Sumo,
This brings up a question.
What is a good wood to make a bow from?
There is a lot of softwood in the area. Pine, Spruce, Tamarack, etc..
Also we have Birch in some areas...not much for hardwood though.


Cheers

Classic bow woods are yew, white ash, and osage orange. You can make "a bow" out of most kinds of wood, I suspect. Its power and durability will be wildly different. I would expect you could make a decent bow out of any of the white hardwoods, and probably some woody shrubs as well. The pines and related trees really want to shatter rather than flex so I'd steer clear of them.

If you've got birch, try birch! As long as your bow throws an arrow, then it was a successful project. My first instinct is that you'll have no trouble making a birch bow that bends nicely (birch trees, as a pioneer species among the first to begin converting open land to forest, are well suited to soaking up punishment), but that it will not unbend as quickly as more ideal woods....

Don't forget that the majority of ancient bows were probably of 40 pounds weight or less and people got along just fine with sharp points and accurate shots. Unless you're going after armored humans or big animals with thick hides, an 80 pound bow is total overkill.

That's a good point Momaw.
In a survival type of situation, you would probably be going after small game.
It doesn't make sense to go after larger game unless you are planning on staying
in a "survival" situation for a long period of time.

Also, considering that Birch doesn't "unbend" well, maybe it would make sense
to go for smaller, younger saplings that might have more unbend ability.

Cheers

Although making one is much more fun, I chose to buy a "just in case" bow. For $45.98 at the martin store you can get a 25-30lb fiberglass recurve, they work pretty good. As for the drawstring, you could easily buy one and stash it in any pack and use it for whatever bow you do end up making.

Regarding the saplings... A sapling will certainly work. I've heard them often called a "stick bow". But the preferred way to make a bow if you have the time and the means is to get a bigger piece of wood and split it radially. Then you make the bow from the area of the wood that borders the heartwood/sapwood divide. The heartwood becomes the belly of the bow because it is stiffer and strong in compression, while the sapwood becomes the back of the bow because it is stretchy and strong in tension. Basically a simple way of getting some of the same dynamics as a bow made of laminated materials.

If you make stick-bow, only shave wood from the belly. You need the back to remain continuous. My first attempt at a bow failed because I didn't know about keeping the fiber continuous on the back.

Ahhh, I see what you are talking about. I wasn't thinking along those lines
though. I was thinking of using 3 or 4 saplings bundled together like in the
picture that I posted at the beginning of the thread.

In a survival situation, I was thinking that it would be easier and less energy
consuming to bundle 3 or 4 saplings together for short term survival.
For longer term, I'd opt for making a better bow like you refer to.

Thoughts?

Nope, no thoughts. Never tried it. Let us know how it turned out, take lots of in-process pictures. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Dawg,

Don't know what the Martin store is, but if it's like Canadian Tire, then I
get you. They've got those fiberglass recurve bows 25-40lb pull for about
$45 or so. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbup.gif" alt="" />

My thoughts were more along the lines of being in a Crap hits the fan situation
like an airplane crash or some kind of circumstance like that.


Cheers

I'll have to wait until spring...middle of winter isn't exactly the best of
times to "practice" <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Martin as in Martin bows, turns out their stuff is more expensive in other stores than from their own website. Yeah, if the SHTF than it would definitely be a skill most handy. I'm tempted to try it now, when I do I think I'll post my results. More than likely I'll try the dacron along with other potential "drawstring" materials.

Maybe I'll use dacron or kevlar or paracord for shoelaces just in case...

Definitely a skill that could be useful.

Most literature that I've read suggests that survival situations last on average
72 hours, so getting food would be low on the list I would think.
More energy would tend to be spent in making a shelter, staying warm, getting
water and working on a way to signal search teams.

If the time were to end up being longer, then I would think finding food would
become a more pressing necessity, which is where the bow would come in handy.


Cheers