Essential books to have while making horn bows?

Bede · Post by **Bede** » Wed Dec 15, 2010 5:05 am

Caribou is not an authentic material for Plains bows as far as I know. Grayson suggested it for ease of construction.

He used flat elk antler slats for his bows joined at the grip.

jkekoni · Post by **jkekoni** » Thu Dec 16, 2010 10:10 am

Horn is nail, antler is bone.

Antler bows are very thin strips with very thick layers of sinew to allow them bending.

Kviljo · Post by **Kviljo** » Wed Dec 29, 2010 1:46 am

Ahh, once again, I came across some rather useful stuff on the .org-site

http://www.atarn.org/bibliog.htm

Bede · Post by **Bede** » Wed Dec 29, 2010 3:14 am

That's right about the antler. I remember those bows were built with a thick sinew layer and the neutral axis was in the sinew and away from the glue line to the antler. Most of the energy storage was concentrated in the sinew. The keratin in horn seems much more compressible.

jack farrell · Post by **jack farrell** » Wed Dec 29, 2010 3:28 am

Indians would practice putting as many arrows as possible in the air before the first hit the ground. Five was an average number, six very good and seven the best possible. So say the stories. This was said possible with a horn bow.

Arrows were held point up in the bow hand and flicked into position. You judge for yourself.

Bede · Post by **Bede** » Thu Dec 30, 2010 1:08 am

Jack,
I thought those stories started in the Eastern Woodlands. They would have been using self bows there.

Comox Tom · Post by **Comox Tom** » Thu Dec 30, 2010 3:19 am

George Catlin managed to capture this image

http://www.xmission.com/~drudy/mtman/ht ... ter20.html

jack farrell · Post by **jack farrell** » Thu Dec 30, 2010 5:20 am

There you are; Mandans on the Missouri, Indians of the great plains.

Very few chroniclers of Am. Indians are beyond reproach including Catlin. You can see some classic Scythian curves entering into his bow shapes, the quiver arrangement. But he made an important contribution by being there and recording. But he reworked in his studios in the East. His etchings are further removed from the subject, and not necessarily by him.

Then there is Karl Bodmer, a Swiss. What he painted was gospel. He painted an elk horn bow or two, quivers and etc. People of the First Man.

Comox Tom · Post by **Comox Tom** » Thu Dec 30, 2010 6:32 am

Yes I agree Catlin exaggerated the amount of curvature in the classic double-curved bow of the plains Indians . Interesting that he includes a bow being strung. Catlin's books are wonderful reading .

I also have "People of the First Man " and excellent book . Bodmer is certainly more accurate in his detail .

We are fortunate both artists were on hand at that time , a scant 50 years later and a whole way of life had ended .

Charles Russell came along at the end of the buffalo culture , his paintings include bows and quivers . Since he had Indian friends I have read he would consult with them so as to get details correct .

Bede · Post by **Bede** » Thu Dec 30, 2010 7:24 am

Notice how the Indian on the left is bracing his bow. This is a technique used in South America too.

As others have noted, Catlin reworked his illustrations. His letter in the link points out the bows were typical Plains bows of no more than three feet long. He also refers to their horse archery methods.

My point was not that Plains Indians did not shoot this way, but that I thought it originated in the East among tribes who lived in the forests using longer flat bows. The Plains Indians took to the horse rather late in their history and it is possible that their sports still had ancient roots. Perhaps I am wrong and I am only misremembering Longfellow. Even in Australia we had that poem drummed into us at school.

Has anyone calculated the best angle and arrow speed to give the greatest time of flight?

Comox Tom · Post by **Comox Tom** » Thu Dec 30, 2010 11:48 pm

In regards to the "Game of the Arrow" ... archers were talking on another forum about the best way to get the most arrows in the air before the first hits the ground is to place the arrows on the right hand side of the handle for a right handed archer and use an arrow that has two shallow arrow nocks at right angles to each other so you can nock an arrow on the string without looking.

Various historical sources mention the speed of which North American Indians were able to discharge arrows ...perhaps putting the arrow on the right hand side of the bow for a right handed archer was fairly common and perhaps the thumb release is a natural evolution of this shooting method.

Stephen Selby · Post by **Stephen Selby** » Fri Dec 31, 2010 2:02 am

Second figure from the right looks remarkably like this:

Which is supposed to be a native of Formosa (Taiwan)!