How to make onions from birch at home. How to make a bow from wood at home? A simple hiking option

The bow is one of the most accessible weapons for hunting. On this moment Many hunters wonder how to make a bow for hunting with their own hands, since archery is one of the most exciting options for shooting prey. A bow made for hunting with your own hands can easily take its rightful place among environmental souvenirs.

Making a bow for hunting with your own hands is not too difficult

How to make a simple bow

To make a simple bow, you will need wood from durable wood species (cedar, pine, spruce, maple, elm, birch, bird cherry, pear, larch, apple tree). The dimensions of the bow depend on its future use. Hunting requires a compact weapon, so you need to choose a suitable line (flexible branch), apply its end to your thigh with one hand, straighten it with the other hand and move it slightly to the side so that the hand and the piece coincide with each other. The end of the bow will be where your hand can reach. In the center the width of the bow should be 5 cm, and at both ends 1.5 cm. Next, at a distance of 1.25 cm from the ends, mark the grooves for the bowstring.
Next, you should clean the workpiece from the bark, and then, giving it the required shape, rub it with animal fat.

How to make a compound bow

A real combat bow or for serious hunting is best made as a compound bow, i.e. from two or three parts. Making it, of course, is much more difficult, but finding materials for blanks is easier. Such a bow most often consists of three wooden components, or parts made of bone or horn. The edges of such a bow can be 1.5 meters in length.

The base of the bow is called “kibit”, and plays the role of a frame to which the main parts are attached. The kibit must be enclosed in a “handle” and two arms – horns, which should end with fastenings for the bowstring. The horns must have different lengths– the bottom one should be shorter than the top one. This plays a huge role when shooting from the knee. If you are not a fan of this kind of shooting, then you can make the length of the horns the same.

To make kibiti, wood that is suitable for making simple onion. The tree should be chosen of medium thickness, without layered flexible wood. The optimal choice is near the native dense and porous areas of the tree.

To make horns, you should choose bird cherry that grows near a pond.

Using fish glue (made from crushed fish bones) you need to glue the finished parts together. After this, soak it in fat or cedar resin. The gluing areas should be tightened with the tendons of the animal and soaked in fat again. Glued onions should be processed using a sharp knife.

To give the bow maximum strength, the inside of it should be covered with a plate of spruce “kremlin”, and the outside with a birch plate. After this, we cover the entire onion with birch bark. The birch bark should be boiled and pasted over while still warm, with the fibers lengthwise.

Bowstring

It is made from a strip of rawhide 3 mm wide, cord or twisted nettle stems. If the onion good flexibility– the bowstring can be made long. The string should not be too tight. We put a string on the lower horn of the bow, near the middle of the inner part of the left foot, resting it on the floor, pull the handle towards us, with the other hand we press down the upper end and put on the bowstring loop. If the bow is powerful, then we rest its lower end on the ground so that the middle of the bow touches the back of the leg, then bend the bow and put on the string. The correct bowstring is located about 15 centimeters from the handle.

Arrows

It is clear that the length of the arrows will depend on the bow. It is the length of the arrows that ensures high-quality tension. To make an arrow, a blank, you need to rest it in the middle of your chest, stretching your arms forward. Wherever your fingertips are, that's where the end of the arrow will be. The tips should not touch the kibita. The diameter of the arrows is 6 mm. For hunting small game, arrows are made of light wood; for large animals, arrows are made of heavy and hard wood.

For arrows, you need to choose logs without knots, split them into splinters, and process them with a sharp knife. A slot should be made in the end tail part, 5-6 mm deep, slightly less wide than the diameter of the bowstring. Any strong flight feathers of birds are suitable for plumage.

To hunt small birds, the arrows are simply sharpened at the end. If hunting involves more serious game, then you will need a simple tip made of bone or flint, giving them the shape of a sharp triangle.

Once upon a time, the bow was the main weapon of most peoples of the earth. Onions are the most ancient weapons fighting and hunting on the ground, and although modern weapons are superior in power, a simple bow can be extremely useful for survival in nature if you have to hunt for food. In addition, you can always show it off to your friends. Read on and you will learn how to make a bow and arrow yourself.

Steps

Onion

Select a large bow rod. There are a few things to consider when choosing a rod:

• Find a strong, dry stick with no cracks. Hardwoods such as lemonwood, oak, yew, locust or teak will good choice for the rod. The rod should be about 1.8 m long and should be free of knots, twists and branches.
• The rod you choose should be flexible, like juniper or mulberry. You can also use bamboo wood or reed; The main thing is that the rod you choose is not too thick. You can use young bamboo, which is both strong and flexible.
• Green twigs can be used, but should be avoided as they are not as strong as dry twigs.

1. Find the natural curve of the stick. Each stick has its own curve, even if it is difficult to notice. You'll want to consider the natural curve of the stick when you start making your bow. To find a natural bend, place the stick on the ground and press it with your hand at the top. With your other hand, press the stick into the ground in the middle. Now its natural curve should be facing you.

   Define the edges of the bow and its handle. This is very important in the bow making process. To find where you will hold the bow, make marks on the bow above and below 7.5cm from the center point of the bow. What is in the middle of these marks is where you will hold the bow.

   Shape your bow. Place the bow on your leg and hold it on top with your hand. With your other hand, press down on the bend to determine where your bow is more flexible. Using a knife or similar tool, scrape away any knots or other rough edges from the middle of the bow. The top and bottom of the bow should be almost identical, so plan away any excess wood if necessary. Once the bow is smooth and the top and bottom are mirror images of each other, you can move on to the next steps.

   • A thicker and stronger bow should be exactly where you will hold it.
   • Be careful when handling onions, as too much pressure and even slight damage to the structure can lead to breakage.

2. Make notches to attach the bowstring. Using a knife, make a notch at each end of the rod. Their distance should be from 2.5 to 5 centimeters from the tip. The notches should resemble a crescent moon and should be outside Luke. The notches should not be too deep so as not to damage the bow, but, on the other hand, deep enough to hold the bowstring.

   Select a string. If you're outdoors, you'll have to search hard and try a variety of materials to find the right bowstring. Suitable materials for the bowstring:

   • rawhide;
   • thin nylon cord;
   • hemp rope;
   • fishing line;
   • strands of cotton or silk from caterpillars;
   • ordinary twine.

3. Arrows

   1. Find branches for arrows. Arrows should be made from straight, dry branches. The length of the arrow should not exceed half the length of the bow. It is even better that the length of the arrow does not exceed the length of the bend of the bow, since there is no point in arrows that cannot be drawn. Here are some types of wood that can be used as arrows:

      • Green twigs aren't a bad choice for arrows, but you'll want to give them some time to dry as the sap can ignite if you dry them over a fire.
      • Goldenrod is great for making arrows because it has strong, straight branches. It can be easily found in the fields.

   2. Shape the arrows. You will need to scrape the branch until it is smooth. To straighten a branch, you can lightly heat it over the coals and keep it straight while the tree cools. Make notches at one end of the arrow so it can catch on the string.

      Sharpen the tip of the arrow. The simplest tip is the pointed end of an arrow. You can sharpen the arrow with a knife and then lightly burn it over warm coals to stiffen the arrow (again, be careful not to burn the arrow).

      If possible, do arrowheads(this is an optional step). Tips can be made from metal, stone or glass. Use a hammer or stone to slightly split the tip of the arrow and insert the tip there. The tip can also be secured with rope.

   3. Make fletchings for the arrows (optional). Although fletching contributes to the stability of arrow flight, you can do without it. Find the feathers and glue them to the back of the arrow. Can also be split back arrow and insert the fletching into the groove, and then wrap it tightly with thread (you can use thread from your clothing). If you use this method, you can use anything as fletching.

      • The fin acts like a rudder on a ship or small plane, as it guides the arrow through the air with greater precision.
      • Fletching also improves the arrow's range of use.
      • However, plumage is not that easy to make. If your weapon is intended to be a survival weapon, the fletching is not that important.
   • First try making a bow from a branch. This bow will not be dangerous and is suitable for beginners.
   • Learn to shoot a bow.
   • Always keep the bow away from your face.
   • Use smooth wood whenever possible. Rough wood can scratch your hands and damage your feathers, making it difficult for you to hit your target.
   • If you are checking the tension of the bowstring, do not release it without an arrow, otherwise there is a high chance of damaging the bow over time.
   • If you are going to fish with a bow, try to aim slightly lower than the fish due to the refraction of rays in the water. When fishing, plumage may be unnecessary.
   • If you're bowfishing, tie a string to one end of the arrow so that when you hit a fish, you can pull it out.
   • It is not necessary to fletch the arrows when making them. You can simply cut a few shavings from your arrow and leave them hanging on one side.
   • To start a fire with a bow, you will need to collect dry moss, dry fiber or any other tinder, find a piece of hard wood the size of your palm, and a piece of soft wood (softer than your arrow). Make a cut in a piece of soft wood about 3 centimeters deep and place the tinder over the cut. Make a small hole no larger than 10 centimeters in the solid wood to accommodate the arrow. Wind a pointless arrow into the bowstring and place the back of the arrow in a hole in hard wood. Be careful that the arrow does not jump out of the hole and injure you. Place the end of the arrow into a notch in a soft tree. Begin to draw the bow back and forth in an even motion. The soft wood will begin to heat up and smoke, and at some point, embers should begin to appear. These coals will fall into tinder. If you gently blow on the tinder, you will create a fire!
   • Wrap the bow handle tightly with wet leather and let it dry. This way you will have a stronger bow and your arrows will fly out faster.
   • To test your bow's strength, bend it. If you feel it breaking, it is not strong enough.
   • You can cut the handle 1 cm deep and 2 cm high so that you can keep the arrows level when pulling the bowstring.
   • To increase the power of a bow, you can make two identical bows and tie the front of one to the front of the other, so that when viewed from the side you get the letter "X". They should be tied at the ends, and the string should only be on one bow.
   • It is better if the string is about one and a half meters, so as not to make a mistake with the length you need. The excess string can be cut off.
   • Instead of a notch (to keep the arrows level), you can wrap the handle in deerskin. For a better grip on the bow, glue or tie it.
   • Make holes in the arrows to make them lighter.
   • The onions described in this article will not last forever and are only a temporary solution. Luckily, replacing it is easy.

   Warnings

   • Always wait until everyone has finished shooting before collecting arrows.
   • You should take a bowstring with you when you go camping as it is difficult to make from natural materials.
   • The more you use a bow, the more likely it is to break. Replace onions every 3-5 months.
   • Bow and arrows are dangerous weapons! Be careful when training with him and never aim at someone you don't want to hurt.
   • The bow is not a simple weapon, and it takes a lot of practice to learn how to use it. If you find yourself in a situation where you have to hunt to survive, it's best to make traps.
   • Be extremely careful with knives and axes.
   • Keep bow and arrows away from children.
   • When shaping the bow, chip only on the inside of the bow. If you chip from the outside, it is likely that the bow will break the first time you use it.
   • If the arrows are too short, pulling them can injure your hands.
   • Before shooting, protect the hand that will hold the bow. When you release the bowstring, it hits your hand hard.

   What you will need

   • hard rod: about 1.80 centimeters in length and 12 centimeters in diameter. A good tree is yew or oak.
   • Inelastic bowstring: nylon rope, sinew, fishing line and so on.
   • Woodworking tools: axe, special knife, sandpaper, plane (large and small), file.
   • More or less straight arrow branches. They should be about 80 centimeters. Straighten them using fire. You can make arrows from wood or planks. Cut 1cm square pieces and use special cutters to make almost perfectly round arrows.
   • Feathers for plumage. Use feathers from the bird's tail or wings. If you are using wing feathers, try not to mix left and right wing feathers. The fletching gives a good spin to the arrow.
   • Flint tips: metal 1–2 mm thick. Use a lathe to cut and sharpen the tips. You can use plastic tips.
   • Steel wool for processing green rods.

I started archery and bowhunting when I was young. I was shooting my old bow, chasing deer in the woods of New Hampshire. But with age, this activity faded into the background.

And now, during the holidays, it suddenly occurred to me to make a bow. I've read a lot of literature on this subject. And now I would like to offer my instructions to everyone who wants to read and use it.

So, let's begin!

This bow was not the first. The first bow that was made according to the instructions given in the magazine Popular Mechanics. It turned out to be not very powerful, the tension level is 9 kg. So I started doing further experiments and found a description of Luke's pyramid. I used the dimensions I found in Popular Mechanics and adjusted them to fit the 20 lb load using Solidworks. Then I changed the parameters of the bow in the program so that the size and bend of the product did not change, but it could withstand a load of 23 kg.

Step 2: Selecting Wood

The easiest choice to start with is red oak wood. It can be freely purchased at any store specializing in the sale of lumber. I chose the straightest board measuring 25 x 75 x 2500 mm with wide growth rings and the heaviest weight that was in the store section. You will have to go through a lot of material, you may need to visit several stores, but it will be worth it. If there is a bad tree, then the bow will turn out bad.

Step 3: Marking the Wood for the Bow

Start inspecting the wood. Check for any splinters, cracks, knots, if you can work without touching them, that's good. If not, you may need another board. Mark 2.5cm from one end and then separate the 175cm piece to leave 62.5cm. Take the 175cm piece. The largest piece will be the onion itself. Mark the center of each end, draw a line between these centers along the board, then mark the center of the board itself. The bow should be symmetrical.

The handle is 10 cm long, 2.5 cm wide at the center.
“Wedges” - the difference in width from the handle to the shoulders is 5 cm in length.
The shoulders are 75 cm long, thinning towards the ends to a width of 1 cm.

Step 4: Cut and make the shoulders

I used a table saw to cut off the marked excess edges - the whole process took no more than two seconds. Now you need to reduce the thickness of the board to approximately 11 mm. This can be done using an electric plane, or a hand plane (this will be more difficult), or a tabletop circular saw.
Don't cut out the shape of the handle yet!

Step 5: Handle

Now the ends are too thin. You cannot use the bow in this form, otherwise it will break. Therefore, you need to make them thicker but with a smooth transition to the shoulders. Now let’s take the 62.5-centimeter remaining part, saw off 23 cm from it. Then, using circular saws, we cut out along a smooth transition of thickness (shown in the photo, look carefully at how this is done).

Glue the resulting part to the base of the onion and leave to dry for 24 hours. The next day we begin sawing out the handle.

Step 6: Now comes the scary part of the job

Now you have an object that resembles a bow and you need to make a normally functioning bow out of it. First you need to cut off about two centimeters at all corners along the workpiece - this will prevent the fibers from “peeling off” and the appearance of serious splinters when bending. We make small wedges from the scraps and tie them tightly at both ends of the bow.

We make a bowstring and move on to the next step.

Step 7: Serious Step

A great article dedicated to such an interesting topic as DIY arrows. In it we will show in detail and step by step, with examples and explanations, how to make good, high-quality arrows at home and with your own hands. This material clearly shows all the subtleties of manufacturing; it will be understandable to both an adult and a child.

Arrows - the basis of a shot

All my life I thought that in art the most important thing is the artist, and not, for example, his brush. Many photographers took their pictures with expensive cameras, but they took truly stunning pictures with the simplest digital point-and-shoot cameras. With experience, all a photographer needs is the camera itself. But archery does not fit this rule.

If earlier I believed that success depended 90% on the archer, now my opinion has changed dramatically, and I believe that success still depends on the bow and arrows, and only a little on the archer himself. For example, if you give a shooting master a bad bow and crooked arrows, he is unlikely to achieve serious success.

Therefore, arrows must be made thoroughly, despite the fact that they very often break, get lost, and so on. But still, do not forget that arrows are consumables.

To make a shaft you will need:

• 10 mm glazing bead without knots, smooth, square. It happens that round so-called dowels are already on sale, in which case take them without hesitation! Most often, the material for making such dowels is pine, which is quite suitable for us. It happens that the glazing beads are glued together from several parts, the same ones will do, but if possible, then unravel the board into glazing beads yourself, you will get the smooth, homogeneous blank material that you can find.

If you cannot do this yourself, then go to a carpentry workshop and pay for the services of a carpenter who will do it for you. Read about how to choose the optimal arrow length for a particular person on our website in the article section.

The best material for glazing beads is birch. It has its drawbacks in the form of the hardness of the species of this tree itself (it will affect the difficulty of processing), unlike pine, for example, but this is the most ideal option, the glazing beads will be excellent. By the way, the Mongols made their arrows from birch, and they knew a lot about weapons, even a lot.

To make arrows for a bow you will need the following tools.

For the shaft:

• File
• Metal saw
• Drill (screwdriver)
• Jigsaw (or wood saw)
• Sanding paper different sizes grains and files.

For plumage:

• • Pattern for fletching (so that all the feathers on the arrows are the same)
  • A4 paper,
  • Scissors
  • Pencil
  • Ballpoint pen
  • Ruler
  • Eraser
  • Aluminum tape (foil, one side of which is sticky, with a protective strip)
  • Colored tape (it is advisable to use bright colors so as not to lose your bow arrow in the grass).

To make a safe tip we will need:

• Insulating tape
• Stationery knife
• Aluminum tape
• Five-kopeck coin
• Material for softening (foam rubber is best for this, but you can take a travel mat for example)
• Fabric (10x10 cm is enough).

To make a combat tip we will need:

• Metal scissors,
• Vise
• Pliers
• Tin (almost anything will do, the most easily accessible are tin cans)
• File
• Knitting wire

Shaft

I advise you to make as many arrows as possible, and not to be lazy. This is especially true for those who participate in historical reconstructions; usually you can get by with 40 pcs. This will be enough to avoid saving arrows while shooting. Let's get started, we have a glazing bead and first we need to cut it into pieces of the required length (choose the length of the arrow according to your dimensions and add 30mm).
Rounding.

We take a plane (manual or electric) in our hands and chamfer the glazing bead, do not overdo it in this matter, the task is to give our square an octagonal cross-section, it is very important that the knives (or blade) of the plane are very sharp, this will greatly facilitate the process of making arrows with your own hands.

If your plane is electric, then I advise you to simply buy new knives for it; if the plane is manual, then sharpen the blade yourself and then adjust it. In any case, sharpened knives will remove wood very carefully, and you will get very high-quality arrows for your bow.

For example, we gave 40 glazing beads the required octagonal shape.

Now we take 1 arrow blank and insert one end into the screwdriver (for this we needed a reserve in size so as not to spoil the arrow). Now we take a rough sandpaper in the second hand (use safety precautions to avoid all kinds of injuries), turn on the screwdriver and start sanding the workpiece.

After this, take a medium skin (skin with a medium grain) and repeat the same process, at the very end take a fine skin (with the finest grain) and process the workpiece last time until perfectly smooth.

We grind the glazing bead.

We begin to make a cut for the bowstring, this is very important point. We make a cut, for example, with a hacksaw for metal, strictly perpendicular to the workpiece, to a depth of about 7mm. Next, we take the needle file in our hands and begin to widen the cut with it, rounding the corners in parallel.

Now, using a round file at a distance of 1.5 cm from the heel of the arrow, we make 2 dimples, or you can remove 2 mm in depth and 20 mm in length with a special spatula for wood carving (see figure), we do this operation with all the blanks for the arrows.

Read a detailed and complete article. After reading it, you can easily make it at home, it won’t take much time.

We make a cut for the bowstring.

Protecting our homemade arrows for onions. We choose a tinting (giving a certain color) antiseptic in the store (from fungus, from blue stains and other diseases of wood). The color doesn't matter, choose it to your taste. Believe me, coating a bow arrow will do its job and add durability to it.

Let's start fletching the arrow

Remember, to make the arrows fly faster, make the feather smaller; if the arrows are heavy, make the feather wider.

Also, if the feather is closer to the heel, then shooting will be more accurate; the further from the heel, the faster the arrow will fly. The shape can be given in different ways (this is a matter of taste), the most optimal fletching length for arrows is 8-10 cm with a maximum width of 2 cm.

In order for all the plumage to be the same, we need to make a pattern. For this task, for example, plywood or a piece of metal, or thick cardboard will do. The color of the plumage also matters; the brighter the color, the easier it will be for you to find the arrow.

Pattern for plumage.

We mark the paper along 4 cm. As a result, we will get 4 strips of 30cm each. We take aluminum tape (its width is 5 cm) and make markings on it to make stripes 1 cm wide and 32 cm long.

Mark a sheet of paper.

Everything is cut with scissors.

We cut with scissors.

We lay the strip of cut paper on two strips of aluminum tape so that the tape protrudes 5 mm, then fasten it with narrow tape.

Paper on aluminum tape.

Very carefully and carefully we glue colored tape on top, 5 cm wide, the width of our workpiece is also 50 mm. It is important that no bubbles appear on the surface.

Attach colored tape.

This is what it should look like:

It will turn out like this.

We bend the aluminum strips.

We bend the strips.

We fix it with narrow tape

Secure with tape.

Attach colored tape.

Colored tape.

We cut off the unnecessary narrow tape with scissors.

Cut off the tape.

We smooth the surface thoroughly to ensure complete adhesion of the tape.

Smooth it out.

Using a pattern, we outline four feathers.

Cut out the feathers.

Cut out feathers.

What should happen.

Whatever happens.

Remove the protective strip and glue the first feather, do not forget to monitor the parallelism.

Removing the protective film.

Glue 2 more feathers with an angle between the feathers of 120 degrees.

Feathers at an angle.

Wrap 1cm wide (with tension) with aluminum tape before and after the plumage.

Wrapped plumage.

This is what it looks like.

Finished plumage.

You already know almost everything about the topic of how to make arrows for a bow.

Let's move on to the tips.

If you are making a bow and arrow for yourself, then you may not need arrowheads at all. But if you still need them, then we will consider several options for their manufacture.

The first option is safe arrows, they have a soft pad instead of a tip - such arrows are much safer than arrows with a combat tip.

The second manufacturing option is arrows with a combat tip, I immediately warn you that they become truly dangerous and can pose a threat to others, so remember about safety precautions and shoot them only in special places.

Safety tip

I have already described what we need to make it above in the article. Here is a photo.

We wrap the end of the arrow with electrical tape so that 2 mm of tape protrudes from the edge.

We wrap the end of the arrow.

Look how it should be.

We secure the coin as follows.

Coin mount.

Strips of electrical tape, 8 cm long, crosswise (2 pcs.).

We attach this tightly to the arrow.

In every country in the world there is a group of people who share an interest in archery. Some practice this sport, while others go even further - making historical bows different eras and peoples using technologies and using materials as close as possible to the ancient ones. It starts out as a hobby, but then it becomes the meaning of life.

This is how production is born. It was necessary to constantly remember that a bow, unlike a sword, quickly ages, losing its elasticity, especially if you do not know the conditions of its storage. The skill of making bows can be compared with the work of violin makers, both in terms of knowledge of the properties of wood, glue, impregnation, and in the duration of work - not weeks or even months.

Simple bow

The simplest and easiest to make is a straight wooden bow (Fig. 1). Upper and bottom part are called shoulders, and the part located between them is called the handle. On the handle there is a shelf with a guide on which the arrow is placed.

The side of the bow facing the target when shooting is called outside, or back, and the opposite - internal. The bow has two axes. The longitudinal one runs between the ends of the upper and lower arms and divides the bow into two equal parts. The transverse axis passes through the center of the bow below the shelf on the grip and is equally distant from the ends of the limbs.

Sports bow.

Getting started making onions

When starting to make a bow, you must use the table to determine its size and the length of the arrows. This data depends on your height and your arm span. If the length of arms extended to the sides is 140 cm, then you need arrows 55-58 cm and a bow 137 cm long.

Rice. 1. Making onions.

1-upper shoulder; 2 - socket for arrow; 3-axis of the bow; 4 - handle; 5 - lower shoulder.

What is onion made from?

The bow is made from wood ash, maple, elm, yew, white acacia - these are the most suitable species. The wood must be straight-grained, without knots, cracks or other defects. After the initial processing, apply the longitudinal axis of the bow and mark.

Then carefully use a rasp to give inside onion into the required shape. Make a guide for the arrow and round the handle. For strength, glue 1-2 layers of 0.5 mm veneer on the back of the bow tips. Round the ends of the bow and make small grooves on them for the bowstring (Fig. 2). Now check the bend of the arms and the quality of the bow without shooting.

But for this you will need a test string.

For strong bows (tension force from 16 kg), lavsan threads are used, and for bows with a tension force of up to 16 kg, twisted linen threads, used in saddlery, are used. The length of the bowstring is determined experimentally. But approximately its dimensions can be established in advance. Subtract 3-4 cm from the length of the bow and you will get the length of the string, and then refine it.

For example, the length of a bow is 153 cm. To start, take a string 150-149 cm long. Drive 2 nails into a wooden block at a distance of 149-150 cm from each other. Fasten the free end of the thread (without a knot) to one nail of the device and wind it in a circle. For a bow with a tension force of 10-12 kg, it is enough to have a bowstring of five turns, made of twisted linen thread, from lavsan thread of the 32nd number - 45-50 turns.

Sports bow.

To make the bowstring last longer, wind the thread without sagging, with uniform tension. Then, cutting the thread and tying the free ends of the future bowstring, divide the thread into two strands. Wrap the middle of each strand at a distance of 8-10 cm tightly with nylon thread and, without removing the bowstring from the device, wrap its ends. You will get two loops that attach the string to the bow. After making loops at the ends of the string, check that the length of the string matches the length of the bow.

How to properly string a bow

Putting a string on a bow correctly is also an art. After making sure that the string is correctly positioned in the special grooves, slowly release the upper arm of the bow. Measure the distance from the handle to the bowstring. The normal length of the bowstring is considered if the measured distance ranges from 19 to 21 cm.

Having adjusted the size of the string to the length of the bow, check the bow itself, that is, the bend of its arms and the tension force. To do this, attach the bow and string to the stand. Gradually tightening the bowstring, check the uniformity of the bend of the shoulders and the symmetry of their work. The bow should only be rigid in the middle, in an area of ​​15-20 cm. Avoid sharp bending towards the ends! Make sure both shoulders bend symmetrically.

Rice. 2. Onion preparation (dimensions in mm).

To make the bow last longer

If you want the bow to be durable and have high ballistic properties, then the bend of its arms should not be disrupted by sharp breaks (Fig. 3). When fitting, excess wood must be removed very carefully. While checking the bend, look at the bow axis from time to time to ensure that the string is positioned correctly.

If it deviates away from the axis of the bow, then your bow is deformed. This can be corrected by planing it on the side opposite to the deformation. Now all that remains is to measure the strength of the bow with a dynamometer, stretching it to the length of the arrow suitable for you.

Each bow must be designed for a certain draw force depending on the level physical development archer For beginners and teenagers, this force should not exceed 12 kg. When you are sure that the bow meets all the requirements, remove the string from it and measure the exact length you found on the winding device.

Rice. 3. Marking the arms of the bow (dimensions in mm).

Bow finishing

Now it’s time to finish the onions. Give the handle a comfortable shape. From a piece of wood or foam plastic, attach a guide 20-30 mm long and 10 mm wide to the handle on the left. It should be semicircular and have a slight angle of inclination so that the arrow does not jump off. Each archer must have at least four arrows. They are made from well-dried wood (birch, spruce, pine).

Arrowhead

The arrowhead is made of hard metal. On the back side, you need to glue a two-millimeter plastic or textolite plate up to 7 mm long and a width equal to the diameter of the arrow into the wooden rod, and then cut a groove for the bowstring exactly along the diameter of the rod.

To make the arrow more stable in flight, install a stabilizer on the rod at a distance of 12-15 mm from the rear tip. These can be feathers from the wings of a turkey, swan, eagle and goose. It can also be made from celluloid sheets up to 1 mm thick.

Balance the boom

Once the stabilizer feathers are glued on, balance the arrow. To prevent it from wobbling in flight, move its center of gravity slightly forward. Find the middle of the arrow, measure 10 mm from it towards the front end of the arrow, mark a mark on the shaft with a pencil, and then, changing the weight of the front tip, move the center of gravity on the mark. After this, press the front tip with glue. Once at least one arrow is ready, you can proceed to final production control string of the established size.

Make loops at the ends of the string. But before making the second loop, pull the string through a vinyl chloride tube with an outer diameter of 1.5-2 mm and a length of 10-12 mm. This tube will be needed for the bowstring “saddle” where the bowstring is inserted. All that remains is to make some devices that are extremely necessary for archery.

To prevent the string from cutting into the fingers and easily slipping off when stretching the bow, archers use a special finger guard right hand- an apron. Very often the released bowstring hits the archer's left hand. To protect your wrist and forearm from injury, left hand put on leather leggings. Having done all this, you can start shooting.

Sports bow.

From the use of bows for military purposes

The French were the first to abandon the use of bows for military purposes. In 1527, a special decree was issued according to which the archery units were disbanded. In the armies of other countries it lasted for another two centuries. And this is understandable, because firearms at first it was not perfect. In Russia, onions were officially abolished by Peter I.

But this was not the last page in the military biography of the bow. The year 1814 came, and the French looked in surprise at the Bashkirs and Kalmyks armed with bows. Another 40 years passed, and Bashkir archers again demonstrated their archery skills during the Crimean campaign. As a memory of the glorious archers of bygone centuries, the British Royal Guard still includes Scottish archers.

Master archery

Mastering archery is not as easy as it might seem at first glance. So much is needed - a sharp eye, trained muscles of the arms and legs, endurance, calmness. Months and years of training pass to accumulate mastery. But the time comes, and the bow master no longer separates himself from his weapon. He merges with him into one whole, becoming as flexible as the body of his bow. His soul sings with anticipation, full of harmony and confidence, there is not a single unnecessary movement or thought, only the future flight is ripening in him.

The shooter is calm and tense at the same time, like a bow when he pulls the string all the way. When the arrow begins its journey, the shooter himself becomes the arrow and, together with it, makes such a long and such shortcut to the goal. Ancient legends say that God took an archer who had achieved the highest skill and such a state from the real world, so that with his art he would please the creator, for a bow is the best that man could make.

Make a real bow using Indian technology

True, I ruined the first three bows, but at least I got better at it and realized my mistakes in making a bow. But the fourth bow turned out to be excellent, a real Indian fighting bow, although I don’t know exactly what kind of wood the Indians make their bows from, but I made my bow from acacia, which is common in Russia and especially in the Caucasus.

Characteristics of the Indian bow made from acacia

I haven’t measured exactly how much force is needed to tension a bow made from acacia using Indian technology, but I barely have the courage to stretch it to the end, and I can’t hold it in a taut position for a long time. No matter how much I tried to install different strings, from nylon threads, and from the thickest fishing line, this string always broke when tensioned, the only string that began to withstand was a military field cable from a telephone with steel veins inside.

Yes, and I can’t shoot with it for a long time, the whole point is that all the arrows that I made turned out to be disposable, the bow doesn’t work, and the arrows hitting a wooden target are crushed, the arrow tip enters the tree completely, and the end of the arrow is crushed and breaks, from a distance 50 meters.

I tried to shoot with a canopy at a distance in a field, the arrow flies out of the bow at such a speed that for 50 meters it is simply invisible and then appears and flies away very quickly, in general, I haven’t found a single arrow that I shot at a distance, so I can’t say what the shooting range of this bow is I don't know, but it's very big.

Technology for making onions from acacia using Indian technology

First you need to find an even acacia tree so that the trunk in diameter is 150-200mm (15-20cm), thicker but not thinner is possible, also choose an acacia trunk that is as even as possible, depending on the length of the bow you are planning, this piece of acacia trunk should be without knots. The length of the bow can be any, it depends on whether you prefer a long or short bow, my bow is 160cm long.

Picture. Harvesting acacia for Indian onions

So, we found a tree, sawed off a piece of the trunk for the future onion, now look carefully at the annual rings of the cut acacia, find the northern side, on the northern side the distance between the annual rings of the acacia will be narrower, and on the southern side it will be wider. So we need the northern part of this acacia log blank, split the log blank into two parts, you can split it with an ax, punching it with a hammer.

Picture. Rough processing of Indian onion from acacia

Now we take the northern part of the acacia, cut off the edges with an ax, giving the future bow the width, the width can be any at your discretion, some like wide bows and others narrow, then plan with a plane to the final width of the bow. Now an important and responsible job, to remove the bark from a poor onion, I ruined three onions during this operation, because I did not know that the front of the onion is a very important thing, and if you remove the bark with an ax or knife and make even a small cut in the tree, in this place the onion will break when pulled. Therefore, try to remove the bark with your hands or a knife, but do not make cuts in the tree.

After removing the bark, use a plane to give it the shape as shown in the picture “Rough processing of a blank Indian bow from acacia.” Also in this picture the center is marked with a red arrow, in this center you can use a round file to make a cut for the arrow, and as you can see that the wide part of the bow is very handy long, this is so that the shoulders of the bow are balanced and both right-handed and left-handed people can shoot from it perfectly, the handle is wide and it can be taken with both the left hand and turned over with the right.

Now rest your knee on the center of the bow and try to bend it, if it does not bend, then use a plane to remove more wood from the inside of the bow, but do not touch the front, and as soon as the bow begins to bend, see which arm bends the most, and then use a large file start grinding down the places where the shoulder bends worse.

Photo. My bow, made using Indian technology from acacia.

All that remains is to bring the arms of the bow with a file to the desired tension force, in this way you can make either a very tight bow, or if you grind the wood harder, you can make a soft bow.

I hope you understand, and now you can make an Indian war bow yourself from acacia or other suitable wood, but I don’t think that you will be able to make such a bow the first time, but the main thing is desire and perseverance and you will become the owner of a war bow.

To make the onion beautiful, it can be coated with stain and varnish.

How to make a bow. Video

Gorobinsky S.V.