Almost every culture in the world has a special bow design in their history. They are made in local materials and designed to fit the environment they are made in. The making of an authentic replica requires using the correct natural materials, and also going through the correct traditional process. Bow staves of all natural wood are seasoned for at least a year before starting the process. Our bows are tillered to be functionally shooting bows as well as accurate replicas of museum objects.
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| This functional replica of an 1870's Cheyenne Horse bow was made in the same materials as the original, Osage wood and buffalo sinew |
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| This Eastern Woodlands style quiver was made in lashed Cattail Stalks |
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Traditional arrows are made here with seasoned natural shafts of Viburnum Arrowwood, Wild Currant, Wild Rose, and bamboo. Our preferred fletching is wild turkey and goose feathers. They are lashed with hide glue and real sinew, and the stone points are hafted with the tradtional mastic of pine pitch and charcoal. Although our arrows are as functional as our bows, stone points usually break upon impact and are usually used for archaeology display or demonstration.
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| These arrows were made for New York University's Anthropology program to show how different style arrowheads were hafted in museum collections |
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| Michael explaining bow design at the Smithsonian Staff Lecture Series. 4 bow types were explained here after Occpaleo tested replicas from the Smithsonian collections. The Eastern Woodlands longbow, the Plains horse bow, the African "D" shaped longbow, and the Eskimo sinew cable backed bow shown here.
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The name of Holmegaard has been given by archaeologists to describe a group of the oldest known bows in the world. This ancient style comes from examples found in Denmark and Germany, and most of them have been thought to be made of Elm. Dating to around 9,000 years ago, it already shows itself to be an advanced design, and modern wood bowmakers have found it to be the fastest straight stave design tested. This replica celebrates modern archery coming full circle as this ancient design is brought back to life in Hickory, very close in mechanical properties to Elm. This example follows the work of Dr. Errett Callahan, whose precise measurement replicas performed as well as any modern fiberglass bow.
This bow follows those same measurements and pulls 45# at 27 inches of draw. It is 62 inches long, and tapered in the same top view profile of the original. The bow showed to be a very fast shooter in testing, and still shows only one inch of permanant bend, almost sitting flat on the back. The correct tiller profile of this bow bends much more near the handle, which is around 2 inches wide after the handle fade outs. This allows for very low set, and for the tip angle to be the same as a bow that is several inches longer.
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| Correct bend near the handle tiller for the Holmegaard replica |
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| An Eastern Woodlands style bow in Serviceberry wood. Pulling #51 lbs at 27 inches of draw, it was chronoqraphed at 164 feet per second, due to its very light tips. It was fit with a leather handle and shelf for modern target shooting. |
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Chippewa Replica Bark Back quiver $75
Our signature quiver is a replica of a Chippewa quiver in the collections of the Smithsonian Museum. It was made to as close as possible dimensions after precise examination of the original. The original was made in Birch bark, and this model is made in the even tougher Poplar bark. The shoulder strap is made in genuine smoked braintan buckskin, and is fit with an antler sliding ring so that the quiver can adjust to people of different sizes. The quiver is 22 and half inches long, and can hold up to a dozen arrows which are not included. The end cap is poplar as well, and it is sealed together with pine pitch and wood ash glue. This is the most traditional design possible and is the perfect camouflage in the woods. Poplar bark is extremely tough and waterproof as well, offering good protection for arrows. To purchase, see ITEMS FOR SALE page.
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| An Eastern Woodlands quiver in the most tradtitional materials possible |
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| Testing Eastern Woodlands style equipment where it should be tested |
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| Plains style side quiver |
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| This plains style quiver was made in deerskin, as were many of the originals. Traditional methods were followed here, using brains, bone tools, and smoke in the process.
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| Traditional quivers by Mark Conner |
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| Replica of ancient English bow |
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ROVING HANDBOOK $18
By Dr. Errett Callahan, this book brings back the true spirit of traditional archery. For thousands of years, roving games have been used for training for hunting and warfare. Shown here in a non-competitive fun light, skills such as distance shooting, speed shooting, and shooting over obstacles such as lakes and trees are described. Golf type games with wands, balloons, tubes, and stumps offer a wonderful departure from standard target archery. 128 pages. For more info, and/or to order with a credit card, see (ITEMS FOR SALE) page.
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