My Relationship with Bows and Arrows

Primitive Archery is something I got into toward the end of last year.  I gained this interest when I went through a bout of doubt in modern society as we know it.  I got to thinking, "What happens when world governments collapse?  What happens when all the mayhem settles down?  When all the guns and bullets are used up?  How are we going to hunt or protect our families when that happens."  We will have to rely on what nature provides.  I know I know, I sound like a crazy guy that probably has a dozen or so conspiracy theories that are based of off unheard of prophets, cult teachings etc.  I assure you this is not the case.  I do not think, in my lifetime, that the US or any world super power is going to collapse and leave us an ungoverned mess of primates.  However, my opinion has little to do with what will actually happen.  I cannot say what will happen in the next 50 years much less the next 100.  

With this uncertainty I set out to build a bow with the tools I had and no electricity at all.  I succeeded pretty quick but the quality was quite low.  So low, in fact, that the bow quickly broke and I was left with a few arrow shafts and no bow.  I did have a nice homemade string though!    I cut more wood and let it season while I worked on my next one.  This one was much better with a few flaws here and there.  I kept using my worst pieces of wood to practice on 

I then had a bowyer's epiphany!  I was attempting the wrong design.  The design I was after wasn't wrong in itself but it was wrong for me.  My white-man brain wasn't thinking like it should have been.  Rather than make a bow with a big handle and two working limbs I could make a bow that was essentially one working limb and bending the whole length at full draw.  This was genius!  So genius, in fact, that Native Americans had been doing this for thousands of years before they had ever met a white man.  Hunting and fighting with primitive bows, the natives of North America had come up with the most simple and efficient design.  

I've come a long way but I am still not to where I want to be.  My last bow wasn't shooting arrows quite as fast as I would like so I'll pull another stave out of the barn rafters and start hacking away with my hatchet and wood rasp.

First bow

2nd Bow

3rd Bow

And a few bows later I have the latest bow that I've made.