Why might you need a bow and arrow? There are several reasons for this. Children imagined themselves brave Indians or elves. Perhaps you yourself plan a trip in the context of the TV show "The Last Hero". To be fully equipped, consider how to make a bow and arrow with your own hands, especially since any person can do it.
Material preparation
Initially, you need to choose a suitable tree and cut a branch. For the manufacture of ancient throwing weapons, you can use wood of ash, mountain ash, willow, juniper, oak, birch. It is best to start harvesting the material in winter after frost has hit. Before making a bow and arrow, it is necessary to take into account the scope of the hands of the future shooter. Cut a branch should be longer than required for the manufacture of onions - the stock can be up to thirty centimeters. A branch 3-4 cm thick should be flat, without knots. The bark does not need to be removed from it. She herself will depart in the process of further steaming the workpiece.
Billet drying
Mastering the way to make a bow and arrow with your own hands is not at all difficult. The process takes place in several stages. The ends of the branches are coated with oil paint. After that, the workpiece is left in an upright position for drying. It is dried at room temperature for at least three months, but future weapons may also dry for a year. In any case, the summer season will be ready.
Bow Forming
In order to make a bow and arrow with your own hands, you will need a knife and an ax. When processing a dried-up branch, it is given the necessary shape. It can be lentil or rectangular. To give the desired bend of the shaft, it is enough to steam the shoulders of the bow at home. Moreover, both of them are processed immediately. They become flexible. After that, the onions are placed in a slipway of a curved shape. So the workpiece is left for a couple of weeks. Then cut out the notches for the bowstring.
Since you need to do your bow and arrow with your own hands very carefully, handle the workpiece with a knife with care so as not to damage the wood. Branches freed from the bark are covered with a wax layer of 3 mm. Melted fat is also suitable. These measures will protect the wood from environmental damaging factors. The bowstring is recommended to be pulled only before firing. Rawhide, thin rope or twine are suitable for its manufacture. When storing onions, it is better to remove it.
Arrow making
Now you’ve become familiar with the way how to make a bow. And do-it-yourself arrows are also easy to make. Pine or birch wood is useful for them. An even board is processed with a planer until a thickness of 1.5 cm remains. Then blanks are cut from it. The length of the future arrow is from 60 cm. In the manufacture of shells, it is necessary to take into account the growth of the future shooter, the force with which he will pull the bowstring, and the reach of the arms. Workpieces must be processed with a knife, file and sandpaper to a diameter of 8-9 mm. To feather one arrow, three crow feathers are required. Each is cut along the groove, the pile is cut from their ends. Then the prepared feathers are attached to the shaft with a thread. They are placed to each other at an angle of 120 °. A triangular metal plate is suitable as a tip.