BE A BACK-TO-BASICS BOWYER

Article Tools

Image Gallery

Print

E-mail

Comments

RSS

You'll need three fletches for each arrow. Start by cutting longitudinally along the median line of each feather's quill, splitting the feather into two equal halves. After carving away the pith and excess quill, trim the feathers to the proper height, and check to see that they're all of a uniform size and shape.

To fasten the fletches to the arrow's shaft, hold the backs of the feathers in place at the nock end of the shaft, and bind the fronts of the feathers to the arrow with a wrapping of moist sinew. (Some bowyers temporarily anchor the fletches to the shaft with pine pitch or diluted hide glue, thereby freeing both hands for the wrapping chores.) Apply the sinew by first separating it into threads, just as you did for the bow backing, then wetting it with saliva and wrapping it on evenly. The saliva-and-sinew mixture forms its own glue and doesn't have to be tied. After the front wrappings have dried, repeat the process at the back of the fletchings, wrapping up to the base of the nock. The dried sinew is almost transparent, lies close to the shaft, and tightens up even more as it ages.

To cut the bowstring notches in the backs of the arrows, abrade a U-shaped slot with a small rat-tail file (or saw carefully with a hacksaw) down to just above the top sinew wrap behind the fletching. The nock will then be supported by the sinew wrap, preventing the shock from the bowstring from splitting the shaft. Be sure to position your string notches so that when the arrow is shot, two feathers will pass across the bow evenly, with the third — or "cock" — fletching protruding at a 90° angle away from the bow.

The size of the arrowheads and the notches that will hold the heads onto the fronts of the shafts will be determined by the animals you plan to hunt, your personal preference, and your state's laws. In my state, as in most, it's illegal to hunt big game with anything other than a wide steel broadhead. Steel heads can be cut from any source of thin sheet steel, using a jigsaw or tin snips, then filed and honed razor-sharp. (The Plains Indians actually got much of their arrowhead metal from the iron rims of wagon wheels.) Take care to make the proper base shape — or notch — on the backs of the heads so they'll fit snugly into the arrow-shaft notches and provide a good anchor for sinew wrapping.

Bone arrowheads can be almost as sharp and deadly as steel broadheads. Just use the cannon bone from the lower leg of a deer; split the bone in half, file to shape, and sharpen.

Then too, stone points can bye chipped from flint, chert, jasper, quartz, obsidian, and even glass. Flint-knapping is a complex topic and would require an article of its own for even a cursory treatment, but tests have shown that well-made stone heads can achieve even greater penetration than steel.

RSS | Comments | E-mail | Print