Hunting Bow

8/14/2019 Hunting Bow

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By Sam Brown

Hunting game with bow and•*• -*- arrow packs a real wallop.There's a thrill in seeing an arrowgo winging toward its mark. Evena clo se mi ss is fun. So ma nysportsmen have adopted this sportthat some states have exclusivebow-and-arrow hunting reserveswhere firearms are prohibited.

A bow for huntingshould be as short aspract ical , ranging inlength from 4 ft. 8 in. to

5 ft. 6 in. It should be aplain bow, able to standa lot of knocking around.

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The drawing weight need not be excessive; you canbring down the toughest game in the country, including moose, bear and wild boar, with a 45 to 50-1b. bow and a steel broadhe ad arr ow. Most hun te rsprefer a flat or semiflat bow. The dem oun tab le typeof semiflat bow described here is popular becauseof ease of transportation, and the knockdown handlein no way affects smooth, fast shooting. If thi s isyour first bow, by all means make it of lemonwood,as this compact and nearly grainless wood permitsmechanical shaping without any regard to grain

stru ctur e. If you wan t the best, however, use osageorang e or boam . Yew is good, too, altho ugh a littletoo soft for ro ugh usag e. All bow woods except lemonwood require careful following of the grain.

Sta rt by ro ugh ing out the back of the bow. Osageorange is perfect in this respect; just peel off thebark, and the remaining layer of sapwood, about Via

in. thick, is jus t right . Yew and boam hav e mo resapwood and will req uir e tri mming down. This canbe done best on a band saw as in Figs. 1 and 2,mounting the stave on a guide board and then saw-

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• - • • . - . - . . : • - ; -

ing on a line the required distance awayfrom the hea rtw ood. Pin s holding the staveshould be a snug drive fit in holes drilledsquarely across the chord of the grain, asindica ted in Fig. 1, If th er e is too muchheartwood, it can be trimmed down withthe same setu p. Wh ere the re is jus t a littleextra wood on the heart side, a planer headin the drill press will remove it in a jiffy,Fig. 3. In the abs ence of pow er tools, the

staves can be trimmed with a drawknife.The first stage of cutting gives you a flatstick about % by l

x /z in. with a thin layer

of white sapwood on the back as shown inFig. 5. He re you can see why it is easy towork with lemon wood; you have no sap-wood to worry about, and the compactgrain permits ripping and jointing tostr aigh t lines. All the othe r woods will becrooked, the back of the bow followingevery dip and curve in the grain. Afterband-sawing, smooth up the back of thebow -with drawknife and scraper, following the grain. Fig. 4 shows tabl e of net

sizes for bows of different woods.On the back of the stave, draw the out

line shown in Fig. 5, band-saw to shape andtap er the belly side as in Fig. 6. You willcut across tKo grain to some extent inboth operations, but it is only on the back of bow that you positively must followth e grain. Glue th e han dle riser in place,Fig. 8, and then band-saw it both waysto the shape sho wn in Fig. 7. Bo th limbsof the bow are treated in the same wayexcept that the upper limb should be 2

in. longer than the lower one, as in Fig. 9.The demountable feature is accomplished

by fitting the limbs of the bow inside ameta l tub e. You can buy telescoping tube sfor this purpose, or you can make yourown. Fig. 14 shows the gen era l na tu re of the assembly. The short inside tub e ispinned to the lower limb and the long outertube is pinned solidly to the upper limb,the lower limb being a slide fit inside the

outer tube, where it is held rigidly bymeans of a setsc rew. Mak ing you r owntelescoping tube is just a matter of turningand boring, Fig. 12, and then squeezing theassembled tubes in a vise as in Fig. 13, toget the re qui re d oval section. It is advis able to heat the work, otherwise the steelmay crack at the should er port ion. Theoriginal fit of the round tubes should notbe too snug.

Figs. 10 and 11 show the final stage of shaping the bow, rounding off the bellywith a drawknife or coarse and fine rasps.Osage orange may be so knotty as to require entire shaping by filing. Wheneveryou run into a knot, leave a little extrawood to compensate for the natural weakness caus ed by the defect. Fin ish off th elimbs by scraping with a hook scraper ora piece of broken glass.

As you work down the belly side, tillerthe bow frequently as shown in Fig. 15,checking its drawing weight, and moreimpo rtan t, the ben d of the limbs. Someworkers tiller against a -wall and use a gridof pencil lines to check for equal bending.

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However, good results can be obtained by eyeinspection alone, and by noting if the string tendsto pull off to one side as you pul l it back . Th e bowshould be rigid through the handle, and almostrigid the full length of the handl e riser. Star ting atthe end of the handle riser, the limbs should bendin a graceful arc . Go slow at this stage ; it is ver yeasy to remove too much wood and ruin the bow.If you get a little under the poundage you want,cut an inch off bo th limbs and try it again. Getthe pull about 5 lbs. more than you want; it willlet down about that much after you have used it afew hour s. If the bow is muc h too hea vy throu ghout, make a fast dip immediately beyond the han

dle riser to get a thinner section, and then tapergradual ly to the tips. Nocks shou ld be of the plaintyp e cut into th e wood as in Fig s. 16 and 17. Fig .18 shows the finished bow at the handle.

There are two kinds of hunting arrows: bluntsand broa dhea ds. The blu nt points, details A, Band C of Fig. 19, can be made from cartridge cases

dous hit tin g powe r. They will bowl over a rab bitor knoc k a squi rre l out of a tree . The nee d for theblunt point is obvious; you can imagine what happens to a sharp steel broadhead when you wham itinto a tree trunk, or worse, a high tree limb.

Steel broadheads are needed for both small and

big game . Wit h sha rp- cut tin g edges, even a 40-lb.39



bow will send one of these shafts right

throu gh a two-point buck. The smallestpractical head is the lancet shown at D,Fig. 19. This is ma de by slott ing a reg ula rbullet-type arrow head, and then solderingthe notched steel head into the slot as inFigs. 20, 21 and 22. Easie st ty pe to makein any size of broadhead is the tang-and-sleeve style shown at E and explained inFig. 20. The step-by- step opera tion in mak ing a broadhead, style F, is shown in Figs.23 to 28. If you use .30-cal. bal l ca rtr idgecases, it will be necessary to have a tangon the broadhead for needed strength.With a sleeve of thicker copper or steel

tubing, the split ends of tube alone willhold the head, which can be made a simple,

tria ngula r shape witho ut tang. Old powerhacksaw blades furnish good steel forheads . All of the styles shown can be pu rchased re ady ma de if desired. Fletch ing of shafts follows standard practice except thatthe feathers are preferably of the low, longtri ang ula r style as sho wn in Fig. 25. Complete construction kits including heads, cutfeathers and birch shafts can be purchasedat a nominal cost and provide an idealmet hod of working . The diame ter of shaftswill depend somewhat on the pull of yourbow. If the pu ll is 40 lbs . or und er , %e, orn /32-in. shafts are plent y heavy. Bows pulling over 45 lbs., especially when big broad-

heads are used, must have %-in. shafts tostand up under the terrific impact.

Holes in Window Screen Mended by Easily-Made PatchesSmall holes in window screens can be

mended by easily-made patches cut fromordinary screen wire, thus making it un

necess ary to replace the entir e screen. Tomake a patch, cut a piece of screen a littlelarge r tha n the hole to be men ded . Next,pull two strands from each side of the cutpiece, and bend up the projecting wires ata rig ht angle as shown . Place the patchover the hole, push the wire ends throughthe screen and fold them inward to securethe patch. For a tight seam all aro und, tap

the folds lightly with a hammer, using ablock of wood as a support.

H. S. Siegele, Emporia, Kas.

Sticking of Stamps AvoidedWhen Carried in Pocket

I find that when carrying loose postageS t a m p s i n m y p o c k e t o x p u ™ : L h c y w i l l n o t

stick together if I first rub the gummedsurfaces lightly over my hair . Th e thin oilfilm deposited on the stamps from the hairwill last indefinitely and keep the stampsready for use without interfering with the

adhesive.George K. McKeowan, Painesville, Ohio.

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Hunting Bow