johnsunter.com >> outdoor >> bushcraft >> bow making
An amazing 3 day course, making a bow and arrow.
I started off, being interested in survival, and attended a weekend course 4 years ago.
From there, I moved logically into Bushcraft, and even attended specialist courses like an axe workshop and a wild cookery course.
The culmination, up to this point, was the Abo course I attended, where we had to live in the woods, with practically nothing for 3 days.
Where to go, from there ?.
I decided to pursue every schoolboys dream, and actually construct a bow and arrows.
The course was run, by the woodcraft school, headed up by John Ryder, who I had previously known, only by reputation.
Whilst on the course, I took the opportunity to ask loads of question, about Bushcraft generally, and John was extremely helpful.
We are shown a selection of different types of bowes, made from different wood.
We were given the option of making a Flat Bow, and English Longbow or for the advanced a Holmgard bow, based on the 8000 year old design.
We also had the option to use pieces of pre-laminated wood, or raw sections of wood.
I chose to make a laminated flat bow. I wanted to make a simple functional bow that worked, rather than a masterpiece, half finished when I went home.
In the picture, is Mark Brewer, just one of the many excellent people on the course.
The next step, having chosen the design of bow, is to measure up, and mark out the wood.
One of the nicest things about the course, was the willingness, of all the course members to help each other out.
I am pretty awful at measuring, and the lads helped me out.
Next up, we come to actually carve the bow.
In essence, making a bow, is a lot like making a spoon, or a bowl. You take a chunk of wood, and remove some of the wood, until it looks like a bow.
The main tool for this, is an improvised draw knife, which Nick showed us how to make.
In the background, is Chen, another instructor on the course, who simply put, could not have possibly been more helpful.
You wont see many pictures of him, as he didn't stand around anywhere long enough for me to get a proper picture :)
An improvised draw knife, made from my Ben Orford Woodlander knife and a stick.
I struggled a bit, as my knife, is a lot wider than the 3mm knives that were provided on the course, but I used it anyway.
As Chen said simply. Its your knife.
The Woodcraft School camp, was a really dense forest in the South downs.
Since I normally work in a computer room, in a basement with no windows, sitting peacefully in a forest during the evening was to amazing an experience to describe !.
One of the guys on the course, had decided to construct a Longbow from an ordinary length of wood (extremely difficult, compared to the Bow I was making).
luckily archery was one of his hobbies, and being a Fireman, he was very fit.
A small axe, and some weird and wonderful Woodcraft tools, were used to speed things up, and the bow was completed before we left.
With everything that was going on, I never got a moment to congratulate him, I hope he gets a chance to read this.
Once the work with the drawknife, was completed, the next tool along was the spokeshave.
I had a log to sit on, and a dead tree stump which I used during the course as an improvised workbench.
Basically, as the wood began to look more and more like a bow, the tools used would remove excess wood much more slowly.
After this we moved onto using a cabinet scraper, which to be honest wasn't much more than a sharp piece of metal (this was essential, as you didn't want to take too much off and have the bow break on you).
The tillering machine, was used to measure the bend in the bow.
Its essential, that the bow bends evenly throughout.
We were able to apply tension to the bow, to see its bend shape (I know there is a correct archery word for this but I can remember it).
Because of its design, we were never in any danger of injury.
John demonstrates how to make the bow string.
It had 8 strands, which were each rated at 50lb breaking strain.
We worked around 12 hours each day, and as you can see, the work continued into the night.
John demonstrates wrapping black cord around the bow string, where it will connect with the arrows (again, there is a archery word for this, but I don't know what it is :).
As you can see, from this picture, mugs of tea were always in attendance.
Nick demonstrates how to "notch" the end of the bow, so that is can take the bow string.
Next to him, a chap who had been given the course, as a birthday present (nobody has ever given me one as a gift, shame).
A nice touch on the course, was a hand made shower.
It was basically, 3 sided, made of planked, log walls.
A bucket is filled with water, hoisted above the user, and then a "clever" washing machine valve is used to turn on the flow of water, on and off.
I didn't actually feel dirty, but I just couldn't resist having a go of it (I have spared the viewer, pictures of myself in the shower).
John teaches us how to make arrows.
Basically, you take a straight, thin piece of wood, notch it, add flights, and then add a point.
Of course the reality is a bit more complicated than that, but John was an excellent teacher.
The square box in the middle, is used to line up the flights on the arrow.
3pm on the final day.
Everybody had spent the day, finishing off their bows.
Nick arrives, with the target.
I was once told, that the difference between art and craft, is that art only has to be looked at, whereas craft has to be beautiful and functional as well.
I cant say that my bow was a delight to look at, but I hadn't made it to hang on the wall, and I was keen to see how it performed.
Here I take a few practice shots.
After 4 or 5 shots, I get the arrow in the yellow.
What more can be said ?.
In only 3 days, with superb tuition, I was able to make a bow, that I could shot myself, to this level of accuracy.
Coming home on the train, my bow leaning up against the train door.
I would like to Thank John Ryder, Carron, Nick and Chen for a course with both brilliant participants and excellent tuition.
