ADVANTAGES OF DRAWING BEYOND EAR, OVER DRAWING TO MOUTH.

[Hermitking]

If I could get a pair of musk ox horns I would give them a try as a bow belly. They are very short and tightly curved but it appears as though they curve only on one plane, thus twisting is not a problem. I think I would try the channel method of gluing the horn strips on.

I saw a fellow in an artical chisel out a channel in the wooden core of the bow, leaving raised wood sides that lap on to the sides of the horn strips. This seems to me to be a solution to keeping the horn in place while gluing and wrapping. It also makes it possible to use shorter peices of horn on the belly, for the belly on the limbs near the siyahs is barely stressed, and does not need the same compression strength that midlimb does.

I would also try to cut the siyah end of the horn strip in a half circle profile to fit in a half circle shaped end on the channel. The butt splicing of horn always makes me nervous about breaking the bow when stressed backwards.

Another idea I thought of was whale rib bone strips. Eskimos regularly harvest whales and surely whale ribs are a common item among them. Some should reach 3 foot lengths or more, providing material for belly strips. Rib bones are far more elastic than other bones of the body. I've flexed moose rib bones almost 4 degrees without them breaking. With a wooden nuetral zone of the core and heavy sinew absorbing the tension I think it might actually work. Now I jsut have to hook up with some whale ribs.