Adventures of an Imperfect Man In Search of a Handmade Life
After you have carefully selected the tree, cut it down, and (hopefully) had time to age the wood it is time to prep the bow staves. Prepping bow staves is a fair amount of work but made easier with the right tools and a little experience. The examples below aged for nearly seven years in … Continue reading Prepping Bow Staves
Dowel Cutter - A useful tool for large-scale production A version of this post appeared here in 2012 but here is an update as prelude to a coming post. I've been using a Veritas dowel and tenon cutter to rough out arrow shafts from planks. Quite a while ago I posted about the jig I … Continue reading Arrows from Planks
Some Thoughts on Making Arrows, an Underappreciated Art - I have been making my own arrows from scratch for a couple decades (since 1987 to be precise) and thought I'd showcase some I have made over the past few years. I don't generally make them to sell and I rarely hunt these days but there … Continue reading Arrowology
An advertising card from when people appreciated hand made archery equipment. No training wheel, gizmos, releases, or sights. There is no date on the image but I suspect that late 18th century or early 19th century would not be too far off. Apparently javelin throwing was in vogue at the time as well. Now we … Continue reading Trade Card from a Bow and Arrow Maker
I have been working on a bow-making tutorial for quite a long time now. Trying to be as explicit as possible while not dumbing everything down is a tricky narrative to follow. Just gathering the appropriate images of the process is time-consuming and difficult but truly, a good image is worth a thousand words.
I just posted a "how to" for bamboo arrows on Instructables. It is impossible to teach a complete class in this way but I've done what I can. If you have an interest in arrowsmithing, have a look by clicking the arrows above.
19th century archery set, one bow missing.
Bow, arrow, and target from a culture that still loved archery, 1856.
A beautiful photo of arrows from the Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego. Collected in the early 20th century. Wonderful sinew wrappings, glass points, and clay pigments. And the nice little bow that accompanies them.
When people appreciated hand made archery equipment. No training wheel, gizmos, releases, or sights. Click the image to access the British Museum page for this item.
Believed to be a Yup'ik quiver, bowcase, bow, and arrows from the late 19th century. Click the image to learn more.
Chiricahua Apache, Arizona ca. 1880 Click the image above to see more about these artifacts at the National Museum of the American Indian. Detail photo of some fletchings and points from this collection.
Thanks to those who participated in our bow making class this year. I failed to get many photos so if anyone would be willing to share theirs with me, I would be most grateful. Email me at zcoyotez (at) yahoo.com. We made very traditional flat bows. This is a straight-forward, predictable design that is easy … Continue reading Winter Count Bow Makers
The winds slowed, the killer dust settled and I was able to get back to the bow. A few minutes with the power planer took the rough shape down to a nearly finished product. The calipers are useful and can save a lot of guesswork when making the same style bow over and over. Above, … Continue reading Hickory Bow part 2
The next hickory bow. I have a barn full of aged staves languishing that need to be made into bows. Today the weather was good and I had some free time so I jumped on the opportunity to get back into production. Over the last three years I've only made about one bow per year … Continue reading Hickory Bow
Preindustrial Craftsmanship 