Primitive archery tackle

great work man!
love seeing folks handmade primitive archery tackle.
working on bow numbers 2 and 3 at present. will post some pix when theyre finished.
here's a cupla arrows i just finished up.
made this point from a piece of deer leg bone. poc shaft.
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another poc shaft, and an old flint "blunt" picked up at a flea market. it is not broken, it was knapped this shape. wild turkey fletching.
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How do you season it?

And what is the 'bow string' made from?

It's really amazing work man! I'm envious.

I seasoned the shafting by leaving it tied high on the wall on a hot room that stays in the mid 80's. The only reason to season river cane is because if you heat it over fire to straighten it and there is to much water inside it can split. Also some stalks will shrink in the middle of the straight sections between the nodes and cause a little crease that will weaken the arrow so it will break when you shoot it. Discard those before the straightening process as they are useless.

The real bowstring isn't finished. The temporary string in the pic is brown waxed nylon thread with a loop braided into one end (other end tied with timber hitch). I am making a sinew bow string but ran out of sinew and have another ten inches to go. You would be surprised how much sinew it takes to make a bow string (I know I was). This will be my first sinew bow string when I'm finished. Will post pics when its done.
 
Great Job!!!

Looks like the heads are holding up to the use!!

Yeah! I shot them all day so I could fine tune the straightening of the shafts and to make sure the sinew was strong enough for real use.
 
nice work on the bow and arrows..:thumbup: i have yet to make a good shooting self-bow, that doesn't break or turns out too short.. :o
 
Finished another bow today. This is a light (37lb) target for RescueRiley here on Bladeforums. The bow has no stack at all and took only 3/4in of set after 50 shots at full draw. I'm hoping that after it is fully broken in, it will have less that 1.25in.

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I also hafted this knapped head for a friend with pine pitch and deer sinew.

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