How to Make a Bow and Arrow--10 Steps Only

Making a bow and arrow is not difficult, all you need is patience and focusing on the work.

I divide the course into 2 parts, i.e, making a bow and making an arrow.

Let’s get started now.

How to make a bow and arrow

Part 1. How to make a bow.

Here I would like to share the way fo make a simple Glass Fiber Bow.

Step 1: Step 1--Get a Wood

Get a wood and plane the surface first. Then Outline the Bow Shaft and Tip.

Step 2: Step 2--Cutting the Wood

Cut the wood according to the outline, after cutting them out, polish the surface.

Step 3: Step 3-Arrange the Material to Make a Bow

Material List:

Glass Fiber Sheet;

Wooden Bow Tip&Shaft;

AB Glue(or Epoxy Resin);

Nylon;

Cowhide;

Protective glove ( you don’t want the glass fiber to hurt your hand, right? ) ;

G Clamp;

Half Round File and Broach File(optional).

Step 4: Step 4--Polish the Bow Tip and Shaft for 2 Rounds

In the first round, use 400 Grit Sandpaper to mill off the edges and corners, especially the on the String Groove.
In the second round, use 2000 Grit Sandpaper to make the Bonding Area of Wood and Glass Fiber rough ( in order to make them bond more firm by AB Glue ).

Step 5: Step 5--Glue the Bow Tip and Shaft Onto the Glass Fiber Sheet

Use AB Glue to bond the bow tip to the glass fiber sheet, and then wrap it firmly by bandages and wires, and then wait 12 hours to let the glue show its bonding power.

Then unwrap the wires and bandage, polish the bonding area. Spray some water to the File to avoid lots of dust during polishment. After polishment, wash the bonding area by water.

Step 6: Step 6--Glue the Bow Shaft to the Glass Fiber Sheet.

Use the above mentioned method to glue the Bow Shaft to the Glass Fiber Sheet.
Notice:

A. Find out the Centre Point of the Bow by measure first, then use G Clamp to fix the boding area.
B. Wait 24 hours after glue, otherwise the Glass Fiber Sheet and Wooden Shaft will easily get apart.
C. You can use some shim to protect the Glass Fiber Sheet.

Step 7: Step 7--Wrap

Wrap the cowhide first, then wrap the Nylon and Twine
(nylone for fixing the cowhide, Twine just for making the bow seems more traditional).

Step 8: Step 8--Paint

Paint the wood until it will not absorb the paint oil anymore.
For this bow, I use Edible Oil as it’s easy to get for everyone.

Step 9: Step 9--Draw the String--The Final Step

I bought a finished string from the market because it seems just a waste of time for making string by myself.
( You can make a string by yourself, it’s also easy )

Step 10: Final Result

That's it.

It only will need 2~3 days for making a similar bow.
It’s a Simple Bow for practice purpose, its Draw Weight is about 35 lbs.
I can make the draw weight to 50lbs or above, however it will high standard Glass Fiber Sheet,which means more costs. As this is just a sample case, I choose material with lowest cost.The total cost of materials I spent on is about US$50.

For more hand made bow, you can visit my website.

This bow is kind of composite bow, not like English longbow.
I'm also wondering who will win if a Chinese Composite Bow VS a English Longbow. ? :-)