Horsebow question?

[StoneAK]

Anyone on here make horse bows and if you do what is the best woods for these?

[Chris Grimbowyer]

I don't make them myself, but I have heard osage orange for the short 45-56 inch long bows the Comanche Native Americans would use on horseback. It probably wasn't the only wood used but it was preferred. I am assuming you are talking about Native American horse bows, not the Sinew/horn composite horse bows of the Mongols, Koreans, and ect.

[mwirwicki]

I would have to say, osage orange.  I've made several shorter "horse" bows.  To me, it is the most durable, resilient wood available.  My latest is a Holmegaard design 48" that draws 25".  It is sinew-backed.  Also finishing up a 36" horn-bellied, sinew back composite that draws 23".  My primary hunting bow is a sinew-backed osage that draws 26".  It is 49" long.

[KellyG]

Mwirwicki,
If you can get some pics up of these bows. I know most of us love to see what others are up to.

[mwirwicki]

I would love to.  Evidently, I'm not smart enough to post pics on this forum.  Something about, they have to be on a website first.

[joekeith]

Just open a Photobucket account.  No cost, and only takes a couple of minutes.  Do that then tell us and we'll walk ya through it.  It's not difficult if ya just take it one step at a time.  Good luck........

[Don Drake]

I recently made a horse bow for my nine-year old grandson out of osage orange.  I use Al Herrin's design which he describes in his book, "Making Cherokee Bows and Arrows."

The bow is 45" nock to nock. I cut the handle about 1.25" wide and about an 1.5" thick. I normally make the non-bending portion 8 inches long. This time I only made it six inches and it seems to work just fine. The limbs are about 1 and 3/4" wide at the fade about .25" wide at the nocks.  The bow measured 30# @ 20" and I have drawn it to 26".  (I wanted to make sure it could handle his increased draw length as he grows.)

For the arrows, I bought 48" long 5/16" hard-wood dowels from the local do-it center and cut them to 24 inches.  I used 120 grain points and 3" feathers.  He loves the set up.  Its a little heavy for him, but it should last him a while as he grows into it.

Here is a picture at full-draw.  I re-tillered it since this picture but didn't get another pic.

 

[4est trekker]

Here's a short bow I made based loosely on some of the horsebows from way over on the other side of the pond.  I used osage for the bow and ash for the siyahs.  Siyahs are attached using an angled and toothed butt joint glued with Urac and reinforced with linen thread set in glue.  The bow is 59" long and pulls 43# @ 27".