Miwok
About 20 or so years ago I went to an exhibit on "Bows of the World' at the Denver Art Museum. some of the bows did not make much sense to me at the time. The Asian composites, that were so reflexed the tips crossed. Another strange design was the number of Miwok bows on display. They were short, and some were highly reflexed. Without a horn belly to take up the compression I wondered how they were usable. One of the main things I remembered was the strange hooks at the tips. I still have a picture I took with a disposable camera of these tips.
A decade ago I moved out to the bay area to work on a fishing boat. I had lived all around Colorado before that and had researched and replicated the bows and arrows of the Cheyenne, Arapahoe, and Ute. I used the same woods they used, cut from the same places they took there's from. Living in the Bay area I wanted to do the same thing. I found out the bows of the Costanoan, Coast Miwok, and Sierra Miwok were all the same. As well as some of the bows in the posession of the Yokut tribe. They were the sinew backed, recurved, reflexed, Hook nock bows.
It seems that the origin of many of these was from the Sierra Miwok. All these tribes also had bows of there own making. Mostly self bows of local wood. But the sinew bows of the Sierra Miwok were a highly prized possession, and one of the main trade items offered by the Sierra Miwok.
I found a couple beautiful and very well made Miwok bows at the Lowie Museum in Berkeley. Soon after that I set out to replicate them. I was able to find a lot of information. Craig Bates wrote a 25 page study 'the Reflexed Sinew Backed Bow of the Sierra Miwok. Barrett and Gifford included information on the bows arrows and quivers in 'Miwok Material Culture: Indian life of the Yosemite Region (1933). There is enough information to replicate these bows today.
The bows in collections today are mostly of incense cedar, with California nutmeg being second. Barrett and Gifford write that spruce was also used and in one place ash. In 1928 Herbert Wilson said cedar and oak were used.
Incense cedar is the only species of Libocedrus that is native to the US. It is native from central western Oregon, through most of California, extreme western Nevada and into northern Baja. The tree is slow growing and can live up to 1000 years in the wild.
Incense cedar is the wood I focus on to make these bows. I have used juniper with good results but cedar is what I concentrate on.
The first few bows I made were from the strait trunk of the tree. They worked well but when I started using the limbs I will never go back. The limbs grow upright. This is good because to avoid compression in wood you want to use the top of the limb and in this case you have a natural reflex to start.
The Miwok shaped there bows green, or when the wood was still wet. They new that if this kind of wood got too dry it would become brittle. After the sinew was dry they coated the wood daily with deer marrow to keep it from becoming too dry.
Most bowyers you talk to will tell you cedar is useless. One thing Incense cedar does have going for it is that it handles compression very well. So with sinew to take up the tension on the back, the wood needs only deal with the compression. And it does. I still have a working bow from 3 years ago that I repeatedly drew and shot at a 25" draw. The bow was 39". I also got a cast of 210 yards with this bow in this way. Sinew is very important with these bows. A lot should be used. I have found 5 layers works the best. It will draw the bow up to a healthy reflex for more early draw weight. More than 5 layers and the weight of the sinew starts to slow the cast.
The following are some reproduction bow measurements and performance stats.
The arrows used were reproductions and are as follows.
#1- 23.5" cane with 4" live oak foreshaft. Blue grouse tail feathers 3.75" long and 1/4 high. 21.2 grams.
#2- 23" cane with 5.5" oak foreshaft. Crow feathers 3.75" long and 5/16" high. 20.9 grams.
#3- 23" mock orange with 6.5" oak foreshaft. Turkey and crow feathers 3" x 5/16.
Bow#5- Incense cedar with 4.5 layers of sinew. 39" . Grip- 1.5" x 3/4. Mid limb- 1.5" x 5/8. below nock- 3/4" 46# at 24" draw.
23.5" draw #1 210 yards. #2 170 yards. #3 169.5 yards.
Bow #6- incense cedar 4.5 layers of sinew. 41.5" 52# at 23" draw. Grip- 1.5" x 3/4". Mid limb- 1.5" x 5/8". 5" below nock- 1.25 x 1/2. Below nock- 3/4.
23" draw- #1- 177 yards, #2- 158 yards, #3 -156 yards.
Bow #7- incense cedar with 6 layers of sinew( highly reflexed). 44" long 48# at 23.5" draw. Grip- 1.5" x 5/8, mid limb- 1 5/8" x 1/2", 5" below nock- 1.25 x 1/2", below nock- 3/4".
23" draw- #1- 164 yards, #2- 152 yards, #3 152 yards.
Bow #8- incense cedar with 4 layers of sinew. 37" long, 56# at 18" draw. Grip- 1.5" x 3/4", mid limb- 1.25" x 5/8, 5" below nock- 1 1/8 x 1/2", nock 5/8.
18" draw- #1- 178.5 yards, #2- 157 yards, #3- 151 yards.
Obviously more tests are necessary on bows # 6 and 7 as they were not stressed to there full potential. Bow # 5 had been pulled and shot at 25" a few times and shows no signs of failing on the belly. However in previous bows pulled to such extremes I have experienced fretting on the belly.
Bow # 8 is heavier in draw and when the it reaches 18" it spikes and it is obvious that this is full draw and to draw it further will probably result in wood failure, but a 178 yard cast for a 3 foot long bow drawn to 18" and shooting a 27.5" arrow is excellent!
When incense cedar with a heavy sinew backing is made at draw weights in the 40-50# range the draw weight goes up very little as the inches increase at the full draw range. This is the best compression wood I have ever come across. I have only done 1 test to see what a bow could take before breaking. The bow was 38". I estimate the draw was about 26" before the wood started to fail. It did not snap, but the belly was compromised and would never perform as it did before.
I will keep updating this study as I learn more.