How to Make Your Own Bow and Arrow By Hand

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View in Browser    How to Make Your Own Bow and Arrow By Hand A step-by-step guide on making a Native American longbow. By Andrew Del-Colle, Lara Sorokanich, and Daisy Hernandez Primitive bows and arrows were made using raw materials such as the wood from various trees including ash, hickory, cedar, oak, walnut, and birches. In some instances, Native Americans used the antlers and other bones from different animals when available. These included elk and caribou antlers, bison ribs and horns, and mountain sheep horns.   According to the University of Iowa, typical Native American bows ranged from the self bow, a bow featuring a single stave of wood, to the backed bow which was made of wood and was reinforced with sinew, and finally, the composite bow, which featured some combination of a horn or antler and a sinew backing. The sinew was usually from the back of an animal or a leg tendon but was sometimes made of rawhide or intestines. Some tribes fabricated cords from the necks of snapping turtles while others used materials like plant fibers to use as cords.   Luckily, we no longer need most of these gruesome materials to create our homemade bow and arrow sets. We spoke to Michael Spink, who started making his own bows after a compound bow failed him on turkey hunt several years back, who showed us the best way to DIY a bow right at home.   Whether you're an archer or a hunter who prefers using a custom, hand-forged weapon, this tutorial will help you masterfully craft your very own bow and arrow set. Here, Spink walks us through how to make a 68-inch Native American longbow. This is a free preview of Pop Mech Pro. Join now for less than $1 a week to read the rest of the story and more of Popular Mechanics' most in-depth, exclusive features.  JOIN NOW MORE FROM POP MECH PRO HOME READ NOW  How To Build a Backyard Swing Set MILITARY READ NOW How They Hid the Bomb: 75 Years After the Trinity Nuclear Test ADVENTURE READ NOW The Lost Art of Floating Logs Down the River Follow Us Unsubscribe Privacy Notice PopularMechanics.com ©2020 Hearst Communications Inc. All Rights Reserved. Hearst Email Privacy, 300 W 57th St., Fl. 19 (sta 1-1), New York, NY 10019