It is unknown whether you will ever need to make a bow and arrow yourself, but if you take six minutes to watch a video from Primitive Technologies, you may acquire such a skill in the future. Made with homemade instruments and the trees in the nearby forest, they represent a truly remarkable creation that would have been proud of the craftsmen of the dawn of mankind.
How to make a bow and arrow without tools
As you can see, to begin with, a tree trunk of suitable thickness is cut down. Then a part is taken from it required length(in this case it is 1.25 m) and with the help of available tools it is split in two. The resulting part is subjected to further processing, with tools even more primitive than the bow itself. Naturally, due to their imperfections, the grinding process will take a lot of time.
The result is a stick with a thickening in the middle and polished ends, which due to this have become much thinner. The material for the bowstring is mined in the same forest. You need to choose a type of wood that will allow you to bend the trunk without breaking it in the process.
Next, it’s time to think about arrows, the source of which will be the same forest. The length of the arrows will be 60 cm. The grinding process takes place, then using resin from wood and homemade twine, the plumage is fixed into a specially made recess on the arrow, which is processed using fire.
The quiver for arrows, which is made of tree bark, is not forgotten either. Surely it will not be possible to create a bow, arrows and quiver as easily as shown in the video the first time, so it is better to be patient and persevering in advance. Afterwards, all that remains is to practice and improve your archery skill, receiving unforgettable experience and a sense of belonging to the hunters of ancient times
A great article dedicated to such an interesting topic as DIY arrows. In it we will show in detail and step by step, with examples and explanations, how to make good, high-quality arrows at home and with your own hands. This material clearly shows all the subtleties of manufacturing; it will be understandable to both an adult and a child.
Arrows - the basis of a shot
All my life I thought that in art the most important thing is the artist, and not, for example, his brush. Many photographers took their pictures with expensive cameras, but they took truly stunning pictures with the simplest digital point-and-shoot cameras. With experience, all a photographer needs is the camera itself. But archery does not fit this rule.
If earlier I believed that success depended 90% on the archer, now my opinion has changed dramatically, and I believe that success still depends on the bow and arrow, and only a little on the archer himself. For example, if you give a shooting master a bad bow and crooked arrows, he is unlikely to achieve serious success.
Therefore, arrows must be made thoroughly, despite the fact that they very often break, get lost, and so on. But still, do not forget that arrows are consumables.
To make a shaft you will need:
- 10 mm glazing bead without knots, smooth, square. It happens that round so-called dowels are already on sale, in which case take them without hesitation! Most often, the material for making such dowels is pine, which is quite suitable for us. It happens that the glazing beads are glued together from several parts, the same ones will do, but if possible, then unravel the board into glazing beads yourself, you will get an even, homogeneous blank material that can only be found.
If you cannot do this yourself, then go to a carpentry workshop and pay for the services of a carpenter who will do it for you. Read about how to choose the optimal boom length for a particular person on our website in the article section.
The best material for glazing beads is birch. It has its drawbacks in the form of the hardness of the species of this tree itself (it will affect the difficulty of processing), unlike pine, for example, but this is the most ideal option, the glazing beads will be excellent. By the way, the Mongols made their arrows from birch, and they knew a lot about weapons, even a lot.
To make arrows for a bow you will need the following tools.
For the shaft:
- File
- Metal saw
- Drill (screwdriver)
- Jigsaw (or wood saw)
- Sanding paper different sizes grains and files.
For plumage:
- Pattern for fletching (so that all the feathers on the arrows are the same)
- A4 paper,
- Scissors
- Pencil
- Ballpoint pen
- Ruler
- Eraser
- Aluminum tape (foil, one side of which is sticky, with a protective strip)
- Colored tape (it is advisable to use bright colors so as not to lose your bow arrow in the grass).
To make a safe tip we will need:
- Insulating tape
- Stationery knife
- Aluminum tape
- Five-kopeck coin
- Material for softening (foam rubber is best for this, but you can take a travel mat for example)
- Fabric (10x10 cm is enough).
To make a combat tip we will need:
- Metal scissors,
- Vise
- Pliers
- Tin (almost anything will do, the most easily accessible are tin cans)
- File
- Knitting wire
Shaft
I advise you to make as many arrows as possible, and not to be lazy. This is especially true for those who participate in historical reconstructions, usually you can get by with 40 pcs. This will be enough to avoid saving arrows while shooting. Let's get started, we have a glazing bead and first we need to cut it into pieces of the required length (choose the length of the arrow according to your dimensions and add 30mm).
Rounding.
We take a plane (manual or electric) in our hands and chamfer the glazing bead, do not overdo it in this matter, the task is to give our square an octagonal cross-section, it is very important that the knives (or blade) of the plane are very sharp, this will greatly facilitate the process of making arrows with your own hands.
If your plane is electric, then I advise you to simply buy new knives for it; if the plane is manual, then sharpen the blade yourself and then adjust it. In any case, sharpened knives will remove wood very carefully, and you will get very high-quality arrows for your bow.
For example, we gave 40 glazing beads the required octagonal shape.
Now we take 1 arrow blank and insert one end into the screwdriver (for this we needed a reserve in size so as not to spoil the arrow). Now we take a rough sandpaper in the second hand (use safety precautions to avoid all kinds of injuries), turn on the screwdriver and start sanding the workpiece.
After this, take a medium skin (skin with a medium grain) and repeat the same process, at the very end take a fine skin (with the finest grain) and process the workpiece last time until perfectly smooth.
We grind the glazing bead.
We begin to make a cut for the bowstring, this is very important point. We make a cut, for example, with a hacksaw for metal, strictly perpendicular to the workpiece, to a depth of about 7mm. Next, we take the needle file in our hands and begin to widen the cut with it, rounding the corners in parallel.
Now, using a round file at a distance of 1.5 cm from the heel of the arrow, we make 2 dimples, or you can remove 2 mm in depth and 20 mm in length with a special spatula for wood carving (see figure), we do this operation with all the blanks for the arrows.
Read a detailed and complete article. After reading it, you can easily make it at home, it won’t take much time.
We make a cut for the bowstring.
Protecting our homemade bow arrows. We choose a tinting (giving a certain color) antiseptic (from fungus, blue stains and other wood diseases) in the store. The color doesn't matter, choose it to your taste. Believe me, coating a bow arrow will do its job and add durability to it.
Let's start fletching the arrow
Remember, to make the arrows fly faster, make the feather smaller; if the arrows are heavy, make the feather wider.
Also, if the feather is closer to the heel, then shooting will be more accurate; the further from the heel, the faster the arrow will fly. The shape can be given in different ways (this is a matter of taste), the most optimal fletching length for arrows is 8-10 cm with a maximum width of 2 cm.
In order for all the plumage to be the same, we need to make a pattern. For this task, for example, plywood or a piece of metal, or thick cardboard will do. The color of the plumage also matters; the brighter the color, the easier it will be for you to find the arrow.
Pattern for plumage.
We mark the paper along 4 cm. As a result, we will get 4 strips of 30cm each. We take aluminum tape (its width is 5 cm) and make markings on it to make stripes 1 cm wide and 32 cm long.
Mark a sheet of paper.
Everything is cut with scissors.
We cut with scissors.
We lay out a strip of cut paper on two strips of aluminum tape so that the tape protrudes 5 mm, then fasten it with narrow tape.
Paper on aluminum tape.
Very carefully and carefully we glue colored tape on top, 5 cm wide, the width of our workpiece is also 50 mm. It is important that no bubbles appear on the surface.
Attach colored tape.
This is what it should look like:
It will turn out like this.
We bend the aluminum strips.
We bend the strips.
We fix it with narrow tape
We fix it with tape.
Attach colored tape.
Colored tape.
We cut off the unnecessary narrow tape with scissors.
Cut off the tape.
We smooth the surface thoroughly to ensure complete adhesion of the tape.
Smooth it out.
Using a pattern, we outline four feathers.
Cut out the feathers.
Cut out feathers.
What should happen.
Whatever happens.
Remove the protective strip and glue the first feather, do not forget to monitor the parallelism.
Removing the protective film.
Glue 2 more feathers with an angle between the feathers of 120 degrees.
Feathers at an angle.
Wrap 1cm wide (with tension) with aluminum tape before and after the plumage.
Wrapped plumage.
This is what it looks like.
Finished plumage.
You already know almost everything about the topic of how to make arrows for a bow.
Let's move on to the tips.
If you are making a bow and arrow for yourself, then you may not need arrowheads at all. But if you still need them, then we will consider several options for their manufacture.
The first option is safe arrows, they have a soft pad instead of a tip - such arrows are much safer than arrows with a combat tip.
The second manufacturing option is arrows with a combat tip, I immediately warn you that they become truly dangerous and can pose a threat to others, so remember about safety precautions and shoot them only in special places.
Safety tip
I have already described what we need to make it above in the article. Here's a photo.
We wrap the end of the arrow with electrical tape so that 2 mm of tape protrudes from the edge.
We wrap the end of the arrow.
Look how it should be.
We secure the coin as follows.
Coin mount.
Strips of electrical tape, 8 cm long, crosswise (2 pcs.).
We attach this tightly to the arrow.
Wood and its preparation
For a simple onion, almost any tree growing in central Russia is suitable. Recommended:
Juniper
Hazel
Birch
Ash
Oak
Elm
Blank: cut down the proposed workpiece in winter, in frost (approx. 10-15 degrees).
The workpiece should not have large knots (growths, mechanical and thermal damage.
Length of the workpiece = onion length + 30 cm (15 cm on each side for cracks during drying, the occurrence of which is not excluded).
DO NOT REMOVE the bark from the resulting “log”!
Cover the ends of the workpiece with oil paint. The wood should dry evenly to avoid the appearance of internal defects in the material. If this is not done, the bow will not last long.
Dry the processed workpiece in a vertical position at room temperature. The air should not be too dry, otherwise the tree will dry out and the work will be in vain. Drying time 2-5 months, depending on conditions.
Advice: look for a preparation before winter if you don’t want to climb through snowdrifts for several hours.
Primary processing
The resulting workpiece is a log (Fig. 1).
Our task is to get a board from this log (Fig. 2).
How to achieve this? There are several options, each of which is quite historical.
Processing with an ax
Using a saw
By splitting using wedges (from harder wood).
The thickness of the board is equal to the width of the bow being made in the handle (for a Slavic bow about 3 cm).
After receiving the board we need, we need to mark it.
Visually check it for cross-layers and other defects. Based on the inspection results, make adjustments to the thickness of the bow at the location of the material defect (increase it).
Figure 3 shows the marking diagram.
Please note that we did not remove the bark from the workpiece. Don't hurt outer part your future bow!
The excess part is separated from the bow using an ax (rough work), and then a knife and plane (finish work). With this treatment you get the side profile of the bow.
After separating the onion, begin forming its frontal profile (Fig. 4).
The ratio of the width of the handle to the width of the end of the shoulder is approximately 3/2. Be extremely careful during these stages of work. It depends on the precision and accuracy of your work whether the arms of the bow will work equally evenly or one will be more elastic than the other. At these stages, the bow cannot be bent - this can lead to splitting of the workpiece and its damage.
The cross section of your bow will depend on the thickness of the log you have prepared. It can vary from lentil-shaped to almost rectangular.
Fig. 5 (sections of bows)
Steaming onions (final stage)
At this stage, the bend of the bow is formed. Some manufacturers resort to soaking the workpiece in various infusions and solutions. Wood treated with water vapor has all the properties we need.
Why, exactly, steam onions?
Here are a few reasons to be aware of the production process:
If the wood dries out during the drying process (therefore, it is not recommended to bend the onion before steaming).
In the case where your initial blank was not straight (which is not uncommon, and what you should not be afraid of. The front profile of your weapon does not have to be straight at all. This will not affect the shooting efficiency in any way, except that it will be inconvenient for another person to use your weapon. The main thing is - convenient for you!)
If you are making a relatively short weapon (Slavic version 1 - 1.3 m).
If you intend to make a bow with a reverse arch.
In the case when you are making a “light” (for example, a gaming) bow.
In order to give an aesthetic appearance.
At the beginning of the stage, your workpiece represents the following
For example, you need to get a bend like this:
To do this, you need to steam the onion limbs (the steamed element becomes plastic and easily accepts the bend that you set. Steam the onion limb until you can easily bend it for captivity).
The following parts are steamed (shown in white).
It is best to steam at the same time, so that the onion shoulders dry simultaneously and evenly.
After steaming the shoulders, the bow is forced into a special slipway prepared in advance specifically for this bow.
The wooden blocks between which the “hot” bow is trapped are shown in black. The number, shape and location of the clamping bars depends on the bow shape you want.
In such a slipway, the onions dry for up to 1 week. After this, it is removed from the stocks, the ends of the bow are shaped for subsequent putting on of the bowstring (a place is prepared for the horn/bone tips or a “step” is simply cut out for the loop of the bowstring).
Please note that we did not remove the bark from the “back” of the onion! When steaming and capping in a slipway, part of the bark will peel off from the back of the onion. Separate it with your fingernail or a wooden knife. ATTENTION! Do not damage the fibers on the back of the bow! If part of the bark remains, do not be upset, carefully sand it with sandpaper until smooth and your bow will acquire a decent quality appearance.
The onion is almost ready. For the longevity of the onion, it must be protected from drying out or moisture. If you adhere to the historical-reconstructive direction in your work, then I recommend soaking the onion with hot wax or melted fat (do not overdo it! The impregnation should be no more than 3 mm deep, otherwise the onion will lose its elasticity), otherwise you can use varnish or modern paints or mastics.
Put the string on shortly before shooting and remove immediately after.Sew a case for the bow to prevent damage to it during transportation and storage.
Store onions in an upright position at room temperature and moderate humidity.
Shoot your bow at least once a month to keep it from getting out of the habit of shooting.
Treat your bow with care, and it will respond to you with faithful and long service!
How to make an arrow blank at home
The existing examples of creativity from military history clubs are made on an intuitive level and do not meet the requirements for historical bows and equipment (arrows, tips, etc.), both in terms of the materials used and in terms of the results of shooting from them . This state of affairs seems unacceptable to us. With all our respect for hardware and the people who are seriously involved in it, we cannot understand such a disdainful attitude towards what is historically accurate and suitable for practical shooting equipment.The lack of information on historical small arms (throwing) weapons leads to the fact that archery competitions at various tournaments turn into a comedy worthy of prime time on leading TV channels. Armed with hybrids of slingshots and fishing rods or products made from car springs that fit the same cars and pull, masters of accurate shooting try to hit a half-meter target from a mind-boggling distance of 20-25 steps (15-18 meters). As a rule, they fail to do this. At least from the first shot. The assumption that with such weapons English archers could send thousands of Frenchmen to the next world in the battles of Crecy, Poitiers and Agincourt causes mocking giggles even from an inexperienced person. Of course, practice is necessary to achieve acceptable shooting. However, practice alone is not enough. We need reliable information about the methods of correct and accurate shooting from a historical bow, as well as the technologies for making bows and equipment. Therefore, we are preparing a series of materials devoted to the manufacture of historical throwing weapons, arrows and other equipment in the hope that this will partly alleviate the lack of information on this topic and inspire our colleagues, as well as simply interested readers, to make their own bows, arrows, etc. as well as searches, research and exchange of information on this topic. The first of the articles brought to your attention is devoted to the manufacture of arrows.
The majority of people perceive arrows as a stick with feathers and a tip. This is not entirely true. The “stick” has a very definite length and shape, the appearance and size of the plumage can be very diverse, and arrowheads have so many varieties that it is difficult to list. In this article we will try to tell you in a popular form how to first make at home, without going into tricky technical details, that very “stick” that will not only fly competently, but also hit the target, obeying your skill. So, let's proceed to the first stage of making our arrow: searching for material for the shaft (from now on it will be called a “stick”). To begin with, forget from your mind that you can go into the forest and cut young shoots of hazel or other shrubs. Everything is much more complicated. The minimum we can offer you is to take a walk through the building materials stores and find a product called glazing bead (wooden slats of rectangular cross-section), but at most, get ready for a little warm-up in the form of purchasing and further processing the board. Now about the secret, about the type of wood that we will use. There is a very wide choice in types of wood for making arrows. Each variety has its own pros and cons when choosing. The main varieties that are used for arrows: oak, ash, beech, elm, birch, pine and the list goes on. Some varieties have good strength, but are rigid and heavy, others are brittle, light and ductile. Well, perhaps one of the most important factors in this list it is the availability and price of these wood species. In our case, we will take pine, as it is the most common in our area (Moscow), as well as the cheapest. This type of tree satisfies our needs. Pine is a fairly light and durable tree. Its abundance on sale and in a “free” state (at construction sites, dachas and in forests) allows for a fairly picky choice. The criteria for choosing a board or bead for our workpiece are as follows:
It must be sustained. Not dry as bad dried fish, namely seasoned. If the tree has simply been dried, it is more sensitive to moisture (with further use, it may “lead”).
Thickness (should be at least 2 cm for the board and 1.5 cm for the glazing bead; by the way, it doesn’t make sense to take it thicker, since in this case “the reserve will pull in the pocket” in terms of processing).
Texture (the material for the workpiece should not have knots, the fibers should run parallel along the length of the workpiece).
So let's assume that you find such material. Amazing. Then we move on to the next stage of our process - the selection of tools. In our work we will need four items: a saw, a plane, a rasp or hog file, a file and sandpaper with a grit of 60-80 (Euro marking). If you have a glazing bead as the starting material, then you won’t need a plane; if you have a board, then get ready for a little warm-up. It will have to be hidden. We'll explain how and where to use these tools later in the process. Let's start with a lyrical digression. No two people are the same. Therefore, our blanks in the future will have a strictly individual length. Let's explain. This is because different lengths hands How to determine your arrow stock length. Elementary. For this you will need a meter ruler. The method is simple. Stand up straight and hold the ruler at zero with your right hand. Next, pinch it between your index finger and thumb. right hand ruler at the 1 cm mark. Why this will be said below. Next, take left hand to the side at an angle of 90 degrees to the body and clench your hand into a fist. Turn your head towards your left hand and at the same time place the ruler on the fist of your left hand. Now, if you know or have seen how a bow string is pulled, pull your hand with a ruler to your chin. Lock this position. Next look under index finger left hand, and you will be able to see your desired length of the future workpiece. Add another 2 cm to the result (we need our 1 cm to make a cut for the bowstring in the future). The author of this article has a tension length of 76 cm, taking into account our 3 cm. For example, we will assume that yours is the same length as mine. Now we can proceed directly to making a wooden base for our future arrow.
Step 1. Take a board or glazing bead and measure our 76 cm. Saw it off. If you have a board, then use a plane to sharpen it to a thickness of 1-1.5 cm. Next, mark the board widthwise into parts according to the dimensions obtained as a result of turning so that you get parts of a square section (the same glazing bead). Saw it. If everything is done correctly, then you should get a smooth source material as if you bought it in a store. By the way, there is nothing terrible, if it turns out a little crooked, it can be fixed.
Step 2. Take what you got and use a rasp or hog file to give the workpiece a hexagonal shape. The main thing is to do everything carefully.
Step 3. Repeat everything as in step 2 with the only difference that you need to make an octagon from a hexagon, applying maximum attention and accuracy. Next, take a small piece of sandpaper and wrap it around what can now be called a blank for the arrow and holding it in your hand, using reciprocating movements, give it a round cross-section. Once you have an arrow shaft that is round and smooth to the touch, you can consider the work finished.
There is one thing left, and perhaps the most important thing to consider your work ready for further production of the arrow, this is measuring the thickness. The thickness should be 8-9 mm along the entire length. In general, it depends on a lot of factors and is one of the most important parameters arrows. In the future, we will talk about how to choose the right arrows depending on the bow you are using. In the following articles we will tell you how to select and place the fletching on an arrow, how to make a tip and how to select it for an arrow, as well as how to make a simple machine for quickly making arrow blanks.
Making arrow fletching
We think that everyone more or less understands what feathers are needed on an arrow - to stabilize the flight, i.e. so that during the flight the arrow flies exactly at the target, and not to the side, while also tumbling. Here we will talk in detail about how the feathering on the arrow is made and installed...Feathers from a variety of birds can be used to feather an arrow. Goose, turkey, turkey feathers, grouse, capercaillie, etc. It is important that the feather be strong enough, long (approx. 10 cm) and have a width of at least 3 cm. In European bows, the flight feathers of the left and right wings were used for arrows (in the East, tail feathers were also used). There is no fundamental difference between the feathers of the right and left wings. However, it is important that one arrow has feathers from one wing (i.e. only from the right or only from the left wing). Goose feathers satisfy all our requirements (long, stiff and wide enough). In general, the choice of feathers for an arrow largely depends on what is easier to get in a particular region.
Based on our experience, we can say that we would not recommend using crow feathers, since they are very fragile (after several shots they will become frayed and the pile will break off, as a result of which the flight of the arrow will become difficult to predict), although it is worth noting that there are a lot of these feathers and they can be used for game arrows, since the lifespan of “toys” is short. So, let's assume that you have goose or any other suitable feathers, then we proceed directly to the process of making plumage.
You will need: a sharp knife, glue ("Super Moment", PVA, etc.), thread and a needle.
In our case, the plumage will consist of three feathers, standing at an angle of 120 degrees to each other. The lead feather (one of three) should be parallel to the layers of wood on the shaft, so that the cut under the bowstring (perpendicular to the leading feather) is subsequently positioned perpendicular to the layers (this is done so that the loads arising during the shot are distributed throughout the shaft, and did not fall on a separate layer of wood).
There are other plumage options (one-, two-, four-feather).
Look at the feather. He has a core. On one side of the feather there is a pronounced groove in the center of the shaft. Place the pen in front of you with the groove facing up. Next, using a knife, carefully cut the feather along this groove.
You should have two parts. We will use a wider one. For the arrow we need three feathers.. If you are done, then continue further. With all three parts of the plumage, we do the following: we cut the shaft of the feather so that about 1 cm remains before the beginning of the pile (generally it is called differently). Next, we move to the end of the feather and find the place where the thickness of the shaft becomes less than 0.5-1 mm, and we also trim it there (we make sure that all our feathers have same length). Then use scissors to cut approximately 0.5 cm from the end of the feather. pile (leaving the rod intact) - then there will be a rewind of the feathers.
We did it. Now we move on to installing the feathers on the shaft of our arrow. Take the feathers and place them on the shaft so that the thin ends of the feathers do not reach the end of the shaft by about 1 cm. We install the feathers so that we get 120 degree angles between the feathers. The next step is winding. To do this, holding the feathers with one hand, take the thread with the other hand and pass it under one of the feathers so that after you do this, the length of the missing end is approximately 10 cm. Now, without cutting the thread, turn to turn, wind the rods feathers (the missing end of the thread will be useful to you in order to tie a knot later, so winding is done over this “tail”). It’s not scary if the angles between the feathers (120 degrees) get lost during winding; they can be easily corrected, say, in the middle of the rewinding process. After rewinding, we move on to the process of “sewing” the plumage to the shaft. To do this, take a thread about 40 cm long and not very thick.
Let's insert the thread into the needle, but do not tie a knot, but sew "in one thread." Next, tie one end of the thread to any feather at the base, where the rewind ends. We begin to sew the feathers along the entire length in increments of about 1 cm, but so as not to disturb the texture of the feather if possible (do not break the fibers). Keep in mind that the term "feathering" refers to the process of attaching the feathers by passing a needle and thread through the feather's nap at the shaft.
When the process is completed, we use the remaining thread to secure the feathers at the far (thin) end of the feather in a “pile” (i.e., without trying to put the turn to the turn). Using the type of our first rewind, we secure the feather at the back (when the feathers are sewn on, you can straighten them, because during the sewing process they will bend into a spiral, but do not try to give the feathers a perfectly straight shape, this is useless and unnecessary). Now everything that happened (feathers, windings) needs to be lightly glued with glue to the shaft (try not to get glue on the pile itself, otherwise it will simply break when shooting in these places). We did it. Then the last phase is shaping the plumage.
Keep in mind that large sizes feathers (length, width) allow the arrow to be better stabilized in flight, but they dampen its flight speed more, correspondingly reducing the firing range. A feather that is too wide will fray more on the bow and can injure the shooter's hand.
Due to its structure, the pile of the flight feather bends along the edge. So, find the place where this bend begins - this will be the maximum height of your pen. Based on this, shape your plumage. There are many varieties of plumage forms, but within the scope of this article
there is no opportunity to consider them in detail. We recommend starting with a simple conical shape of the feather, expanding in the direction from the tip to the heel of the arrow, like rocket stabilizers. You did everything right and you like it. This is great, but if not, don’t be discouraged, everything will come with experience. Now make a cut in the “heel” of the arrow (this is the name of the place where the arrow is inserted into the bowstring), first lightly with a metal file, and then with a rectangular file. The cut should go perpendicular to the leading feather (see above). The depth of the cut should be within 8-10mm. and width 2.5-3 mm. We recommend rounding the bottom of the cut (grinding off corners and burrs) in order to reduce the risk of the arrow splitting.
How to make a cut in the heel of an arrow
I recommend making a cut of the following shape (see figure). This design snaps onto the bowstring, preventing the arrow from slipping. The narrowest point of the cut (shown by the arrow) should be slightly smaller than the diameter of the bowstring. Do not make the cut too narrow, otherwise when the arrow jumps off the string you will experience additional loads on the heel of the arrow, which will affect the trajectory of its flight. At the same time, a cut that is too wide will quickly spread and lose its holding properties. You can make a cut of the specified shape as follows:
Drill a hole with a diameter equal to the diameter of the bowstring at a distance of 1 - 2 cm from the heel of the arrow.
Using a thin hacksaw, cut a cut from the heel to the hole.
Use a file to give the cut the required shape.
In order to use a bow for its intended purpose, you need projectiles, which in this case are arrows. You can buy arrows in a store, but this is too expensive, or you can make them yourself with a minimum of effort and save a lot of money. So, how to make arrows for a bow with your own hands?
Find suitable branches. Arrows should be made only from dry, straight and strong branches. Its length should be less than the length of the bow bend. Freshly picked branches will also work, but they must first be dried.
Next, you need to process the future arrow and give it the desired shape. At this point, clean the branch and straighten it as perfectly as possible. At first glance it seems difficult, but in fact it is not. You just need to heat it over the fire and put it under a press until it is completely straightened. Make a notch at one end of the arrow so that it can be hooked onto the bowstring.
Sharpen the other end of the branch. This can be done with an ordinary knife, and then you need to lightly burn the arrow on a fire to give it greater strength.
A more suitable tip can be made from other materials. For example, you can use metal or glass. To attach the tip, you need to slightly split the end of the stick and insert it there. Don't forget to secure it all with rope.
And the last step - make fletching for the arrow, which will contribute to the accuracy and stability of the arrow flight. Almost any material can be used as a material for plumage. If the bow is intended for hunting, then it is not necessary to add fletching.
Using this step-by-step guide, you can make DIY bow from old skis. Skis are great for making bow arms. First of all, they are the same. No need to worry about the material having different characteristics, you can expect the bow limbs to bend equally. You also won't have to worry about bending the wood - the front ends of the skis are already curved.
Materials and tools needed to make a bow
Materials:Skis: pieces of skis for making bow arms;
Lumber - for making a handle. You need either a large beam (minimum 8x8x50) or small beams;
A couple of bolts, washers, wing nuts - to attach the bow arms to the handle;
Nylon thread (or any low-stretch string) - for the bowstring.
Tools:
Clamps;
Hand drill with a set of drills;
Chisel, hammer;
Wood rasp or file;
Sandpaper of various grain sizes;
The tools listed below are not necessary, but will help make the process much easier if you are making a more complex bow handle.
Table saw;
Drilling machine;
Band saw;
Plane;
Belt/disc sander.
Making a bow from skis
I used skis for mountain terrain. The ends are bent at an angle of 20 - 28 degrees. Bow limbs made from alpine skis will be more “strong” because... alpine skiing more rigid.Bow Handle Design
