Survival bows sorta.

[bassman]

One Walnut sapling,and one Rock Maple sapling bow that I made as survival bows a few years back. The Walnut bow ended up at 61 inches 44 lbs, a 26 inch draw. The Rock Maple ended up 68 inches at 45 lbs, at 26 inch draw. Each bow took around 10 hours in one day to complete, string, and shoot.Both bows after shooting ,and drying took 3 inches of set which remains.  I cut the saplings ,reduced them to bows, tillered them as best I could on the spot ,and fire hardened the bellys over a fire.Each bow is braced at around 5 inches, and I had no cordage, so were shot with B50 strings,and both bows have cut in shelves .Not truly Primitive, because of the string, and shelves, but results are in pics below.When the Rock Maple dried  it cracked along the length of the bow here ,and their, so I wrapped it with sinew.Chronied the bows today. Each Bow was shoot with a 450 gr. arrow.

[bassman]

  Reasons for posting Sudbury bow was close to same poundage with the same amount of set. Providing they shot around a 450 gr arrow they would have got similar arrow speed which would dispatch a white tail 20 yds., and in with a well place shot.Does any body know what material I could have used to make cordage for these bows in Western Pa in the spring of the year?

[Will B]

Those are GREAT results Bassman. I have some more sinew for you if you need it. Thanks for posting!

[bradsmith2010]

those are nice thanks for posting

[dylanholderman]

good results! i've done the one day survival bow builds a couple times but never fire hardened them, i'll have to give that a shot

[willie]

Pretty good one day results.  If I understand you correctly, the bow was tillered and shot before it was firehardened? 

I am curious to know if it would have come out different if it was fire hardened before tillering or if a three successive day drying/hardening before tillering would have mattered much with the amount of set.

[bassman]

Yes, I shot them before heating them over a fire , but only enough shots to see if  the bows were going to break. Knowing they were green I tried force drying them over an open fire as best I could. Maybe because I used modern string material the bows results were better than using cordage, or twisted raw hide. I think our natives could have made a bow this way in a pinch, and would have been able to  hunt successfully with it. This was just some thing I wanted to try out of curiosity. Just thought I would post the results. Thanks for your replies.

[BAfromPA]

Get yourself a woodchuck hide and cut out a long skinny spiral. That's one of the common strings for the area.

[PatM]

Those are nice.  Basswood inner bark is said to make strong cordage that might be up to the task.

[bassman]

Now that is an idea. I tied a lot of dry fly  Chocolate Caddis  patterns from Wood Chuck hair. We always called them Ground Hogs. My dad head shot them with a 220 Swift when I was young, and  we would skin them ,and cut them up in the field. My mom knew how to cook them.We ate a lot of them at that time. Good eating.I am off subject now ,but that brings back some good memories.

[bassman]

Pat M. I have some Bass wood trees close to me. I will give that a try too. At one time I thought It was Elm. Cut a sapling ,and got it to floor tiller. Put it on a long string. Got it to 16 inches on the tiller tree ,and it broke.  Showed my oldest son the trees,and he said Basswood, not Elm. Did the same thing with A Hornbeam, all according to the leaves, but A Horn Beam turned out to be a very good bow wood. Ba from Pa,and Pat thanks for the info.

[Pat B]

Maybe heat treating as you tiller would be a good option.  Pretty good results with what you had to work with and in the 1 day time restraints. 

[BAfromPA]

Cooking up groundhogs is easier than a lot of critters. The scent glands to avoid are in the "armpits", groin, and where the butt and back meet. Just feel for little kind of hard corn kernel sized lumps in those areas after you skin it out and remove them but avoid cutting them. Cooking it, so long as it's handled properly is really no different than rabbits. You can even render the fat to use like lard. I prefer it's fat to porcupine but bear and duck are still tops.

[bassman]

Pat B, you are probably right , but I doubt I will be making any more. Good food for thought for guys who may want to make some survival bows. I have tried many different woods,and some failures, but you don't really know to you try. If you have never tried to make a survival bow you owe it to yourself to at least try one. Thanks for your reply.

[Pat B]

Google "Panda Bows" a survival bow made from bundles of arrow sized cane wrapped together.