Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: Blayne on January 12, 2017, 10:28:28 am
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Hi gang. I am hoping to teach a Primitive archery workshop with touth this summer. Build a bow and some arrows. They will be survival type bows, so we will be using hatchets, mora knives and other small implements that we would have in our packs. I was planning on using Osier staves for these bows. Anyone have any feedback on this wood for bows? Of course there are many other options available to me in the PNW, like hazel, elderberry, doug maple and OS, but Osier is so abundant, and easy to identify so I can teach the kids to find it. Not about to give them yew staves to destroy! Thanks
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I have never used it, I have been told it makes a good bow tho. good luck. Ed
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No good. Hazel, vine maple, ocean spray, Oregon ash, yew, osoberry (indian plum), Cascara, Douglas maple, Hawthorn (if you can find a nice piece) Black locust grows here (a transplant) Big leaf maple (marginal wood, 2 inch wide plus limbs) Apple...or most any fruit tree....there are lots around. Good luck!
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sounds like I was given bad info.thank you VM, Ed
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For a kids type survival bow it is adequate. Definitely a softer dogwood but most woods are not going to be at their best in a survival type situation.
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sounds like I was given bad info.thank you VM, Ed
Good for arrows, sure you can make a bow out of any wood, pin cherry as well, done it.....but they don't last long. Alder (red) makes good arrows as well. Spruce, good arrows, hard hack, nutka flora rose, hazel, fir, yet none of the last listed would I advise a bow from, exception hazel
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Maybe I need to re-think my wood choice. I can find lots of OS, just a little worried about the amount it checks when drying. Could have a whole bunch of trash sticks.
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what gathering are you teaching at? I'd second hazel for kids bows. OS is near impossible to dry without checks. You could use green wood...
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Yeah Blayne I was gonna say go for hazel
You must know somewhere there is a bunch of overgrown hazel. It dries really quick and easy too. I got some staves of various woods I would donate to you. I'll get up that way sooner or later. Cheers- Brendan
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Thanks Brendan, that is a generous offer! I do have a spot with a fair amount of hazel. I will get back there and have a look. I have a few pieces here now, but they aren't all that straight.
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Aaron I work for a non-profit outdoor ed society. We run a campground and do wilderness ed as part of our operations. I am doing several archery programs with target shooting, and would like to bring some building into it as well. In the end I may just drop the idea of building bows and just do primitive arrows and shoot then from the glass bows we already have.
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I've got/ get when I can, more wood than I could ever work. And it's good to see kids learning to make bows. Even if it's just a primitive stick bow. I wish that someone who knew how to make a bow showed me when I was a kid. That's when the info sticks! Cheers- Brendan
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I hear you brother! So much idle time wasted as a youth. All I needed was a mentor to show me the ropes! Will be in touch:)
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I learned the secret to a real clean draw when I was about 16.
Just suck a little air in with it ;) ;)
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Aaron I work for a non-profit outdoor ed society. We run a campground and do wilderness ed as part of our operations. I am doing several archery programs with target shooting, and would like to bring some building into it as well. In the end I may just drop the idea of building bows and just do primitive arrows and shoot then from the glass bows we already have.
Don't do that. Even a strung sapling will launch an arrow well and give a bit more realism to a survival type situation.
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as a fellow Washingtonian, I'm curious to know more about your organization if you'd like to share.
Here's my unsolicited opinion on your classes.
I agree with PatM.
If you get kids to make primitive arrows, you'll end up with some arrows that not even the best archer could shoot well. If you get kids to make primitive bows, even the worst bow would shoot a good arrow to the same spot every time if aimed well. That is, any old stick will make an accurate bow, but only the finest twig in the most expert hands will make a good arrow.
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Ocean spray is easy to dry without checks if you split it first and seal the ends. If you cut a slit on the belly down to the pith you can dry it full thickness, for the handle at least. It will always check if you leave it unsplit, but it also splits cleanly and evenly.
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I am on Vancouver Island. I work for a non-profit that operates a campground and offers outdoor education programing to youth and adult. I already have some archery programs where I supervise the youth shooting recurves. I want to take it up a notch and offer something different. I want the staves to be about 1-1 1/2" in diameter and let them do the whole thing. Thats why I am worried about OS. I don't want to rough them out to save them from the pith deep crack. Here kid, here is a stick and some tools, let me help you turn it into something cool! We shall see. Lots of good feedback guys, anything else you may have to add, please do so!
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I'm probably the greenest of you all here, I've managed to get book smart on this fine art and am working on a bow for my wife, and then myself. I am Forty Years old and the love of archery has been with me since I was old enough to remember all because my father gave me a huge role of blue string a maple sapling and some cat tails along with a pocket knife. The bow was a strung sapling the arrows were unfletched but a 10-20 yards I could hit almost every apple in our tree. My dad bought me a yard sale glass recurve that I still hunt with for five bucks and I found an arrow as my dad didn't know how to take the sapling to the next level. I think if you could teach a kid and you have the resources to do so you could turn just a camp into something magical. Well I think it's magic...always have
-Zach
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I'd go with hazel, my dad made us hedgerow bows every summer when I was growing up, and I did the same with my kids. Hazel sticks dry in no time, don't check and put up with enormous abuse and, as a bonus, they shoot well too - green hazel works really easily with hand tools and by the time you finished working it it'll be seasoned enough to shoot with if you start off with sticks about an inch wide at the grip.
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No good. Hazel, vine maple, ocean spray, Oregon ash, yew, osoberry (indian plum), Cascara, Douglas maple, Hawthorn (if you can find a nice piece) Black locust grows here (a transplant) Big leaf maple (marginal wood, 2 inch wide plus limbs) Apple...or most any fruit tree....there are lots around. Good luck!
Yeah, gotta agree. In Utah, I had found a big riverbottom full of red osier shoots for arrows and was having fun with that for a while. Having heard that other dogwoods made great bow wood, I assumed red oiser would be good, too, so I got excited when I located an area where larger shrubs grew. I took a couple long shoots, 1.5" dia or smaller, but nice, clean, long staves growing in the middles of clumps. After drying, the minute I started messing with it, I could tell it was terrible. It was weak, soft, and brittle, and I broke both of them floor tillering!