# Eastern Woodland (Cherokee) bow



## Bowhunterga (Jul 17, 2013)

So I started carving on a Dogwood Stave that I cut back in Late January or so. My goal being a Cherokee style, bend through the handle bow. I have been reading and researching this style some and had one question that I wanted to run by you all here and perhaps on another forum or two.

Most of the drawings I have seen (Traditional Bowyers Bible ) show the design to be a straight, bend through the handle bow. Nothing fancy at all really. However I have seen a few older drawings and paintings, one of which is in the Boyers bible, that shows what appears to be a slight reflex in the limbs. So my question is, what have you seen in this style? My stave has a good bit of backset already. I am very excited about this bow.

On a side note. The wood is much tougher than I anticipated. This is going to be some work!!


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## NCHillbilly (Jul 18, 2013)

Any reflex or backset you have will definitely be an asset to you in the long run. Those Cherokee bows weren't made from a pattern, they varied considerably from bowyer to bowyer. I'm sure any Cherokee bowyer would have been tickled to wind up with a little reflex in a finished bow. I've seen examples of the general Eastern Woodlands style that were reflex/deflex profiles, recurved, and all kinds of stuff. I like the design a lot-they are a deceptively simple, but very effective and good shooting bow. 

One thing I learned after making a few of them is to leave the handle area fairly stiff-if it's noticibly bending, it'll jar your teeth out with handshock and be no fun to shoot, plus, you'll wind up with a bunch of string follow. You want to barely feel it bending at full draw. 

BTW, dogwood is really good bow wood, I would rate it a little above hickory.


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## Bowhunterga (Jul 18, 2013)

Thanks for the info and advice. I have grown up around dogwoods all my life and really not sure what made me want to make a bow using this wood but I did ask around and was told exactly what you said. My only real concern right now is that the staves I have came from what I would say was an exceptional dogwood, straight and fairly clean but as I am starting to whittle on this thing it is pretty gnarly with regards to knots. Plus I split the log in two and now I am thinking I should have made three staves from this tree. Oh well, moving forward!!! Will keep you posted!


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## Flint Arrow (Jul 18, 2013)

NCHillBilly is right about the tillering on a southeastern style bow...very little bend in the handle/center...go slow and it will be a great bow...simple and deadly. I will take some braintan and wrap the handle area, but i will build up a couple layers of skin on the backside of my bow and wrap over the layers to give me a round feel to the handle. Feels better in my hand this way....


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## Bowhunterga (Jul 23, 2013)

Here is an update of the progress so far. Only 30 minutes to an hour a day for making shavings but so far I am happy with the results:






First night.





Day 2




Day 3




Day 4




Comparison to the other half of the tree. I only split the log in half, should have split 3 ways in hindsight.

Moving on.


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## dpoole (Jul 25, 2013)

call hatchet Dan


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## Philbow (Jul 25, 2013)

Have you decrowned it? It looks like you have from the photos.


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## Al33 (Jul 25, 2013)

Looking good Steve! Do you have to chase a ring on Dogwood? Also, how do you split a log three ways?


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## olcop (Jul 26, 2013)

*Cherokee Bow*



Al33 said:


> Looking good Steve! Do you have to chase a ring on Dogwood? Also, how do you split a log three ways?



Just like splitting a frog hair, split it with a broadaxe
olcop


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## Todd Cook (Jul 27, 2013)

I've never tried dogwood. Those look like pretty good staves. The only problem I see is your shop is far to neat and organized


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## Bowhunterga (Jul 27, 2013)

Lets see if I can answer all questions, I am a few days behind.

To split into three staves I would have had to cut into the log three times with a chainsaw or a skill saw. The wood is a lot like persimmon and does not split well. you have to cut it and then split to finish. 

You do not have to chase a ring, the wood is a lot like fruit trees, hickory or persimmon. Very tough and hard. 

Todd, I looked a long time to find a tree straight enough to get a 70"+ stave. I know where another tree is that is a good bit larger and better than this one but I wanted to see how this bow turns out before cutting another tree.


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## bam_bam (Jul 28, 2013)

Dogwood is great. One of my favorite bows I ever made was dogwood.


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