BE A BACK-TO-BASICS BOWYER

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In some parts of the country, the traditional woods for bowmaking are hickory, honey locust, mountain mahogany, and juniper. The best bow woods are Osage orange ( boisd'arc ), yew, and ash. For the long recurved bow and the longbow, I prefer white ash, which makes a good beginner's wood for any style of bow because of its "forgiving" qualities. Generally, though, Native Americans used whatever materials were readily available, and you can do the same. If none of the wood varieties I've mentioned grow in your area, you can even order a straight-grained plank of appropriate size through a specialty hardwood dealer (but be certain that the wood hasn't been kiln dried).

If you want to harvest your own wood, look for a small tree that's about 2" to 3" in diameter, free of knots and blemishes, and straight. About 5-1/2 feet should be a good length for any design except the longbow, which will need about a foot more. You can also use a smaller sapling for a bow stave: Search out one that's a little more than an inch through the center and meets the aforementioned requirements. The best time to cut such wood is in February, when the sap is down. Remember that the wood is a gift from the tree and the Creator and should be taken with respect.

I season my staves by storing them in the shed until spring, then bring them indoors until the wood has aged for a full year. The wood needs to be kept in a cool, dry place during the seasoning process to prevent warping. If the thought of having to wait a year before starting to work on a bow stretches your patience, just buy an air-dried stave from your hardwood dealer and get right down to business.

Once the wood has seasoned, it's time to remove the bark. Instead of carving away the skin, scrape it off by holding a sharp knife at a 90° angle to the wood . . . so the blade won't slip and nick the stave. If you use a sapling, carefully split the skinned pole down its full length. If you're cautious, you can sometimes split two usable bow staves from a single sapling, but I don't trust my splitting all that much and would rather carve with a drawknife until the desired thickness is reached. Bows made from saplings will have a semicircular cross section.

If you use a larger tree for a stave, split it carefully in half, then — perhaps — in half again. (Some of the instructors at my wilderness-skills school can get four usable staves from a 3"-diameter tree!) Bows made from a small tree will usually have a slightly curved, rectangular cross section.

After you've made your initial splits or have shaped the stave with a drawknife, all subsequent scraping will have to be done with scrapers, abraders (rasps or files), and sanders . . . since too much whittling will "thin out" and weaken the wood's grain.

BENDING TO THE BOWMAKING TASK

With the stave aged, peeled, split, and rough shaped, you're ready to get on with the real work of making a bow. At this point, it's a good idea to "ask" the wood what type of bow it wants to become rather than trying to make it what you think it should be. In other words, take into account the wood's quality, grain, and growth patterns in deciding how to shape the tool that it will become.

Generally speaking, wide and thin is the best shape for softwood bows. The extra width is necessary to help prevent cracking. Softwoods tend to splinter more readily than do the less brittle hardwoods, so hardwood bows can be made a little thicker and not quite so wide.

When I produce my bows, I never rely on tape measures or calipers. I've learned to rely on what feels good for me and for the wood. Thus, the dimensions given in this article are by no means law . . . they're only averages to help you in making your first bow. After you've shaped one or two, you'll be able to use touch, sight, and your own inner feelings to make a bow that's as personal as your fingerprints.

The initial steps in making a bow are the same, no matter what design you've chosen for the finished product. First, cut the stave to the length you want your bow to be when completed (here, I'll be discussing one that's 5 feet long). Now, find the longitudinal center point and measure out about 3" in both directions (this 6" area will become the grip, or handle). The next job is to taper and thin the limbs. Starting from the outside of the grip area, and using a rasp or coarse-toothed file, begin thinning and tapering . . . from a thickness of about 5/8" at the handle, down to 3/8" at the tips (you want to achieve a smooth, even taper). The width should slope from 2-1/2" or so near the handle to about 1/2" at the tips. As you work on this phase of the project, be sure to keep the back and sides of the bow as flat (as opposed to rounded-off) as possible . . . and also take care not to overdo the thinning.

Now, work on sculpting the handle to a size and shape that pleases your grip. Thin the handle area in width and thickness until it fits your hand comfortably, and then put the finishing touches on the overall shaping of your bow with a finer file, such as a mill file. And, while you have that mill file in hand, go ahead and cut string notches in the end of each limb . . . deep enough to hold the bowstring in place but not deep enough to weaken the limb tips.

With that done, it's time to test the bow to see if the limbs pull evenly. Tie a strong cord from tip to tip — as if it were a bowstring — then place your bare foot on the handle and pull upwards on the center of the cord until the limbs begin to bend. Be careful not to pull the ends up very far at this stage, since excessive flexing might cause splitting if the limbs aren't even. If you find that one limb pulls easier than the other, carefully abrade away the belly of the stronger side, using a mill file, until the limbs pull evenly. (The evening process is known to bowyers as "tillering".) While performing this test, you'll also get some idea of the draw weight your bow will have when finished. Though you can increase the stiffness of a too-flexible weapon by applying sinew backing, being able to predict its draw weight in advance requires long experience and liberal doses of luck.

FINISHING TOUCHES

Native American bowyers finished their weapons with rendered bear or deer fat, applied warm. Deer brains were sometimes used instead of, or together with, the fat. The Indian bowmaker would then set or hang his handiwork near the lodge fire to warm the fat and speed its absorption into the wood. My personal preference is to mix rendered deer fat and brains, apply the mixture warm, then set the bow high above my woodstove so the rising warmth can drive in the oils. (If you prefer to avoid working with these natural products, almost any good wood finish can be used, including varnish, linseed or cedar oil . . . and even lard .)

Once this chore is finished, the longbow is ready to shoot. Go easy at first, giving your new hunting tool a chance to break in. Sometimes, though, no matter what you do in an effort to prevent it, a new bow will snap. This is probably due to a flaw in the wood rather than something you did wrong, but in either case there's nothing to do except try again, using your newly gained experience to ease and improve the next effort.

We'll discuss the details of sinew backing a little later on, but it should be briefly mentioned at this point that sinew will keep a new bow from breaking, improve its snap and cast, and add pulling pounds to the limbs. I therefore suggest that all your bows be sinew-backed, even though the technique was not traditionally used on longbows.

PUTTING THE CURVE IN A RECURVED BOW

To enhance your hunting weapon's speed, power, and beauty, you may want to add recurve to the limbs. For a recurved bow, follow the instructions for the self bow and longbow but stop short of applying the brains and fat.What you're going to do now is to bend the last 6" or so of the limbs forward .

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