Anyone ever seen a selfbow backed with whale baleen ? I seen one once ! way to cool...Jeff

Isnt China the only country that can whale harvest anymore?That would look cool.I guess you cant get that at 3R.

I believe Dean Torges and the Siberian Wolf builder have used it as well as Aleut bowyers.Cool stuff!

The Japanese used to make a short "sidearm" bow out of baleen. That country is still whaling.

I believe Dean used a "historic" piece of baleen he was given on the belly rather than the back of a special bow.  I think it is a material that is stronger in compression than tension...

You can buy legal baleen from Alaskan natives. It has to be made into "art", usually cleaned and "scrimshawed" with some light scratch carving. If you use it in a bow, I would recommend hanging on to the paperwork to prove legality. The unmentionable big auction site usually has some listed.

Yep Dean did a bamboo backed / baleen bellied bow some years ago.  It is a dandy.  Also J.D. Jones did one or two.  We looked at it but it's too hard to get and the restrictions on resale make it hard to justify.

Mike

thanks for info !!!

http://s971.photobucket.com/albums/ae196/jeffdron/?action=view¤t=untitled.jpg" target="_blank">http://i971.photobucket.com/albums/ae196/jeffdrown/untitled.jpg" border="0" alt="BALEEN">

Its the "HAIR"

Ted at Raptor made one.......it shoots great.

Glen St. Charles made a number of them years back, before any restrictions. Very rare and very valuable. I have seen a few but did not shoot one of Glen's bows. For me, it's hard to top a nice sinew osage. I do have an old baleen yew that still shoots well but I do prefer my old sinew osage raptor.