Talk:Cable-backed bow

Added (rather lame) diagram of bow and removed reqdiagram. Egmason (talk) 11:31, 11 May 2010 (UTC)

Penobscot bow

Penobscot is not cable backed. It has 2 bows connected together with cable. This is a different thing. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 194.137.75.2 (talk) 07:31, 4 December 2013 (UTC)

True enough, though it can also be described as a bow with a partial cable backing. Is it notable enough to be worth its own article? I don't think so personally. Richard Keatinge (talk) 09:32, 4 December 2013 (UTC)

We now have a slightly muddled and insufficently-referenced paragraph: Originally claimed to be invented by Frank Loring (Chief Big Thunder) about 1900. this has since been refuted by a number of archeological artifacts in tribal collections dating back as far as the 1600's. This bow is also indirectly mentioned in the Icelandic sagas which would date it to the 9th Century.

This has three references. The first is to a pre-Internet academic paper on the subject, in a peer-reviewed academic journal, that carefully documents the reasons to suppose that Frank Loring invented this type of bow about 1900. I could easily provide a suitable quotation to directly verify the statement. It is a reliable source, though not unfortunately directly available online. The second is to "War Bows of the North West, comparative technology in primative bow design. Wallace Greyson. American Indian Quaterly Vol22.no1(2000). Maine 2000." Apart from the trivial mis-spellings, neither the American Indian Quarterly for 2000, nor its volume 22 which is from 1998 (https://www.jstor.org/journal/amerindiquar) seem to contain anything by Grayson. The reference fails verification. And the reference to Halldór Hermannsson, "Eiríks saga rauða or Þorfinns saga karlsefnis ok Snorra Þorbrandssonar", Bibliography of the Icelandic Sagas and Minor Tales, Islandica 1, Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Libraries, 1908, OCLC 604126691 refers to an "indirect mention" primary source in a language that I don't speak or read. It is, at best, original research, and has no place in Wikipedia. I have reverted again, waiting in hope for some usable references. Richard Keatinge (talk) 10:46, 4 June 2021 (UTC)

According to Frank Loring himself, the bow has been in his tribe for 200 years (so it would have been made in 1700, or earlier).

https://archive.org/details/bookofwoodcraft00seto/page/482/mode/1up

Though... he may have made up that story, Frank Loring appears to have been a famous showman, so I guess the design could be also much newer (and perhaps even nonfunctional), and he may have made or aquired it because it would look nice on stage or exhibitions. An interesting and (somewhat) favorable article about Frank Loring is here:

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/329029963_Chief_Big_Thunder_1827-1906_The_Life_History_of_a_Penobscot_Trickster

But even if the historic origins are unclear, I think that the Penobscot bow does deserve it's own article - it's quite unique, and more recently, there are many people building modern reproductions (as well as things like triple bows, inspired on the original double bow design).

PS. The name Mi'kmaq bow appears to be also used. 2OO.3OO.2OO.3OO (talk) 04:43, 9 July 2026 (UTC)

Indeed, the general impression is that he invented not only the bow, but all the stories about it too. We would need good sources to believe otherwise. But I imagine that this design could reduce "stacking", the increase in resistance as the bow is drawn, so might conceivably have some advantage. If you can find sufficient reliable secondary sources, feel free to try writing a full article. Richard Keatinge (talk) 17:39, 10 July 2026 (UTC)

References