How did the North American Indians get the Feathers to attach to their Wooden Shafts?

I first thought they might have "Split the Shaft" a short distance, inserted the Feather and then tied the Shaft at both ends of the Feather to prevent further splitting. But, that only inserts "one" feather.

And my buddy Ralph(aka Quagmire) thinks they may have used Pine Pitch.

So, what did they really do?

Gum or sap from trees as i've always been told but i've heard hide glue as well. I found this article from University of Iowa on the matter.

http://www.uiowa.edu/~osa/learn/ancient/archery.htm

wrapped(tied) em on with sinew....


troy

quote:

Originally posted by DTala:
wrapped(tied) em on with sinew....

troy

+1 Some examples of modern copies are shown here.

Indian Arrows

Thanks for the info.

Not done by a Native American, however, this is how we do it in Wisconsin. Whitetail deer backstrap sinew and hide glue.









rudyc

Hey Rudy, Very nice. I'm always impressed by true skill and talent.

more like this....


sinew wrapped ends and thru turkey feathers, no glue.

troy

Real nice.

I bet they got really pissed when they broke or lost one!

I look for a lost arrow for at least as long as it took to make it. Makes you think more about keeping your shot distance close.

rudyc

Hey Guys,

Just an " FYI ".., lots of wonderful " Primitive Tech " , information on " Paleo Planet ".
http://paleoplanet69529.yuku.com/

PAPI

A few years ago was up at the Custer battle ground. There they had some original(supposedly) arrows from that time period on display. My thoughts were 'How could they hit anything with those?' They were really crude compared to the modern mfg. 'primitive' arrows. The craftsmanship was really bad, esp. compared to some of the other hand work (beading, baskets, etc) done at that time. I expect they got really close to the intended target.
C.G.B.

cgbach, the arrows of that time period were shot at buffalo at a few feet from horse back. Before the horse the bows and arrows were longer because they had to make longer shots. When the horse arrived everything changed, short and heavy draw weight bows. This is for the plains tribes anyway, it worked for what they needed it to do.

I think a lot of the arrows we see in "period" displays were made more recently. Possibly a generation or two after the event took place. The maker knew generally how to make an arrow byt not a good one. The extreme example of that is the "indian" trading post in Banff Alberta where you can buy stuff made by natives. There are bows and arrows there that are totally unworkable.

I worked on a reserve for a couple years and there were a few bows and a couple arrows in the museum that looked pretty decent to me.

As and additional note I was in Portsmouth in the UK last weekend and saw the items from the Mary Rose, a medeival ship that was recovered from the ocean.

There were English longbows and arrows by the crateful and it was one of my bucket list items to see this stuff. Anyway I was amazed at the lack of skill shown in the bow making but the arrows were very carefully made. As always the arrows are more important than the bow.