There is an art to making a real bow. It's important to find the right piece of wood with the enough flexibility to bend under pressure without snapping. With a little time and patience, you can learn to shape and string your own homemade bow.
Instructions
1. Cut a piece of wood for your bow. You'll need a straight branch of yew, hickory, ash, oak or elm that has no side branches or knots. Branches and saplings growing near a body of water are the best to use because their growth rings are close together. Peel the bark off the branch by hand and allow it to dry for 24 hours in a cool dry place.
2. Establish the natural bend of the bow. Place the thickest end of the wood against your foot and hold the smaller end gently in your hand. Pull the center of the stick towards you, allowing it to rotate and bend whichever way it wants. Place a mark on the side facing you. Don't bend the bow anymore until you're ready to string it.
3. Place a mark at the center of the bow. Mark a line all the way around the stick 2 inches from either side of the center. Working on both sides of this mark, hold the edge of your knife at a 90-degree angle against the wood and scrape off a little bit at a time. Don't tilt the knife blade and always scrape from the 2-inch mark towards the end, working on the sides and string side of the bow. Don't remove any wood from the outside.
4. Continue to shape your bow, tapering it until the smallest end of the bow measures about 3/4-inch in diameter. Work on the smaller, top end first and then the bottom end. Cut U-shaped notches towards the inside at both ends of the bow for string placement. Be sure that you don't cut on the outside of the bow.
5. Wrap the center 4 inches of the bow with tape for a handgrip, an area halfway between the center and the top for an arrow rest, and both ends for reinforcement.
6. Measure a length of nylon twine 12 inches longer than the bow. Tie the twine to the bottom end of the bow first and then make a slipknot on the other end 6 inches shorter than the length of the bow. Attach the slipknot to the top end by bending the bow against its natural curve.
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