This article is part of
Wilderness Way
VOLUME 10, ISSUE 3.
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Making a Survival Bow
by Longbow (Alton Safford)
Photos by Dude McLean
A bow is not difficult to make, relative to arrows and
string, that is. Really! All you need is a good knife.
However, two knives are better: a machete-like Bowie and a
good pocketknife. Plus, you will need a knife sharpener.
You will also need some string—nylon parachute cord,
fishline, Dacron, linen, hemp, or even sisal. They all work.
But for heaven’s sake, carry some kind of string in your
pocket, because while a bow is easy to make in the woods,
cordage is not as easy. I like that artificial sinew that is
already waxed. You can either tease it down into five
smaller strands, or you can twist it up into stronger
sections. It is easy to work with, does not fray, is very
strong, and is easy to carry.
There are some experts out there, who can give you detailed
instructions on how to make good bow cordage out in the
woods, and maybe they can. I have tried it and failed, so I
suggest that you do not take a chance. Always carry string
and two knives. (A firestarter should be carried at all
times, too).
Again, you must have a knife. You will have a very hard time
chewing out a bow with your teeth or a flint or jasper spall.
Maybe it can be done, but it would be extremely
time-consuming. A good knife is everything! And, if you do
not want to carry a knife, you should stay out of the woods.
You have your knives and cordage. Now, choose, if possible,
a standing dead limb. Standing is best, since most down wood
is rotten, waterlogged, or just too old. It should be dead,
but not dead for too long, or else it will be checked and
brittle. Look around at several possibilities, and when you
find one, ask the tree if it is all right to remove one of
her limbs for a good purpose. You will know when you find
the right one, and the bow will be a better bow.
The standing dead limb should be about 4-1/2 to 5 feet long
and about 1-1/4 to 1-3/4 inches in diameter. It should be as
free of knots, checks, bumps, and irregularities as possible
(at least on the back of the bow), since that is where bows
break. If the stave is naturally bent or curved a bit, so
much the better, as it will shoot more smoothly and be less
liable to break. [Safford’s Law: All wood bows break in
time.]
You can use green wood, but the bow will be heavy in the
hand and sluggish of cast. It will throw an arrow with far
less speed and force than a dry, seasoned bow of the same
strength. Also, as it dries out, it will tend to split at
the ends.
As to woods, you can make a serviceable bow with just about
any kind of wood, but some are better than others. The best
bowmaking woods are: Oregon yew, osage orange (“bodark”),
Southern red cedar, mulberry, ironwood, apple, sassafras,
slippery elm, white ash, juniper, black walnut, black
locust, and even willow. They all work.
Generally speaking, dead limbs from conifer trees will not
make bows. Pines, spruce, and fir are all too brittle. They
all break. Also, cottonwoods tend to be brash.
Cedar and yew, yes. Hemlock and tamarac, perhaps.
Cottonwood, no. Mountain mahogany makes good bows. Ishi
liked to make his bows out of mountain juniper. I once made
a bow out of redwood. It broke.
In the end, the factors that are more important than the
type of wood are the shape of the bow, the freedom of knots
and checks, the age and condition of the wood, and the way
in which the bow was made.
Before you cut down a limb and start to work on it, test
some of the smaller dead branches from the same tree. Bend
them and see if they will stand stress.
Now look at your stave. Think about it. The inside of the
curved limb is the belly, and the outside is the back. You
do your entire cutting on the belly, the inside of the
curve. Do not touch the back! Even leave the bark on the
belly. Do not mess with it.
Slowly, carefully, and evenly cut flat strips down the belly
of the bow all the way. You do not cut any dips on either
side of the handle, as in modern bows, but remove wood
evenly from one tip down through the handle to the tip at
the other end. You are carving one flat even plane.
Contrary to modern bows, which bend in two arcs with the
handle rigid, primitive bows bends evenly throughout their
entire length. They will kick in the hand a little more easy
this way, but it will draw easier and be less prone to
break. Also, you can get away with a shorter bow because all
of the wood is working.
As you remove wood from the belly, test the bow. Bend it by
placing the tip of the lower limb up against the instep of
your right foot, grasping the middle of the bow in your
right hand, and pressing out and down against the tip of the
upper limb with the palm of your left hand. The back is
facing you, and the belly is facing away from you. Watch how
it bends. It should bend in a single, even arc.
You probably will have to remove a little more wood from the
lower limb than from the upper, since the lower limb is
thicker to begin with.
The upper limb of the bow should be the top of the branch
that you cut from the tree, and the lower limb from the
bottom nearest the trunk of the tree. This is the way that
the tree grew. Keep it that way, so that the earth forces,
which swept up through the tree in its life, still flow in
the same direction through your bow. Also, the spirits in
the wood do not like to be turned upside down any more than
you like to be stood on your head. Your bow will be happier
this way, and will shoot straighter for you.
Now, somewhere in the process, you must trim the ends
cleanly and smoothly. If you do not, they will tend to check
and split later on.
When you are satisfied that your bow is bending evenly and
is about the right weight, strength, and pull for you, then
cut the nocks on each end, about an inch or so in from each
tip. Make your cuts in the sides of the bow only. Do not cut
through the back, or it will split when you string it up and
draw it. The nocks do not have to be very deep, just deep
enough to tie the strings into.
The steps of choosing, cutting down, trimming to length, and
removing wood from the belly, and then cutting nocks, all go
quite rapidly. The whole job is relatively simple. Actually,
there is a bow hidden (imprisoned) within each limb of a
tree. All you have to do is remove the surplus wood, free
it, and let the bow come out and shoot for you.
Tie on your bowstring. You may have to stop and build up and
twist together a lot of smaller twine or fishing line or
whatever you have to get a thicker and stronger bowstring.
(This assumes you are not carrying a readymade bowstring
with you in the first place.) I use a timber hitch. It is
easy to adjust. Tighten the string until you get something
around five to seven inches between the string and the belly
of the bow at the handle. If you want to get fancy, you can
braid or twist a loop in the upper end of the string to
facilitate stringing and unstringing, but it is not
necessary.
And lo and behold, you have a bow! You made it. Twang it
gentle and listen to it. Isn’t that a sweet, ancient, and
exciting sound? It was the first stringed musical. And,
properly used, it will kill for you.
As you draw your new and beautiful bow, look at it. If you
find any stiff spots in the limbs, or if one limb bends more
than the other, first unstring the bow, and then lightly and
carefully cut—or better, scrape— those stiff, thicker
unbending spots. Restring the bow and draw it part way again
and watch it. Keep working at it until it “comes ‘round the
tiller.” Overdraw it, and it will break.
And, do not feel that you have to create a monster. Many
Indian bows were only 35 to 45 pounds. A 25-pound bow will
kill birds and rabbits cleanly. Anything over 50 pounds will
require a heavier string and special arrows. So keep it
light. It will be easier to shoot more accurate, be less
liable to break, and its arrows will be easier to make.
Keep in mind that even with the best modern archery
equipment in the hands of an experienced bowhunter, and with
all conditions in your favor, it is not easy to make meat in
the woods. With a primitive bow, in the hands of a hungry,
exhausted, and desperate novice, it is just about
impossible. For the novice, the same amount of effort put
into snares and deadfalls would be more productive in a
survival situation.
Still, making a bow is simple. Next time we will make
arrows. They are hard, but they are important. As Ishi said,
“Any old stick do him for a bow. Arrows kill deer.”
Happy hunting!
About the Author:
Longbow, aka Alton L. Safford, is 90 years old (born 1914),
has been making bows since age 9. He was born on the
Toppinish Indian Reservation in eastern Washington where he
developed his life-long interest in Native American culture.
He has made hundreds of bows and thousands of arrows in the
primitive manner. He is one of the four living archers of
the Olde School (the others are Frank Garske, Wright Huff,
and Dr. Charles Grayson). Longbow still makes bows and hunts
with them, and conducts an annual Flintknapping Rendezvous
at Indian Springs Ranch in Wrightwood, California. He can be
reached via e-mail at mls5835@juno.com
