been asked to speak on bow making

[sleek]

So a survival oriented vroup has offered to pay my expenses to speak for a few hours on bow making. Not so much a demo as its a one evening thing and only a few hours. The crowd will be an interested crowd so im not selli g them on the idea, just helping them get started both in confidence and knowledge. 

So I come here for some advice. I have never spoken for hours in my life except on the phone and that was a two way conversation.  So something that would help me out would be, what do yall know now you wish you k ew when you got started?

Im leaning towards explaining how simple a bow really is, just a wooden leaf spring. Then state thate most everyone already has the knowledge to male a bow they just dont realize it. Elaborate with long sticks bend easier than short and fat harder than skinny. Dont cut the back fibers and make the tips skinny. Thanks for listening, refreshments in the back, have a good night. i could use some help with an outline.

[Pappy]

Ya sounds like you got about 10 minutes worth so far. I would take some stuff along in different stages to show the progress, that is what I have done in the pasted and it will kill some time, it would be hard for me to speak for a few hours without some show and tell.
   Pappy

[Stringman]

Same here Pappy. Either take staves in stages, or pics of the process. I give demos every year to the public and the visual aides is what drives the conversation. Let your experiences come out naturally through the progression of the build. Talk about hunts with certain bows. How you find good staves. How many different kinds of trees will make a bow. How simple the tools are that one needs. Don't get too nervous about this, it's your passion and they will see that when you start talking.

[bubby]

Survival group, heck take a hickory sapling and a hatchet or your k-bar and talk while u hack out a survival bow while you talk and explain as you go

[sleek]

Thanks for the responses so far guys. I like the idea of hacking out a bow real quick. May do that. Or do a tomato stake bundle bow as a demo. Survival is all about maximizing efficiencies right?

[lebhuntfish]

All I could offer buddy is, jot down every idea you have, organize your thoughts, and tell the story. This will be a public speaking thing. To write a speech you need to,  tell them what your going to tell the, then tell them what your telling them, then tell them what you told them. Practice in front of a mirror and time yourself. Or you could open  the floor for questions and just wing it like I do! Patrick

[sleek]

Lol isnt that a little redundant in a repetitive way? Mornin by the way.

[Patches]

I have to give talks like this quite a bit.  Like Stringman says, visual aides are great and can potentially drive the whole presentation. A demo of a quick made hatchet bow sounds like a really good idea and fits the group.  And like Patrick said, maybe practice by doing a run through  in front of a mirror and time it.   That way you will know if you have enough material to cover a couple hours of talking. Tell stories about hunting with bows, what bow types work best in different situations, maybe hit on arrow making briefly, if they are preppers go into the best string making material that may be available for them, talk about times you have had bows fail and how you resolved the problem.  Sorry, just kinda brain storming here. 

Good luck with the talk!

Neal     

[Eric Krewson]

I used to teach hunter safety and started the bow segment with a dose of history, different bows used around the world at different times. I spent the most time on the Mary Rose bows, bows made where there was little available wood (horn), plains Indian bows, jungle bows and such.

[sleek]

You guys are really helping out. Thanks.

[StevenT]

I was an instructor in Navy. What has already been brought up is great ideas. If you are driving, then you can take more stuff to show and tell. The more items you have to show, the more questions and ideas will pop up. Besides all the other items mentioned to take, be sure to take as many different tools as possible. If it a survival group, think about tools that can be found and used. Show how to use a hammer stone to get a spall from a rock to use as a scraper, temp axe to cut down a small sapling, branch, etc. You can chew up a lot of time one tools and methods. Remember you are the expert when in front of a group and they just want to pick your brain. Have fun with it.

[sleek]

Right on. Gonna take all this advice and use it. Steve, what was your rate? I was an AME.

[StevenT]

Electronics Tech (ET) 1971-92. Did one tour as a Micro-Miniature Repair Instructor.

[JoJoDapyro]

Do it like a report. Start with wood. How to find it, how to treat it. Move on to tools. What works, what doesn't, what you use and what others use. Move on to arrow material, string material (cordage). And then put it together with stages of what is done, and what to avoid to better have a surviving bow. And make sure you pound in that slow and steady wins the race.

[Swampman]

I was an instructor in Navy. What has already been brought up is great ideas. If you are driving, then you can take more stuff to show and tell. The more items you have to show, the more questions and ideas will pop up. Besides all the other items mentioned to take, be sure to take as many different tools as possible. If it a survival group, think about tools that can be found and used. Show how to use a hammer stone to get a spall from a rock to use as a scraper, temp axe to cut down a small sapling, branch, etc. You can chew up a lot of time one tools and methods. Remember you are the expert when in front of a group and they just want to pick your brain. Have fun with it.

I agree on the tools.  I have done a couple of presentations and people found the tools I used very interesting, especially my scissor scrapers. 😃😃