Bamboo Bundle Bow Nock Test

Hello. First I would like to say that I'm no expert on any primitive skills. I've researched and read a ton about how to do things, but when I moved to the mountains is when I really started practicing my skills. And boy have I learned a lot from living out here in the middle of nowhere. Well, anyway, recently I've taken an interest in making bows. I wanted to start with something simple like a bamboo bundle bow, but I wanted to come up with something different for nocks, besides just string nocks. So this is my experiment using hockskins from a whitetail deer with the dew claws and dew claw bones still attached to hold the bow string.

Things I Used:

Twisted rawhide 

Hide glue

Dried Glue

Reconstituted Glue in old Tuna Can
I put this in a hot water bath, while I was working.

Hock Skins from the lower leg of a deer

with dew claws and dew claw bones left in

This was just a crazy idea I had. I thought these would make really cool knocks for the bowstring.

Sinew

Dried, pounded, and separated

Pieces of Seasoned Bamboo

I got these at Lowe's Hardware in the Garden section. But, not wanting to spend much money on this project, I only got 2 of the 6 ft stakes, and a 25 pack of 4 ft stakes. (The 6 ft stakes were $3 a piece, and the 25 pack was about $3 also)

Process

Bamboo end

I scraped just a little on the bamboo, to give the glue something to hold onto.

I smeared some glue on the bamboo and the inside of the hockskin. I let the glue on the bamboo dry a little until it was tacky to the touch.

I also wrapped these with some sinew just as extra hold, and to hold them in place while i wrapped them in rawhide.

And...the rest to come. I did test it a little before it was finished just to see if it was going to hold up. I cheated some during this test by wrapping the handle area in duct tape, and wrapping one layer of duct tape around the rawhide lashings...but my goal is to use all natural materials. I removed the duct tape after testing and will finish it up with all rawhide lashings.

Drawn Bow

The nocks held very well. I put a strip of duct tape on them at first for safety, in case they slipped. But after a couple days the rawhide, sinew, and glue were cured enough to hold on their own without the tape. I was very impressed with the glue, considering it was my first attempt at making it.