The Eastern Woodland Bow is Finished

A maple bow standing with a live sugar maple in my backyard. This is the tree I stand next to while target shooting. This bow made its origins as a milled plank of wood. I like the concept of freeing the wood from a sterile existence in the racks of home depot or as a static component of a construction project.

What could pass as an overpolished walking stick amongst certain crowds in Greenwich, Connecticut becomes a formidable weapon in the hands of Phil (above), a traditional archery buddy of mine.

From a board sprang a bow

A few days ago I decided to build a "D bow" from a maple board. The grain runs parallel to the edge of the board, and shows no noticeable damage from the kiln drying process. Therefore, it is good bow wood. The "D bow" is a simple design reminicent of the eastern woodland style bows that have been used in my area of Connecticut for thousands of years. There is something very satisfying about creating a bow in a style that has a long history with my neck of the woods. I have grown up in a Connecticut eastern woodland for much of my childhood and have enjoyed roaming the woods with traditional archery tackle. To me, the most fitting bow for these adventures is the eastern woodland style "D bow". Below is a picture of the maple board before I started.

...laying out the dimensions on the board...

These bows bend throughout their whole length. They have working handles and are at their widest point at the handle. After inspecting the quality of the wood, pondering my preferred draw weight, and consulting the Traditional Boywer's Bible: Volume 1 I decided on the dimensions: 68.5 inches long, 1.5 inches wide for the middle two feet, then tapering to 0.5 inch thick nocks.

The above picture shows the bow in its intermediary stages of production. The vice, hand planer, and draw knife all played crucial roles in resurrecting the once-dead maple plank. I was extra careful during the tillering process (below) because this was my first bow from a kiln-dried board and the grain did partially violate the back of the bow in certain places.

In the end the bow held up just fine and I reached my draw weight target of forty pounds. To be exact it was 41 pounds at 28 inches. After shooting about 50 arrows with a 4.5 inch brace height it only had a 1.25 inch set! I was amazed. The sanding and other finishing will probably drop the draw weight a couple pounds into the high 30s, but no complaints- this bow will just be used for stump shooting.

Some unknown wood fell in my backyard...

We had a very straightgrained tree die on the outskirts of the wetland area in my backyard. Given that it fell duirng early spring (without leaves) I don't have the luxury of using leaves for identification, and I am hesitent to try and identify it from bark alone. During summer I remember that its leaves looked like that of ash (perhaps wishful thinking), but can't be sure. I know that its not an oak or a maple, and given that it grew very straight and is of medium weight I'm hoping that it is ash. Not knowing the species for sure isn't detrimental given that I can perform "a standard bend test" as shown in The Traditional Bowyer's Bible: Volume 1 (p. 99) to determine appropriate demensions for the bow.

I cut up the logs with a chain saw and then glued up the ends with Elmers Wood Glue to avoid cracks forming during the drying process. Today, I split the logs using a few old axe heads and some steel wedges in conjuction with a sledge hammer. The logs split fairly well, and with a minimum of effort (picture below).

They are now drying in quarters in my workshed (below).

My Return to Bow Making

During my four years at college in Southern California I didn’t have the time or resources to stay involved with my beloved hobby of traditional bow making. However, after a long break I have once again started making traditional bows at my house in Connecticut. When I got back to the little workshop in my backyard I had to restore the old tools back to functionality, but most items ended up being in good working condition. The draw knife, hand planer, and rasp all worked just as I remember them. I even still had bow wood sitting around, and some of it had survived the foraging of insects during their long neglect. I found this surprising given that most of my wood was from insect prone species. I had some massive quarter logs of sugar maple that may have actually only reached moisture equilibrium a year ago (one of the benefits of taking extended time off with massive logs lying around). I also had some maple hardwood 1x3s in the rafters that I wanted to start on. I found Tim Baker’s chapter on “Bows from Boards” in the Traditional Bowyer’s Bible: Volume 2 extremely interesting. Amazingly, the maple boards had the grain running more or less parallel on the edge and side views, thereby satisfying the main criteria for a fully functioning bow. Perhaps I had chosen them for this reason four years ago, but I can’t honestly remember.

My bowyer's workshed with the newly formed eastern woodland style D bow standing to the left of the door. This was the first bow I made upon return to this fascinating pastime.