Ever made a BOW?

[The Government]

Have any of you ever made a primitive Bow? Or made one in the field?

All I know about making a bow is that you want heart wood for the belly and and sap wood for the back (or outside) of the bow. For wood, I have read that locust, hickory, and ashe can be used. (from the book "practicing primitive")

It would be awesome to see some pictures of your bows

Thanks

P.S.
This thread was inspired by Rat Cutlery's new arrowhead line. The are making a series of arrowheads to put into survival kits. I think it is a cool idea, but I have never made a bow. Here is the thread: http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=695921

It looks like it is primarily geared towards arrows. I would also like to know how else you would envision using it. What do you think?

 

[Don Rearic]

I think I will stick with wrist rockets and carrying the few items to make a Hawaiian Sling in the field.

 

[Liam Ryan]

I have studied up on it a lot, unfortunately most of that occurred while I was living in the treeless Canadian north.

Check out the Traditional bowyer's bible, awesome book, and 3 more volumes are available as you increase in proficiency.
http://www.amazon.com/Traditional-Bowyers-Bible-1/dp/1585740853/ref=pd_cp_b_1
I may try to take it up again someday, the beauty of it is you can do it with like 20 bucks worth of tools.

 

[nate1714]

traditionalarcherybows.com is a good place to start. A forum member here put up 8 (i believe) videos of himself making a bow in his garage, not the best quality vid but it works. Beyond that I have seen many web pages on line about it. I once made one with a limb from a hickory tree and fishing line. It was ok. But the line didnt hold up well at all.

 

[The Government]

Thanks for the links guys.

I am going to order the bowyers bible -it is exactly what I needed.

I am going to look into those youtube reviews too.

 

[The Government]

I think I will stick with wrist rockets and carrying the few items to make a Hawaiian Sling in the field.

I just checked out the hawaiian sling. Looks basically like a "three prong." That is what we called our fish spears in HI. The 3 prong is my favorite way to fish, because instead of waiting for the fish to bite, you get to bite the fish.

The sling is a little more complex though. It looks interesting.
thanks

 

[Fiddleback]

I've gathered the materials. And haven't made one yet....

 

[coote]

Yep. I've made lots of bows from logs and saplings. I've also broken most of them. However I have had some survivors, learned some lessons and I've even bagged game with them. I cant find any decent photos showing whole bows sorry.

The sapwood for the back and heartwood for the belly is something I've read about and it makes sense. However I've never really bothered about this for the type of wood I've been using here, and I'm fairly sure it isn't always necessary. Just use what you've got.

If I had any advice to give I'd say make your bow longer than the theoretical minimum size for your draw (in the early stages of your bow making anyway). This longer bow is unlikely to be as efficient as a smaller bow which is pretty much stressed to the max, but it is likely to be more forgiving of beginner bowmaking skills and flawed wood.

There is a heap of good information around about making bows, and volume 1 of The Traditional Bowmakers Bible is something I'd heartily recommend.

Your bow does not have to look wonderful to work well (Although if you want to take the time to make a really nice job, you should find the final product very satisfying to look at and use). And you don't need a huge selection of tools and equipment to make a decent bow. I've made them using just a hatchet. A hatchet and knife is a better combination because you can use the knife as a scraper for removing just a shaving of wood, an it is easier to cut the nocks with a knife.

If you could have just one power tool for bow making, I'd recommend a disk grinder fitted with a coarse sanding disk. But you have to be careful not to remove too much wood with something this fierce.

Good thread. Perhaps someone in your area could recommend what wood to use.

Its unneccessary to have one of these clamp arrangements for bow making, but it is a good means of holding the stave while you use a drawknife or scraper on the belly. Folks call this a shaving horse. It has a simple lever arrangement you push with your foot to clamp the save. The operator sits at the high end on a low seat like a round of firewood.

You can make a bow with just a sharp hatchet. I recall working on a bow while sitting in the guardhouse when I was employed as a security officer. I had some slack time and I simply placed an old magazine on the floor to rest the end of the bow on while I 'chopped' fine slices from it.

 

[coote]

You can make your own broadheads from sheet steel. I like using stainless steel which may work harden a bit if you peen it. You can just make flat blades and glue and tie them into place, or you can squash one end of some suitable tubing and solder the blades into the tubing.

If you want to make your own arrows and you don't have ready access to feathers, you could try using wide adhesive tape. Here are some pictures that give an idea of how I have done this (I've posted these before sorry).

For making a bow in the field you might consider making a bundle bow. If you do an internet search you might find some good ideas for doing this. Basically you might use three bits of stick of a fairly uniform size at each end. One long one, a short one, and one inbetween. Bind them together so that the bow is fairly symmetrical around the center. My experiments prove that these work, but probably not as well as a well-made single stave bow in most cases. But they could easily kill small game.

Bow making isn't too hard. But coming up with a supply of good home-made arrows can be a bit of a challenge. I've used a variety of things including planed strips of straight-grained lumber, natural shoots which I've had to straighten, and one of the best things I've used is dried fern stalks.

 

[CanDo]

I've made a few bows out of red oak boards and it's been lots of fun. In about a month, I'll be making some bamboo/Ipe laminates for myself and a couple people close to me. I'll be sure to get lots of good pictures. Should be some sweet shooting machines

I compete with an aluminum riser and kevlar/carbon/foam limbs in the Olympic Recurve division. It's a blast, but definitely can't replace the feel of a homemade wooden bow.

 

[R.H.Clark]

Yes,I have made several nice bows of Hickory.My latest is a bamboo backed Osage.

Someone link me to an explanation or explain how to post pictures here and I'll give it a try. Do you have to be a paying member?

If making a Hickory bow I would recommend Paul Comstock's "The Bent Stick." You can get it at 3Rivers archery.

As far as The Traditional Bowyers Bible,there is a lot of good info but they act like you have to find the impossibly illusive straight piece of Osage to build a bow.Guess they never heard of a heat gun.

 

[coote]

I'm not a paying member and I can post pics. My pictures sit on Photobucket. To insert the pics I type the address of the photobucket file into the box that appears when I click on the little picture icon that is situated above the box where you type your posts. Would love to see your pictures R H.

 

[coote]

Here's a brushtailed possum taken with a really crude home made bow and arrow. The quiver is made from one leg from a pair of old jeans. In the bottom of the sewn-up 'leg' I have the bottom half of an old plastic soda bottle which is there to stop my broadheads cutting through the denim. The feathers on the arrow were most likely obtained from a Canada goose's wing.

 

[R.H.Clark]

Thanks Coote.
I'll give that a try.I guess I need a Photobucket account.I started signing up once and they wanted to put me on E harmony.I don't need that, been married 18 years.I quit half way through.

Nice equipment and possum.The best meat I ever ate was a possum that had been boiled,had the meat stripped and then baked like a roast with potatoes carrots and onions.

 

[99f250]

I made a bow out of oak and ash, ash on the outside and oak inside, glued the two peices together then shaped with jig saw and sander, made the string out of synthetic sinew by braiding three strands together. The whole thing worked pretty well, however I made it to short, only about three feet long. I made this bow about five years ago and its still strung and working, though I've only shot a foam target with it at about 10 yards.

 

[jcl-MD]

Very Cool!!
RP#141

 

[The Government]

I am very impressed, Thanks for posting!

 

[dipbait]

I made a bow out of an Osage sapling.Its one of the most pitiful ones ever designed. I shot it once using a straight stick as an arrow. Although ugly it was strong. Dang string hit my forearm so hard that it left a giant red welp.

 

[Toucan Oasis]

Dave Canterbury sells a rig that's like a wrist rocket with a ring thingy for shooting arrows.

 

[Toucan Oasis]

Thanks Coote.
I'll give that a try.I guess I need a Photobucket account.I started signing up once and they wanted to put me on E harmony.I don't need that, been married 18 years.I quit half way through.

Nice equipment and possum.The best meat I ever ate was a possum that had been boiled,had the meat stripped and then baked like a roast with potatoes carrots and onions.

I gave up possum back in the early eighties.
I came across a dead and bloated cow so I had the bright idea of popping i with my Redhawk.
Wanna guess where the 2 possums were " hiding".?:barf: