right out. Evidence from relics found would indicate the tiller shown.

SJM