The primitive “D” bow took thousands of years to develop into an efficient weapon, but once it was developed the design quickly spread until it was used virtually worldwide. Most of these bows were made from a “whitewood” such as Ash or Willow. Later they were made from Osage or Yew common hedge shrubs. Neither of these plants were common in North America before the coming of the white man who planted them in hedgerows to surround their property thus supplying the Native Americans with a superior wood for making their bows. Before the coming of the white man, the most common wood used was Ash or Willow depending on the geographic location.
Selecting the proper wood
One of the most important things to remember in building the bow shaft is not to use lumber from your local dealer. The reason for this that in most sawn wood the grain structure, and most often the wood itself is not the proper type. You can find the proper wood by going into a forest and cutting a sapling or straight limb from four to six inches in diameter, and cut to the length of your proposed. The most common length was four feet. A bow was built of a “whitewood” such as Ash or Willow. You can determine if you have the right wood by breaking a twig so it stays in one piece. If it has a “hackley” break with long thin splinters sticking out of both ends of the crack it is the proper wood.
The Reason for using a Sapling
The reason for selecting a sapling or straight limb for a bow is because quartered it contains both kinds of wood needed for a proper bow. The outside of the sapling consists of sap wood that can easily take the tension and stress of being bent. The heartwood that should be inside the curve of the bow is capable of taking on compressive forces, and store these forces as latent energy as the bow is drawn.
Preparing the bow shaft
Once you have selected the proper wood, the first thing you do is shave off all its bark with a draw shave. This leaves you with a bare piece of wood that is ready for further work. With an Axe or a large sharp knife split your sapling trunk into four pie shaped pieces lengthwise so that you now have four long triangular pieces. These are the blanks that you can turn into bow shafts. Select one to work on, and store the others for later use.
Holding the selected piece place it into something like a woodworkers vise to keep it from moving. With a plane cut the top of the pyramid (the rounded part) off so it is flat. This is the front of your bow, and should be at least two inches wide or more. You still have a length of triangular wood with one finished side, and two rough sides. Turn the wood over, and locate the center of the bow. This is where the arrow will be shot from when you use the bow. At this point the front of the bow is finished except for sanding to smooth its surface, but that step will come later.
Once you have determined the center of the bow measure about four inches from each side of the center for the handpiece of the bow. Place the bow back into the woodworkers vise, and flatten the top of the pyramid until the flat is a half inch wide.
The Flat Bow
The easiest bow to make is one with flat limbs. You have already finished the front of the bow now it is time to finish the back of the bow. This can be done for the most part with a sharp carving knife. First however you should finish the bow’s handgrip. For this part nothing beats a rasp, and a file.
The handpiece has to be rounded so it makes a good fit for your hand. It is up to you to determine the shape that is the most comfortable for you.
The bow is now shaped like a truncated pyramid with two sloping sides; these are sanded until they are smooth. The tips of the bow are rounded off and about one half of an inch from either side notches are cut into the side of the bow to hold the bowstring. With the addition of its string so that the bow assumes a “D” shape the bow is finished.
The Bowstring
Today the bowstring is made of twisted nylon strands that have been waxed using beeswax. There is one loop made like a hangman’s noose for attaching the string to the lower set of notches. The upper end is tied into a non-sliding loop about an inch long that when it goes into the upper set of notches creates a “D” shape to the bow. It is now ready to fire arrows.
The Finished Bow
This is the basic design for a self bow made from a single length of wood they can be of different lengths up to seven feet long that was a common length for an English Longbow. As an aiming point you can place a dot made from a felt tipped marker just above the handpiece on the upper limb of the bow.
