Making the Cherokee Bow, A Bow Maker's Journey

Native to the southeastern woodlands of the United States, Cherokee people have a very rich and well-documented history. The Mississippian culture was a civilization that created monumental earthen platform mounds which originated in Mesoamerica as early as 1600 BCE amongst the Olmec in the formative period. Recent research points to the validity that ancestors of the Cherokee people are the prehistoric mound builders of the South Mississippian cultural tradition. The first known Cherokee contact with Europeans dates around 1540 when Hernando de Soto and his explorers crossed Cherokee lands in Tennessee. This first contact introduced new infectious diseases to many Cherokee people who suffered. In the 17th century, regular Anglo-Cherokee contact occurred amongst fur traders and explorers. Some encounters were met with peace, others were not. Unfortunately, the 17th century is poorly documented amongst Anglo traders who encountered tribal people across the Americas. The 18th and 19th centuries were amongst the most trying times for Cherokee people. In 1738, a smallpox epidemic killed roughly half of the population as wars continued to break out from the early 1700s. During the 1830s, Cherokee people were displaced from their lands due to American territorial ambitions. These land grabs led to the Trail of Tears which took place under the Indian Removal Act and pushed many people out west into new territories. Now although Cherokee people had to withstand the utter nightmare that was Andrew Jackson, who in fact served as the United States President, it's important to understand that Cherokee people are very much alive and well today. Much like many Native American descendant groups to the prehistoric predecessors who once occupied the very lands that I'm standing on right here in Little Prescott, Arizona, modern descendant groups still practice and value the oral traditions, skill sets, language systems, and ceremonies that we cherish and admire in modernity. In this video, we're going to take a step back in time in history. I want to show you how to craft a traditional Cherokee style bow, and I really emphasize the word style. The reason is is because most Cherokee bows that are recovered in the anthropological and archaeological record, as well as bows that are still crafted today by traditional Cherokee peoples, are making them from longer staves, so longer bows. We'll be modifying that just slightly. We'll keep the same original measurement system, design, and profile, but using a shorter piece of wood. So we'll be crafting a shorter Cherokee style bow. We'll first start off by taking you step by step through the measurements and the design, as well as the profile of the bow. Enjoy this video. Okay, so I have to hurry this part up because it is starting to rain during these wet monsoon months, which is not only excellent for this bow wood, as it likes high humidity, but also for the environment. It's been a very dry and hot summer. So in my opinion, the Cherokee style bow, or the Cherokee design bow, is going to be by far the easiest, most simplistic design to lay out a measurement system on the back of the stave. So I have a growth ring chased out from tip to tip on the back of this stave. And you can see I have a mark going across this stave on this tip off to my right. And this is at 43 inches. So this is where I'm going to trim this stave down. So from tip to tip, it's going to be a 43 inch bow, total length. So I take 43, divide it by two, and I make a horizontal mark that becomes the center of the stave and the center point of the handle. So this is the true center of this, of this bow. So from there, I find two inches off to my left and two inches off to my right, I create a line and create another line. So I have a four inch handle area. From there, I find a center point, a vertical center point from the center line of the handle. So I have my horizontal center, and now I create a vertical center, and I just etch that line from tip to tip. That becomes the center point on a vertical axis of this bow. So I have a nice clean center line. Now from there, this is where it gets really easy and really simplistic. I just create horizontal marks on each side, every two inches all the way up on both limbs. And then from there, I know to place my ruler at the half inch mark, and above I'm going a half inch, and below I'm going a half inch. So a half inch above and a half inch below off of this vertical center line. So I have an inch total width with the exception of these knots, of course, which I swell around or I cut underneath. We do not want to violate these knots. So this is truly an inch measurement all the way up from tip to tip. So once again, we have our handle area, we have our center line that runs on a vertical axis, and then I just create two inch horizontal marks. These are just so I can connect the lines together. And I find a half inch above, a half inch below, go two inches, a half inch above, half inch below, go another two inches, half inch above, half inch below, and just connect the lines together. And that becomes the basic layout and measurement of this Cherokee style bow. Well, yesterday I finished removing bellywood with the draw knife on this bow surface. So we completely removed that brown oxidized surface, and everything's looking really good on the belly side. The only flaw that I can see is right in here towards the tip. I have a little bit of wind checking, and that's pretty common out here. I should be able to lose this throughout the tillering process. We'll keep an eye on it. So what happens in Arizona is March through June, it gets very hot and dry. And then in July, our monsoon seasons start kicking up. We get a lot of rain and moisture in the air. It's very humid, and it turns this environment nice and green. We have a lot of resources available, really nice, beautiful, edible, and medicinal plants we can utilize to our advantage. But during those dry months and the windy months, it rapidly dries out this wood, and it creates a little bit of checking and cracking, which I'm experiencing right here. But once again, we'll be able to avoid that. I think I'll end up losing this as this process goes along. But at this time, I really need to slow down the process, and I'm going to transition into using a rasp. This is a Shinto rasp. And the nice thing about a Shinto rasp is we have this hacksaw blade-like configuration where one side is aggressive, and then we flip it over, and the other side isn't as aggressive. So I can control how much wood removal I conduct within this bow structure. Unlike a draw knife, where it just cuts and slices through this material, an Osage, when you cut through the wood, it likes to travel and splinter. So it could quickly create a hinge as I'm working this bow stave in its current state and shape. So it could be dangerous, and I want to slow down this process. That's where this rasp comes in handy. Now, I'm going to slowly remove wood until I have a floor tiller. And what a floor tiller is, when I place one limb and the other limb on the earth's surface, and I press down in the handle, I can start to see these limbs bend. And I want to achieve a nice, even bend throughout its structure. So once again, I'll remove wood nice and slow with the Shinto rasp, and we'll start that process right now. Everything's looking good. Once the bow limbs are thinned and floor tillered, dry heat is applied to remove excess deflex and side bend to straighten its profile before working the nocks. Now, when working these tips and filing in the string grooves, I'm using a rat tail file. And this is quite simplistic. So all I'm doing is I'm measuring a half inch from the tip and creating a half circle. You can see that right here, I have it etched in pencil. And I do the same thing to the exact opposite side. Then I flip the bow over, and I repeat that same process. I measure a half inch from the tip, create a half circle, and a half inch on the other side, and just file in, once again, using a small rat tail file. From there, I can create that nice triangular shape that we see at the tip of Cherokee-designed bows. So we'll start the process. So as I continue to file in these nocks, you can see that I'm rounding each corner. And the reason I round each corner is to help prevent this string from failing as I pull the bow string back and release the arrow. If I filed in completely straight, I create these sharp edges. And those sharp edges rub against the string, causing the fraying to occur. And if the fraying continues, the string will break down and eventually break. If the string breaks, the bow has a greater probability of breaking. So it's really important to round those edges. It'll help you in the long run. Well, as I was just about to enter into the final tillering process, I noticed as I was heat treating and taking some of this side bend out of the bow, a shallow, very shallow, vertical crack has occurred. And right around here, this is where it gets dangerous. It runs right off the edge. So as this bow sits right now with this crack, I increase my probability and chances of a splinter occurring, and then this back shearing off, thus causing the bow to break and fail. So what I'm going to do is I'm going to reinforce this tip by adding sinew and hide and that'll compress this wood together and save this bow. So what I do is I just wet the tip and I take the sinew, submerge it in hide glue and simply wrap around. And as I wrap, I tighten the sinew. So I want the sinew to rest quite tight against the wood. Okay, so I just finished wrapping the tips and let it cure out for about three days. Everything's looking really good. And I actually took a vertical piece of sinew and laid that where the vertical crack begins. So this is plenty reinforced. At this time, I am going to enter into the final tillering process. So I made a string. Well, this string I made several months ago and it's already stretched out. Let's string this up and see how it looks. Okay, not too bad. Have a fairly even bend and I'll slowly pull it back. I'm at about 13 inches right now. And what I'm seeing is this limb right here is quite stiff. This handle area is actually bending a bit more than I would like it to. So at 13 inches, I feel it's probably about 30, 35 pounds maybe. But yeah, I definitely need to remove mass on this limb and a little bit on this limb. We want to avoid the handle area. That handle is bending a bit more than my liking, but that's okay. We can balance it out. And as I analyze the back of this bow, I can see by the growth rings at this limb right in here is definitely stiffer. This growth ring, as we look at the feathering of these growth rings on the belly side, one of the rings is closer to the handle, whereas that same ring is closer to the tip. So by removing material, I balance that out and I feather these growth rings as a rough guide to a well-balanced tiller. So we'll continue on and I am going to start scraping this limb and starting to get it to flex a bit more. Overall, not too bad though. As I continue to scrape this bow, I want to show you how you can use these growth rings, the late wood rings, as a rough guide and how to balance a tiller. So right here, you can see this darker colored ring that is late wood. And then traced around it is a more pale whitish yellow color. That's early wood. So when we look at this late wood ring from the tip, you can see it's closer into the handle. But as we trace that up to the opposite limb, you can see it goes in towards the tip. And as I pulled the string back, this is the limb that is much stiffer. So I want to start removing this ring and slowly, slowly start to pull it back and unstring it, string it back up, pull the string back. I want to keep flexing these limbs and making sure that I'm not removing too much too fast. Like I said, this is just a rough guide, but it can help you with figuring out which limb is stiff and which limb is bending and flexing too much. And this is a prime example where this limb is stiff. This limb has a little bit more bend. So I'm going to remove this ring or start removing some of it until it balances with the opposite limb. Yesterday, I did a lot of tillering on this bow. And you know, at the end of the day, I started feeling that my mind needed a rest. So it's always good when you start to feel that way, just to unstring the bow and pick up on the work the very next day. So right behind me, I have my tillering tree and this is starting to come around really nice. I want to check how well balanced it is on the tree and then mark the areas that I need to remove wood and mark the areas that I want to avoid. Okay, I'm going to pull this to 15 inches. I won't hold it too long. So I'll make these markings pretty quick because I don't want to risk the chance of creating set in these limbs by holding it on the notch for an extended amount of time, which that can occur. I'll also duck down so you can see the tiller as well. So that's 15 inches and what I'm seeing is I'm seeing right here is still stiff. This is bending really nice and this whole limb is bending beautifully. So just this area right in here is where I'm seeing it's stiff and then I can start balancing this tiller out. I have my etchings marked out and hopefully after I remove this bit of material, we can hit 18 inches of total draw length. So once again, I got my work cut out for me. I am now set at zero on the scale. We'll put it on the tillering stick. Once more, pull it to 18 inches. See exactly where we're at. Okay, 18 inches. I am 42 pounds. So 42 pounds at 18 inches. That's looking good. That's a good weight. We'll continue on. Well, I've been shooting this bow for the past few days with a shorter arrow. This arrow is only 21 inches of total length and I have marked 19 and a half inches. I've been pulling this bow to 19 and a half inches. So I'm only a half inch away from my desired draw length of 20 inches. And this bow, as it sits right now, will hit that 20 inches with no issue whatsoever. But as I was analyzing the back of this bow, I noticed right at these pin knots, the growth ring becomes very, very shallow, almost paper thin. So I decided to add patches of sinew throughout its surface, as you can see, covering each pin knot. But I got to looking at it even more, being the analytical thinker that I can be, I decided and I've made the decision that I need to further reinforce this back by adding a thin strip of rawhide from tip to tip. So I want to take you through that process and what that will do is that will ensure that this bow survives well into the future. Now keep in mind, a traditional Cherokee bow is a self bow, meaning no backing, no sinew, no rawhide. Typically speaking, they just followed a growth ring and that became the back. But as I've said in multiple videos and multiple bow builds, each stave is truly unique and you have to listen to the wood and what it calls for and what it's telling you. And in this case, I do feel that adding that rawhide, that extra measure of security, will be beneficial to this particular stave. So that's what I'll do and like I said, I will take you through that process. It's quite simplistic. Unlike sinew, the application of rawhide has a very short drying time once it's applied. In its raw form, the hide is trimmed and submerged in water, ensuring it fully hydrates and softens. After 24 hours, the hide is removed from the water as a heavy coating of glue is brushed onto the back of the bow and the underside of the hide. The final step is to press the hide onto the back of the bow and wrap it tightly with a medical bandage wrap and rope. After three days, the wraps are then removed and the sides of the bow are filed to rid of any excess of hide in unwanted areas. Now this is my first time stringing the bow with the rawhide glued on the back. You can see and it's all cleaned up. The first thing that I do is I check the seam where the rawhide meets the wood all the way down from tip to tip and I want to make sure that there's no gapping on both sides. Everything looks really good so this should be well attached. Now when looking at the balance of the bow, I'm actually seeing that this limb now right in here, so in the fade area, is just a tad bit stiff and that makes sense because I have these three knots, these three pin knots. So right in here is where I'm seeing that it's a bit stiff, maybe a little bit in the tip too. So those are the areas that I want to work on and focus on right now is scraping and sanding material in these two areas. So in the fade and then once again towards the tip. Once again using my scraper and a couple pieces of sandpaper. Well I've been tillering all day and the sun is starting to set behind me so I'm going to weigh this bow at 19 inches. We'll see where we're at. I have my pulley scale set at zero. We'll attach it to the string and hopefully I get a good weight. Okay at 19 inches, it looks like I'm 46 pounds. Just about 46 pounds. So 45 and a half pounds, that's a good weight. That's a good hunting weight. Now looking at these limbs, I have very little set. About a quarter to a half inch in the upper limb and the lower limb that carried a bit more reflex. Yeah probably, wow that's pretty flat. I would say an eighth inch maybe. Yeah that's not bad. Okay so here is the bow complete. You can see I have that beautiful d-shaped profile. Everything's looking great. The tiller on it is well balanced and I went ahead and wrapped the handle area with red wool trade cloth and a thin strip of brain tan leather. So at this point we will shoot this a lot. I'm going to take it down to the archery range and I'm going to pull this to max draw. So we'll pull this to 20 total inches of draw and I'm pretty excited about this bow. Now the area the arrows that I'll be using are rosewood arrows with turkey wing fletchings and all the components except for the metal field tips I gathered locally in this area. So the sinew of course deer back strap and then the turkey wing feathers come from Wolf Creek and then a little bit in the higher elevations further west of here but in the Prescott area is where I gather my wild rose. So yeah we'll take this down and like I said I am going to shoot this a lot break it in and show you how well it performs.