really primitive bowhunting

[Tuffcity]

Start with the straightest grain wood you can find. Heat is your friend when it comes to straightening shafts. Heat them up then either bend them the opposite way or even put them on a concrete floor and roll them with your foot. Something else you could try is to find a pipe or similar the diameter of your shaft and about as wide as your hand and run it back and forth over the arrow to straighten it. If you really want to get primitive, find a rock with the right size hole in it.

Fir makes nice arrows- especially if can find some old growth straight grain pieces. Watch it for moisture content though- too dry and it might shatter when you shoot them (usually about mid shaft when they hit the target.

Yellow cedar is nice to work with too but it can be difficult to get the right spine so you might have to go larger diameter. I have been playing around with bamboo lately- heavy and tough!

While not strictly "primitive" these are yellow cedar (with hand spliced feathers)



These are my latest attempts- bamboo with rose wood nocks



Can't seem to find a pic of the rosewood footed fir ones I made a few yeas ago.

Making your own will certainly keep you busy! lol

RC

[Bow Walker]

Very nice looking work on the arrows, Tuffy!

[new hunter]

What kind of feathers are those in the lower picture I really like the grey striping . Are they turkey ?

[Tuffcity]

They are white barred turkey feathers. Ebay special.

[tomahawk]

Nice work Tuffcity!!

[new hunter]

I also like tha bow in the back ground , I'd like to do a laminate one day. What kind of wood is that , how thick are the veneers ?

[Tuffcity]

The riser wood is bubinga and curly maple and the limbs are yew under glas. I have no idea the veneer thickness as I didn't make the bow.

RC

[Chuck]

If you want to make shafts from sprouts, some suitable woods are: Dogwood, viburnum, red osier, wild rose. Oversized (both ways) shafts are cut in winter, bundled and seasoned, then shaped and sized. Straightening comes later and after much work as previously mentioned. Basically it's grease and heat and also a tedious process.
Personally, I much prefer a firearm

[new hunter]

thanks chuck , I prefer guns too , but I find the extra two weeks of bow season is handy for early season scouting , except if i can get close enough I can kill. has'nt happened yet , but I like the theory. The other thing I like is the self sufficiency that comes with being able to construct a deadly and accurate projectile weapon . One day I'd like to try building decent rifle from scratch , but at the moment the law and my budget are holding me back.

[Jerry Potts]

Sitka spruce weighs about the same as Port Orford cedar. Split the blocks, then use the split side as the guide on your table saw fence. That eliminates cross grain. Plane them to 8 sided, then put them in a drill chuck and use it like a lathe, with sandpaper, to make them round.
Self nocks work well, with a good lashing ahead of them, soaked in epoxy glue, and are tougher and more reliable than plastic ones.
I make arrow heads out of old skill saw blades . I made up a pattern out of 1/4 inch steel plate. I clamp a one inch wide strip of saw blade to the pattern with vise grips, then use it as a guide for a zip cut blade on an angle grinder. I lash them into the arrow shaft with sail twine and lots of epoxy glue.