A bow made of skis made by hand is a medium power tool. It will withstand moisture and frost. The shoulders of such a device are identical, and therefore it will shoot evenly.
Give a new life to an old thing
Many are interested in how to make a bow from skis with your own hands. It turns out that this is possible.
In ancient times, it took several years to make such a weapon. This should not be surprising, since it takes a lot of time to dry and process wood.
Modern technologies and materials make it possible to reduce the time spent. Even at home, you can make the device in a few days. This article will give detailed instructions on how to make a bow out of skiing. It must be adhered to for sure. Also, in the manufacture of the product, a drawing is used.
What materials and tools will be required?
How to make a bow from skis with your own hands? Despite the fact that manufacturing seems to be very simple, the process requires attention and the presence of a certain ability to work with tools.
To craft a bow from skis, you should prepare:
- hacksaw;
- wood rasp;
- drill (you can use both manual and electric);
- clamps;
- hammer;
- a chisel;
- grinding machine;
- plane;
- set of drills for wood ;
- hacksaw;
- sandpaper of different grain size;
- glue.
Of the materials required:
- skiing;
- a block of wood (size 80x80x50 mm);
- bolts
- wing washers.
For the manufacture of a bowstring, a fishing cord, a thread of nylon or a string is used (the tighter it is, the better).
When making such a device as a do-it-yourself bow from skis, an important point is to drink the handles. The manufacture of this part requires some effort. Therefore, it will be nice to prepare a table saw (sawing machine), a band saw and a drilling machine. So, we make onions from skis.
Onion handle
A do-it-yourself bow from a ski will shoot only if all the rules and the exact dimensions are followed when executing its handle. This detail gives the product a holistic look, largely determining the style of its execution.
The design of such a product as a bow made of skis completely depends on the taste of the master and can be very different. When manufacturing, you can use ready-made drawings or create your own schematic version, taking as a basis the proposed sizes.
How long is the bow? Ski dimensions, however, like all other details, are given in the detailed drawing.
When developing the design of the handle, the following points must be taken into account:
- both ends must have flat shelves for shoulder mounts;
- the place for grabbing the hand should be a good size, suitable for the width of the palm.
Work begins with the manufacture of this particular part.
To make a bow from old skis with your own hands, you definitely need a drawing. Only on it is a handle model cut out. Its base is a foam 50 mm thick. The material is lightly cut using a conventional clerical knife. After carrying out this process, you can proceed to the main manufacture of the handle made of wood.
Here are two options for how to do this. You can create a one-piece structure based on a wooden bar, or you can also build a team of plywood strips that will be glued together. The main thing is to adhere to the basic principle: the handle must remain in shape and not be bent when pulling the bowstring.
Plywood strips that are cut out according to the pattern should be smeared with glue. They stack on top of each other and are tightly fixed with clamps. In this condition, the workpiece is left for a day. The whole handle is cut from a wooden block.
How to make a handle from various species of trees?
This version of the manufacture of the handle is more complex, as it will take a lot of time, but efforts are worth it. The detail made of wood of various breeds differs in style and refinement. You can apply this manufacturing option if a solid wooden piece is not available.
The use of bars from trees such as:
To get a catchy composition, you should decide on the choice of design, choose the original shape of each detail, and compare the colors.
An important note is that the cut is carried out along the fibers. The bars are processed so that they have one measure of width. It should be 5 mm wider than the width of the widest part of the ski. This stock is required for finishing by glass or sandpaper.
Next, you should file the obtained workpieces so that their length is the same. Sawing should be done along the fibers.
Whatever tool you use at home, the edges of the boards will never turn out perfectly smooth. Here you should apply a planer. All irregularities are removed with his help. If there is no planer or thicknesser, then you can use sandpaper, but such processing will take a lot of time. An acceleration of the process can be provided by a grinder with a special disk on which abrasive paper is fixed.
After processing the wood with a planer, the surface should be brought to absolute smoothness. In the stores of construction supplies, you can buy special dies on which the abrasive is fixed. They are used by painters for sanding plastered surfaces. If there are no dies, you can wrap paper around a rectangular bar.
Bonding process
After processing the workpiece should be glued together. For this purpose, any type of glue is used, the instructions to which indicate that it can connect wooden surfaces. The glue must always be resistant to moisture, otherwise you will have to resort to additional processing of the finished part with polyurethane or varnish used for yachts.
A number of drops of glue should be applied to the surface for bonding, then distribute them evenly across the entire plane.
The boards are applied tightly so that there are no gaps between them. Then they are fastened by means of clamps. Parts should dry for 12 hours. Be sure to specify in the instructions the drying time of the glue you are using.
The same principle is followed when gluing plywood boards. True, to achieve the desired height, the number of them used will be greater. You should try to glue in such a way that two surfaces are connected at a time, but no more.
Making such a device as a bow from wooden skis will take much longer if the handle is made of plywood sheets. Work with plywood sheets will take several days. The completion of this step will be faster if several sets of clamps are used. If you glue the plywood boards at once and fasten them with one set of clamps, then the parts will come apart in different directions and you will have to start work again. In this case, it will be necessary to remove the glue from the parts.
How to cut the handle?
From the prepared bar of an integral or prefabricated structure (based on plywood boards), the cutting of the handle should begin. For this purpose, a foam model is used. It is compared with the finished drawing. If, after processing the foam, it is noted that the drawing has significant errors, it is better to make corrections on paper.
After that, the drawing is transferred to the finished block, the contours are clearly drawn and the part is sawed out using a band saw or jigsaw. The choice of the shape of the bow of a ski bow depends on the imagination of the performer.
This stage is especially important, since half of your process has already been completed, and because of a mechanical error, you should not do everything anew. Therefore, in this case, it is advised to use the tool that you know how to work well.
First of all, cuts are made along the entire perimeter from the edge of the workpiece to the cut line, which is applied with a pencil or marker. The cut width can be 2-3 cm. So you can cut the curved lines and stop the cutting in a natural way. As soon as the distance is overcome, unnecessary wooden pieces will disappear.
If the manufacture of onions from skis is carried out carefully, the product will differ little from factory analogues in terms of power and functionality. And his appearance may be better.
How to finish the handle?
The workpiece is processed by means of a planer and sandpaper until a smooth and perfectly smooth surface is obtained. The handle should be treated with two layers of drying oil. Then it is covered with waterproof varnish.
How to make a shelf for arrows?
After the main part of the handle is cut, the place for the boom shelf should be marked on it. It is thanks to the shelf that the bow will have an accurate sight.
To begin with, a contour is applied to the side of the handle, and then it is sawn with a band saw. You can use a jigsaw, but they should make the main cut, and then continue the process with a hammer with a chisel.
This is due to the technical characteristics of some jigsaw models. As a rule, their cut depth is 5 cm. In our case, the indicator should be equal to 8 cm.
In order for the handle to remain stationary during cutting, its shelves should be secured to the workbench with clamps.
How to make shoulders?
Homemade ski bow involves shoulders. They are cut out. An important point here is to respect the proportions, since the onion power level depends on this.
Many people wonder how long the handle is and how long the shoulders of a ski bow. With a handle length of 45 cm, the shoulders should be 55 cm each, taking into account the overlap.
First, a cut line should be drawn. It should be flat. You should set aside the right angle using a square made of metal or a protractor. You can correct the angle of the cut workpiece using a rasp.
The workpiece is sawn off with a bench saw, since all skis are reinforced with metal, and the tool can be damaged.
Next, a drill, the diameter of which coincides with the size of the bolts, drills a hole for mounting the shoulder and the handle. Then the bolt will not stagger and will not allow the workpiece to crack due to the high resistance when screwing.
To begin with, it is worth noting the places where the holes will be. There will be two on each side. The most difficult moment is that you need to drill the handle and shoulder at the same time, applying them to each other.
If one bolt is used on each side, then you need to choose a size of 12M, if two on each shoulder, then apply size M8.
To drown the head of the bolt during drilling, a special nozzle with a limiter is used. It is used in the manufacture of furniture. If such a device could not be found, then you should find a drill, the diameter of which is slightly larger than the head of the bolt, and drill the finished hole to the depth of the head.
After fastening the parts with the wing bolts, their too long legs can be cut off with a grinder with a special disk for cutting metal or with a bench saw.
To create grooves for a bowstring, a homemade bow from old skis is sawn on the sides. These places are processed using a rasp so that the bowstring does not undergo erasure at the places of contact with the shoulder.
It is advised to stick a leather piece on the shelf for the boom. You can apply a polymer fabric.
When pulling the bowstring, one should not forget that in the pursuit of power, you can put an excessive load on the shoulders. As a result, they will crack or break.
The basis of the bowstring should be several threads, and not one string. For its manufacture, strong fibers with an artificial composition are used. For example, an expensive Kevlar, kapron, lavsan is used. You can use silk thread. A beautiful bowstring will come out of a fishing cord. The thickness of the threads does not matter. The indicator will affect the number of turns.
Here, in fact, are all the explanations about how to make a bow from wooden skis. Next will be considered the manufacture of bowstrings and arrows.
Making a bowstring
- The bowstring can be wound on the legs of a stool. Different winding options provide the desired length. The ends of the thread are connected by an Achilles knot.
- On the ears of the bowstring in the place where she dresses on her shoulders, it is necessary to make a protective winding. Commonly used spacer. The winding should be tight, and the coils should fit snugly against each other. Its length is approximately 15 cm. In this case, the turns begin so that they hide the knot at the ends.
- Next, make a loop eye. Its base is tightly wrapped.
- A winding 15 cm long is also made in the middle of the bowstring. Fingers will lie down on this place.
Making arrows for a bow
Homemade ski bow at home requires making arrows. The shaft for the arrow can be wooden. You can use ready-made slats made of wood with a square cross section or ordinary glazing beads processed to a round cross section with a diameter of 9 mm. The main thing is that the material is direct.
The workpiece should be sanded. For this purpose, a drill is used at low speeds. The smoother the pole of the arrow, the more accurately it will fly.
Make the tip
The tip can have a simple design: a hammered nail wrapped in wire. But this tip is not so elaborate. It is much better to make a part of steel, the thickness of which is 1.5-2 mm.
A cut is made at the end of the onion and a tip is planted on the glue.
We do the plumage
The plumage at the end of the arrow is made of bird feathers. From one feather you get two or three plumage. Its length should be from 5.0 to 9.0 cm.
The most suitable for arrows are turkey feathers. Their best part is used, located closer to the base.
The plumage barrel is processed so that it can be glued to the boom. Processing the barrel is carried out with an emery wheel or sandpaper. The latter method is preferable.
Conclusion
This article described how to make a bow out of skiing. The product is original and practical. The manufacturing process does not require much time. The main thing is to strictly follow the drawing and be extremely accurate in the preparation of parts.
A bow from old skis, made in accordance with the proposed recommendations, will be distinguished by high power and originality.