Bow And Arrow Making

This course brings together the Bow Building and Arrow Making courses into a six-day long workshop in which students will complete their own Osage Orange long bow and build a self-arrow from all natural materials!

Bow Building

The bow has captivated peoples’ hearts and minds from the misty depths of time to the present. The Bow Building class will bring the student from a seasoned stave to a finished long bow. Although mostly workshop, a series of several lectures will be given to expand on subjects such as: wood selection and harvesting, bow design and performance, floor tillering, nocks and strings, final tillering, and instinctive shooting.

The class will cover primitive bow building on a conceptual level as well as each step in the technical process from peeling back the bark to twisting your own strings. We will also discuss the bow in the context of survival skills. This class is a tremendous experience whether you are a hunter looking to hunt with your own handmade tackle or a lover of archery and its long history looking for a new bow to enjoy and shoot.

Arrow Making

Traditional hunters often spent more time perfecting their arrows than their bows. In the act of hunting it is the arrow that delivers the killing blow, and its quality and precision are of the utmost importance. Thus, the process of building primitive arrows is an intricate art that is often overlooked. In this course we will cover shaft harvesting, preparation and straightening, pitch preparation, fletching and hafting.

We will discuss the dynamics of arrow flight as it relates to spine weight and bow poundage, as well as different types of projectile points; such as stone, bone, antler, and hardwood. Students will leave with a fully primitive hunting quality arrow.

This course involves long days of using hand tools to create your bow and can be physically demanding.

Tools

Tools are provided for a small rental fee, however if you have and want to bring you own here are the tools we use:

• A rasp-We highly recommend the Nicholson’s #49 Pattern Makers Rasp or similar high quality half round pattern makers rasp, please buy a handle as well.
• A set of Cabinet Scrapers-A straight, a round, and a gooseneck.
• A sturdy drawn knife- if possible, with a slight curve, nothing larger than 8″ width, and maneuverable, not huge and bulky. Available at different wood working stores and online. Also at flea markets. This does NOT have to be sharp, and in fact, and old dull from use draw knife found at a flea market or old tool dealer is ideal for the task we will be using it for. DO NOT SHARPEN YOUR DRAW KNIFE!
• A Pencil-or two, they are easy to loose-bring a good eraser too.
• A tape measure.