Sukuma Bow Build Along

[Minnesota Bill]

OK guys, a little background first.  My son Dan and his wife and family are missionaries to Tanzania, East Africa.  Dan runs a Bible Institute as well as helping run an orphanage. They live at the orphanage
which is located in the village of Shadi.  Shadi is outside of Mwanza on the south-east corner of Lake Victoria.  They have a great view of Lake Victoria in their backyard.
 

We visited a Church in Sengerema where I met The Pastor, Hamisi.  When Dan told him I had made bows for Dan and his kids, Hamisi told Dan that he knew how to make Sukuma bows.  Hamisi does not speak English and I do not speak Swahili, but as Dan interpreted I could feel the excitement building.  
We discussed how he made them and he told us but said it would be better to show me.        
What an opportunity!!!!!
We arranged a trip back to Sengerema on Friday.
One of the other missionaries' brother, Jon, who was visiting from Tennessee, came along with us.
Upon arriving on Friday we out to the land that Hamisi farms.
 
We were looking for the wood we would use for the bow (it is called Mkoma in Swahili) and wood for the arrows (Kumbo).
We found both on an old termite mound.
 

[Minnesota Bill]

Mkoma- bow wood

 
 

Kumbo- arrow wood

 
 
 

Katani (sisal) - string material,

 
 

Well that is about it for tonight, have to get up at 4 am tomorrow for work.  I will post more tomorrow or Monday.
Bill

[scrub-buster]

This is awesome.  Thanks for posting.

[Stiks-n-Strings]

This should be fantastic! Thanks for doing it.

[Roy from Pa]

Ya Baby:)

[bigbob2]

Watching with great interest

[red hill]

I'll use this thread in my class as a "multicultural" activity.
Thanks for sharing.  

[razorback]

Who needs fast flight when you can grow a string in your backyard. Can't wait for this one to continue.

[SportHunter]

Great thread! Keep it coming...

[Minnesota Bill]

Hey Guys, Thanks for the responses. It's great to hear from you all.  Back to the build:

The sticks were trimmed of all little twigs.
When we got back to Hamisi's home the bow staves were placed on a pile of dry grass that had been cut before we came.

 

More grass was placed on top

 

and the pile was set ablaze,

 

After the grass was burnt to ash

 

 the staves were removed and taken to the shade

 

At this point we had 5 staves to work with.  before the staves were cooled off the bark was pulled off in strips- just like the bark from a white wood log in late spring or summer.

 

After the bark was stripped one was culled out due to a dog leg and crack that developed.

 
At this point the wood cooled and we ate lunch.  I have to go to work but will try to post again tonight.
Bill

[burnt]

This is cool

[Stonedog]

AWESOME!  I love stuff like this!

[scrub-buster]

This is very interesting.  I wonder if natives from North America dried bow wood the same way.

[Minnesota Bill]

Glad you guys are enjoying this, it was such a wonderful blessing to be there and to watch this first hand.  
Let me tell you a little  that I know about the Kisukuma ( plural for Sukuma).  The Sukuma tribe is mainly located in the northwest part of the country of Tanzania, Lake Victoria area.  They are one of the largest if not the largest tribe of the 100 or so tribes located in Tanzania.  As a people these are some of the friendliest people I have met, especially in the villages and small towns.  They respect the elders of not only their tribe/family but also of strangers. Hamisi offered to show me how to make these bows and expected nothing in return.  After Hamisi finished and gave me these bows I asked my son Dan what I should give him back to somehow show my appreciation.  Dan told me that it was Hamisi's way of showing his friendship and by even offering something in return my be somehow considered an insult.  What true friendship- giving without expecting anything in return.  Sounds like a few people around here as well.  

Anyway back to the build:
Time to start shaping and tillering and to test the bend
   
 
and see where to remove the excess wood
   

As you can see the areas of where the twigs/branches have been left proud.  The stave was rotated, spiraled, around to see which way it bent best.  As the back was identified the reduction of the knot areas began
 

All of the knots were smoothed out but it seemed important to get the back correct first.

 

Soon the wood appeared to be smooth

 

When Hamisi seem to be happy with the bend adjustments where made by trimming the ends - either to thin, bent to much or the thick end, not enough bend.  Both ends where shaped to points.
 
 

Question for you bowyers:
Does this shortening of the ends to tiller seems to be common in branch bows in other areas???  It makes sense that just thinning the branch/stave would violate rings too much.

 

[Minnesota Bill]

Tillering continues


 

Time for the string:

 

The katani (sisal) was cut into strips

 
 

Hamisi's wife and son(15 years old) knew what to do.  The strip is held against the side of his foot with the knife held at a 90 degree angle as the strip is pulled through.

 

 The green cellulose is scraped away leaving a white fibrous tread like material
 
 
 

[Minnesota Bill]

String making continued:

Hamisi rolled up his pant leg and prepared 2 bundles.
 

This was really great to see.  Hamisi first separated threads into two equal bundles and slightly twisted between his fingers
 
 

He the placed the two separate bundles against his leg, about 1 inch apart.  He then places the palm of his hand on the bundles and rolls them down his leg, keeping the bundles separate.
 

After rolling the bundles away from him he stops and with his forearm Hamisi rolls the bundles back toward him twisting them together.
 

When I saw this I said that this was the same process that is used to make Flemish Strings, twist each bundle away from you and back over the top.

As the bundles got shorter more material was twisted into each bundle
 
 
 

[Minnesota Bill]

Another angle of this process:

 
 
 

The two bundles that were not twisted had to be separated every so often to keep them from knotting up.

 

Not too long later the length was good

 

String nocks are cut into the ends of the bow

 
 
 

[Roy from Pa]

Very interesting, Bill. Thanks for taking the time to show us this.  Roy

[Tron]

This is going to be great.  Can't wait to see the rest.  Thanks so much for sharing!

[bigbob2]

Fascinating!