Backed with real copperhead skin. Buffalo horn tips.
Two-Piece Osage Takedown
Backed with real copperhead skin. Buffalo horn tips.
I have been building bows since 1998. Like most archers, I started out using compound bows, but I found traditional archery much more of a challenge. Since I am left-handed, I had difficulty finding bows that suited me, so I began to build bows. I started with fiberglass kits, and I made two or three very nice bows, but I felt that almost anything that I sandwiched between two pieces of fiberglass would shoot well. I wanted to experience the thrill of using actual trees and bamboo and animal sinew and horn to make bows the old fashioned way. I do use modern glues, strings and machines to make these bows, and many of them are perhaps too fancy for mere survival. Nonetheless, they are effective weapons that shoot fast. They are also quiet and easy to shoot. I hope you enjoy looking at them, and if you would like to know more about them, send me an email.
Dan's bows can now be purchased through the site Primitive Pathways.
Click here to be taken to the Dan Spier collection.
Backed with real copperhead skin. Buffalo horn tips.
Col. Bill Bailey came over to my shop and we built this bow in one day.
This short bow (50 inches) is made from hickory. I stained it a reddish brown to resemble juniper or cedar. It is backed by elk sinew and painted in a Hupa-style pattern. The tips and grip area are decorated with rabbit fur. It pulls 48 pounds at 26 inches.
This a display of a Plains Indian archery set I made. The bow is a double-curved piece of Osage Orange wood backed with elk sinew. The string is woven sinew also. The arrows are river cane shafts with wild turkey fletching and flint points.
This is an osage orange bow backed with copperhead skins.
This is a snaky osage takedown bow with copperhead skins on the back. It is 66” long and has buffalo horn tip overlays.
HOLY SMOKES!!! This osage bow with a knothole in it made a nice project. It is covered with the beautiful wild turkey feathers.
This two-piece bamboo bow was built for my friend John. It is covered with a copperhead skin with buffalo horn tips.
This is a native American saddle quiver made of tanned deerskin painted with earth colors. The lacing and fringe are also deerskin. It contains a 40" long osage self bow that pulls 46 pounds with a double-twisted elk sinew string. The arrows are made from river cane with turkey feather fletching. This entire rig would have been worn by the native horseman as he went to battle or to hunt. The bow could be extracted quickly and strung when swung around into his lap. Then, he would mount one arrow and carry two in his bow hand. This way he could shoot three arrows fairly rapidly.
This bow is 66 inches long and pulls 52 pounds at 28 inches. It is covered with one rattlesnake skin from a large snake. I am really proud of this bow. It shoots very fast and smooth.