Hey y'all I'm from the coast of Florida about midway on the peninsula. I'm 22 and I've always been interested in the natural world. It started off with reptiles, then branched off into other animals, then plants, then foraging, and now bow making.
I didn't want to join the forum until I actually made something that shoots so I could be bringing some experience to the forum. However, I have very little archery experience. When I was a kid we made palm frond bows and I've shot a few compounds here and there. My ultimate goal in primitive archery is to harvest a wild pig with all primitive equipment.
I've made two attempts at full size bows and I've been scaring the squirrels in my yard this evening with my latest one. The first one I tried was from a pop ash limb from the back of my family's land. It was a real nice piece of wood and I didn't have to mess with the back at all. I was so paranoid about making the draw weight too low that I went way too slow. While I was still floor tillering it a splinter popped out of the back due to too much curvature in one section of the bow. I may go back and attempt a repair later. My second one that I've been shooting came from a crepe myrtle stave. This one went way quicker! I left the bark on and had it shooting in only a few weeks. It's got some twist in the limb so the string isn't in the center but it still shoots pretty accurately so I'll shoot it until some of my other staves dry in the Spring.
When I make bows I have a few criteria that I'm trying to hold to. I want to use all natural material that I harvested/gathered near where I live and I want to only use basic tools. Right now all I've been using is a hatchet, wood rasp, and sandpaper. For example, right now I'm using a string made from agave fibers that I gathered. Once I get a squirrel I'll be able to graduate to a squirrel hide bow string.
I've messed with arrow making a little bit. I made one complete arrow but it wasn't very good. I need to make a better batch of pine pitch. I've knapped a couple decent arrowheads. I've made three and two fletch fletchings and I think I prefer the two fletch style.
Oh, and I'm in college right now as an electrical engineer and I should graduate next year!
I've got a youtube account that I plan to post some relevant videos on. I've got a cordage and cuban treefrog video in the editing process so you can see that my channel will have a good variety.
Without this forum I would have never been able to make something that shoots in two tries. Thanks you guys so much!
Kudos if you actually read all that^ lol
