How to Build a Primitive Bow

This year I made a bow that I really liked and I thought, "Hey, wouldn't it be great if anyone could have the information on how to make a bow like this?"  So I set out to show my entire process on how to make a primitive bow.  In the smallest amount of time the process of making a bow will take at least a month.  I took over 6 months on this one but the vast majority of that time is just letting the wood cure.

I first had to film harvesting the wood which I like to do in the summer time and it's too hot during the summer to be out working on a bow.... Although, I did make one bow over the Summer.  I couldn't help myself.  When the weather cooled down I got working on the bow and it turned out to be a little trickier than I had expected.  There was some deflex and reflex I hadn't expected that will mess with your mind while you're tillering.

It took about two months to film the whole thing and get it edited out.  I thought that was pretty fast and I actually got it all done ahead of schedule (the random time in my head that I wanted to finish it by).

The bow came out pretty good and I'm very happy with it.  It's only the second time I've ever used hickory and I really like hickory.  I think there's a reason the natives in the area used it a lot.  I've been making a lot of  "bendy" bows so I think I'm ready to change it up and maybe try some styles from Europe.  After all, I am of European descent and only have a dash of native American.  I hope these videos are useful to you and you enjoy them!  Thanks for reading and watching :)

The Hunt

Recently I've been hunting locally.  I love hunting locally as it's so convenient and you've got all your hunting gear and materials on hand.  The closest WMA (Wildlife Managment Area) to where I live had a two week small game season that was pretty much unregulated as there was no one ever at the check station.  Basically you came and went as you pleased.  Unfortunately I was unsuccessful at harvesting anything but I got really close and I learned a lot.

Basically during small game season you can shoot anything except for deer and turkeys.  I was going to shoot anything that would be worth cleaning and eating.  For me that means anything the size of a squirrel or larger.  I really wanted to get a pig as they are invasive but anything to eat would be fine.  Now I was of course hunting with a primitive bow and arrow that I had made with my own two hands.

It was so satisfying just being in the woods with my own primitive bow that I had made, sneaking around playing the wind and being quiet.  I would find a hidden spot near a well used game trail with the wind blowing from where I expected my quarry to come from.  After that I would let my instinct kick in.  I'd either wait or move on toward an area that might be better.  The level of focus and alertness I was able to achieve was something that I had never experienced before.  The desire for success overcame discomfort or boredom.  Paying so close attention to the slightest noise in the leaf litter and faintest wisp of a half-hearted breeze across my face became the most important thing in life for those few hours spent hunting.  A change in wind direction could spook the only prey in the area and cause me to go hungry for another day.  These natural factors were everything!

By the end of the season I got close to a pig, a few deer, some turkeys, and several squirrels.  Squirrels ended up being the only thing I shot at as they didn't seem too wise about me being a predator.  The first squirrel I shot at was in a stand of young pine trees as it made its way to an oak tree.  I was tracking it with my arrow waiting for it to pause so I could take a shot.  It paused and my vision tunneled on it and I released my arrow.  The arrow flew an inch high and sailed off into oblivion.  That's why I don't knap arrowheads for small game arrows.  The second squirrel climbed down an oak tree that was about 20 feet or so from me and sat chewing on something.  I slipped my broadhead arrow back into my quiver and slowly slid out my small game arrow.  In slow motion I nocked my arrow and brought my bow up with full confidence.  There were a few smilax vines in the way but I took the shot anyway and I thought I nailed the squirrel but it limped up the tree a little ways then ran across a branch and made a leap to the next tree as if nothing had happened.  I was glad it ran off okay.

I think it's safe to say that I'm hooked on primitive bow hunting and I can't wait to make my first successful kill as that is the next step in recreating my ancestors' means of survival.

Being the Best

Whenever I make a video I look around to see what's already out there.  My goal is to always make the best video of its kind.  So, I was filming a how to on making glass arrowheads and it just didn't measure up to some of the stuff out there.  I didn't take the time to get the shots. I wanted to make it the best.  I had all this footage and I didn't want it to go to waste so as I sat there with a half edited video that was getting close to 13 minutes I decided to make it a summary of how this sort of thing goes.  I cut it down to less than half the original time and cut out every moment of blah footage.  I was ruthless!  I ended up with the below video so you can kind of get an idea of where to get the material, what the tools look like, and the different stages of making the point.  Anyway, I liked how it turned out and of course I will make a more in depth video on this process that will be the best!  Thanks for watching folks!

A Recent "Click"

The way I learn has clicks involved.  It's weird and it's always been this way.  What I mean by click is a moment in time when I spontaneously understand something and become proficient and comfortable doing it.  This recent click was with flint knapping.

This is stone age stuff.  Making weapons with sticks and stones and bones.  Clicks usually are caused by something minor but important happening.  In this case it was the way I was flaking.  Basically I wasn't putting in the time to build a platform by abrading before I tried to take a flake off.  Once I did this I greatly improved.  At that moment I realized the results were immensely improved.  So here are a few points and a few blurbs about them.

This is a novaculite point.  The red and gray isn't all that typical and I attribute that to why I went so slow and careful with this one.  This was also one of the first times I had notched a point like this.

I took this little piece of obsidian and worked with it some and this made a right sharp little point.  It's a little stout but the rock it came from wouldn't allow for a longer point.

This is a spear or atlatl point that I made.  It is by far the biggest point I've ever made and the only reason I attempted it was because I figured if I broke it there would be enough material to make an arrowhead left.

This is a small obsidian point.  I broke ears off a couple times accidentally but that's fine. It just has a nice long base for mounting to an arrow.  I gave this one to my cousin cause she thought it was pretty.

I visited an old nemesis with this point.  Glass bottle bottoms make beautiful points but before I had such a hard time dealing with the curve of the glass.  On this one it was like I had been doing this for years.  It just came naturally to me and I made this point to go on an arrow for a friend.

I was so happy with the previous bottle bottom that I grabbed a larger bottle and made another point to make sure it wasn't a fluke.  I guess it wasn't.  I made this one this morning and I tried to go a little quicker and it still took over an hour but I ended up with this point which I am pleased with.  I'll give this away as I don't plan to mount it to a hunting arrow.

Hunting

Having a successful primitive hunt is what I'm after.  The bows and arrows I've made are capable of taking game and they're made with natural materials.  The same materials our primitive ancestors had access to.  You'll realize quick how smart and athletic primitive man was as they only answered to the law of nature.  They were tough as nails and if they weren't they died.  Life was on the line every single day for these people.

Last week I went up to Georgia to learn to hunt.  The idea was just to get out in the woods and practice some ground hunting techniques and see how it went.  Hunting didn't go that well to be honest.  I got some squirrels in to about 5 yards but I was after pigs.  I saw one pig and several deer but the moment I saw them they saw me as well and that doesn't really do me any good.  I learned a lot about the nature of hunting though and that is important.  I came away with a lot of questions too and I have a good friend who hunts like this so I berated him with questions.  It's good to have good friends.

Between the morning and evening hunts I worked on some archery stuff and had a pretty good time with that.  Make sure to check out the next blog to hear a little more about that.

Instincts

I think there are two kind of instincts.  The kind we're born with and the kind that must be built.  An example natural instinct would be to avoid something that smells bad and built instinct would be that of an athlete that can't help but chase after a ball.  Instinct also couples well with an understanding of whatever it is you're using your instinct on.  

The oaks in the yard are dropping acorns like crazy.  I went out and gathered some with the goal being to leach the tannin out and use it as a stain.  Well, then I figured I might as well process the acorns and get the calories out of them.  This is something I had never done before but it seemed simple enough.  I'd read a little bit about it but nothing too extensive.  I went for it.  I boiled the acorns until the water was just real dark and milky brown then I transferred the acorns into clean boiling water until that water turned the same color as before.  At this point a lot of water had boiled out of the both pots so I poured the second pot into the first pot and refilled the second pot and got that water boiling again.  Anyway, I boiled the acorns three times in clean water until the water was really dark and milky.  This was all loosely based off of some stuff I had read.  

The next part is where instinct kicked in.  This was natural instinct and it came in when I had to shell all the acorns.  I'd never really shelled many acorns but just started going at them like a squirrel does.  Split it with your teeth then tear it open to reveal the nutty core.  It was funny how the method just developed on it's own naturally and how I go so proficient at it.  I sat by an open fire and shelled away until they were all done.  Maybe the fire helped keep me focused.  After you finish shelling them then you mash them all together and it's ready to bake.

Now when I figure out the primitive method of all of this I'd definitely make a video on it as it is of great interest to me to follow in our ancestors' footsteps and retrace to see and feel what their lives were like.



Late night stream of consciousness....

The Good Stuff (stream of consciousness)

It's all around us.  Sometimes it smacks us in the face but more often than not the good stuff is very subtle and we hardly notice it unless we pick up on the subtlety and focus on it.  It's different for all of us and for me it almost always pertains to nature in some way.  Today I was burning off an old wood pile and it was mostly oak but there was some cedar in there and when I threw it on the fire that sweet smoke wafted here and there thrown by the wind and I got a big whiff of it in my face.  Memories came back to me of the last time I burnt cedar.  It was way the heck in the middle of nowhere last Summer back in the woods with a good friend.  That trip into the woods was pretty miserable but it was also a ton of fun.  After a night sleeping in the woods you start to get a wilderness high.  That's when friendships are formed and I made a good friend on that trip.  It's a blessing how an odor can bring back such good memories.  The mind is an amazing thing!