Copperheads!

[William Warren]

#7009

This is a bow I made year before last but was never really happy with the finish or the tiller or the finished weight. So I finally got time to go after it with the rasp and scraper. In the mean time a couple of copperheads wandered into my yard and I made skins out of them. So I got the tiller fixed and dropped weight a bit and refinished it topping it off with the copperheads. It finally quit raining but it is so humid here I actually had to wipe the camera lense between shots. So, without further adieu I introduce you to “Askook”.

[tailfeather]

#57226

Duncan, that looks fantastic. What did the weight come down to? Only hope mine turns out half as well. What’d you use over those skins?

[William Warren]

#57233

Tailfeather,

I have not put it on the scale yet but I did get to shoot it some before the monsoon arrived. It feels like upper 40’s maybe 50. I want to build some new arrows for it so I will scale it to see where it is before I build anything. It was shooting some old 11/32″ cedars with bananna fletch and I think they were 45-50 spined with 125 gr field tips. They shot good out of it. But then that is my favorite arrow for most of my selfbows.

I use polyurethane as finish and I wipe it on with a cloth. Once I have several coats on it and it is dried hard it can be buffed with steel wool to take some of the sheen off. I still need to do that.

Duncan

[David Coulter]

#57243

That’s a beauty. Very cool. dwc

[garydavis]

#57421

Good looking bow!

[James Harvey]

#57470

Duncan, that’s beautiful. Did you make that quiver or buy it from somewhere? It looks neat too.

[Stephen Graf]

#57617

Looks like those were some big copperheads! Pretty work.

[bruc]

#58185

Looks awesome Duncan !! Sweet quiver ! !!

[William Warren]

#58254

Thanks guys. I shot it some this evening and I found out it likes some 45-50 spined cedars I made up last fall with that 130 gr Zwickey. (Can’t call the name if it) They would not shoot right in the intended bow and I ended up making up some 145 gr Ace’s for that one.

Steve, they grow big here in the hollow, though we do see them all sizes they can get up to 4 feet long. The only thing is I don’t always see the big ‘uns. Between them and the yellow jackets you really have to watch your step here.

Ausjim and Bruc, thanks, I did make the quiver it is my take on the sidestalker, it is my go to quiver of this type for stumping and general practice. I have posted a drawing here before and I can post it again if you want to make yourself one.

[James Harvey]

#58268

Duncan wrote: I have posted a drawing here before and I can post it again if you want to make yourself one.

Please do 😀

[codger]

#58934

Thats is just a beautiful bow.

[shaneharley]

#59122

Very nice

[William Warren]

#59324

ausjim wrote: [quote=Duncan]I have posted a drawing here before and I can post it again if you want to make yourself one.

Please do 😀

Here is a pic of the pattern. You may be able see the dimensions well enough to re-create it on some light poster board. If you don’t feel comfortable with that I could mail you a pattern but I would need your address. Another solution might be to make a PDF file of it at a specific paper scale. I have access to a large scanner. Then you could load the PDF into a thumbdrive and take it to your local print shop and have them print it off at the specified paper scale. For example: 22″ x 34″ ANSI. Probably metric down under for Ausjim.

Some pics of the stitching. Just simple rawhide strips.

I used a spike buck antler to make my beads for decoration.

Note the heavy weight of the leather, Light weight leather won’t work.

I put a piece of closed cell foam in the bottom to protect the end cap.

[James Harvey]

#60400

Duncan, that’s great mate. I was able to save the higher res pic from your photobucket and can zoom in to see the measurements. Thank you very much 😉

[David Petersen]

#60466

Absolutely gorgeous work, Duncan, on bow and quiver. Where do you buy that heavy leather? I’m about to make a knife sheath and will need a square foot or less of heavy leather and haven’t a clue where to look. You got those skins on so smooth and flat that they look like, in that respect, fake tape skins … which I trust you understand is a complement! 😀

[William Warren]

#60604

Thanks Dave but copperheads just make any old bow look good. 😀 About the leather, I got that leather off of a website about 10 yrs ago. I can’t remember the name of it but they sold upholstery remnants and it came in a 50 lb bale of various thicknesses and colors. The cost was about 90 bucks with shipping. I have used up all the good thick pieces making quivers, knife sheaths, and bow handles. I figure it was worth it because 1 comparable quiver would have cost more than 90 bucks and I got 5 good quiver projects out of the batch. I still have some small scraps left. Its nice to have some leather scraps around when you need some.

[shaneharley]

#60870

I really like the quiver. Very nice work

[James Harvey]

#63800

Dunc, I didn’t have any decent leather scraps lying about, but as always I had plenty of scraps from work, so I knocked one up last night from what used to be an old field pack. Proof of concept, huzzah!

Now I just need to buy some leather scraps and make one that isn’t ugly 😉 Incidentally I put an adjustable shoulder strap on this one and it changes quickly and easily from a side quiver to a serviceable back quiver too. Thanks again for sharing it 😀

Jim

[Ralph]

#63813

Innovation ain’t always ugly, simply making use of what ya got and goin for it. 😀 Now if you’d make one we could see!!

Duncan your stuff is sharp. Good job. You to MR.JIM. I think you did well.

[William Warren]

#8461

Thanks R2! Jim, I think that is cool. I like it when people take items that would otherwise not be used and repurpose them into something that will be used. And it’s camo too. 😀

[grumpy]

#23779

Sources for leather:

I have bought several welders aprins from Harbor Freight (about $10) they are split cowhide and actually a lot of leather for $10. Don’t like the color, but they take dye well.

Another source is the nail bags in the big box stores.

Best source is a leather shop. Where they make custom belts, shoes, handbags, etc. Find them in upscale tourist traps. Usually they have inventory/leftovers they will part with for a good price.

Where is the spell checker?

[Robin Conrads]

#23842

grumpy wrote: Where is the spell checker?

Our system will underline a word in red if it is misspelled. Then you can right-click on that word and see some suggestions at the top of the option box. Select the correct spelling and it will replace the word. At least that’s how it works on my computer. 😉

[Michael Scott]

#24006

Wee don’ knead know steenkeeng spel chek! 😀 LOL!! *ducks behind a wall, hoping it will stop flying arrows*

[Michael Scott]

#24011

Duncan,

The quiver and bow both look awesome! I would like to find either a couple rattlers, or copperheads, or two of whatever kind of snake is big enough to back a bow with. LOL! My problem is, I don’t know where to go to look for them. And if I do go tromping around in the woods, I’m likely gonna get bit about the time I find one. 😆

[William Warren]

#24295

Michael,

I have not had to go looking. They just show up here in the yard and if I have something handy to dispatch them I can usually get a good skin. Sometimes I find them while weed eating around the edges of the woods. And sometimes they are too small to keep the skins. I learned the hard way not to wait to skin them. I laid freshly killed one on the composter planning to skin it later after I finished weed eating and when I came back it was gone. It could not have crawled off without a head So I’m thinking one of the crows got it . They love to eat snakes.

I don’t know where you would find them where you live. I imagine there might be some rattlers somewhere around there. Good luck finding some skins.

Duncan

[Forresterwoods]

#43567

Wow that is some fine leather work Duncan. I have also gone back and forth with the quiver question. Have a Howard Hill type since the 80’s but pains the shoulder reaching back now. You will notice on old HH films he uses his left hand to push the quiver up from the bottom while reaching back with his right to grab arrows. I have a book with pictures of native americans from the 1800’s and how they carried their stuff. On horseback they have a bow quiver and arrow quiver tied together and slung on their backs. WHEN ON FOOT, A RIGHT HANDED ARCHER HAD A QUIVER HANGING LOW ON HIS LEFT SIDE WITH NOCK ENDS NEAR THE STOMACH FOR EASY REACH. I tried that and it works nicely. The quiver hangs loosely and can be manipulated while going through brush…and when coming to full draw, my bowstring rests against the quiver but no hindurance. (I know a picture’s worth a thousand words…and due to my electronic ineptitude…it’s a thousand words.

Kevin

[William Warren]

#44059

Thanks Forrester. Sometime I’ll have to get some pics of the quiver in use.

[James Harvey]

#44849

forresterwoods wrote: I know a picture’s worth a thousand words…and due to my electronic ineptitude…it’s a thousand words.

Hahaha 😆 You did paint a picture with your words though 😉

Jim

[Forresterwoods]

#48576

Picture of a native american plains indian with his bow and quiver in use. (From the book: Bows and Arrows by Jim Hann).

[Author]

Posts