How to make a bow with your own hands: using scrap materials

Since ancient times, making a bow with your own hands was considered an honorable occupation, as it required considerable skill and strength. This rope arc became the main lever of influence over entire eras. Having a formidable weapon capable of destroying any game or enemy tens of meters away, a person gained confidence in success during hunting and battle. This is how the first principles of long-range combat tactics were formed, which determined the course of development of the entire civilization. The fruits of these labors can be seen to this day. The legends of Artemis and Robin Hood, arrow-shaped rockets, tactical combat weapons, sports competitions - all these concepts grew out of a fairly primitive tool.

For centuries, people fought using only projectile weapons, and only relatively recently were they able to create gunpowder weapons. Wondering how to make the most powerful bow, man moved forward along the ladder of evolution, improving what he had. Thanks to this, dozens of varieties of throwing weapons arose in every corner of the world and in every era. In this article we will tell you how to make a bow with your own hands, and what materials this can be used from.

How to make a bow with your own hands

Making a bowstring weapon is fun and sometimes necessary for survival. For example, you can make a tool from skis with your own hands, which will not be inferior in parameters to other materials (Figure 1).

Please note that this tool has a number of limitations, the main of which are the maximum projectile speed, the maximum possible flight range, and the threshold tension.

In the Anglo-Saxon armies, archers were the tallest and best trained. Pulling required good physical fitness, vision and skill, so this type of troops was considered elite. Each of them knew how to make a bow with his own hands, because circumstances could deprive him of his basic equipment. A curiosity in the eyes of the uninitiated, a formidable weapon in the hands of masters.

Figure 1. In the past, the bow was the main weapon of our ancestors

Are you interested in the history of the origin of the “middle finger” gesture? Archers who escaped or successfully returned from captivity showed their whole fingers as a mockery to their enemies. The fact is that when an archer was captured, they tried to either recruit him or neutralize him by cutting off the fingers responsible for the tension. And this is just one of many stories related to small arms. So, how to make a bow from paper with your own hands or from any other material so that it shoots well?

How to make the most powerful bow

The materials taken as a basis affect the strength and maximum tensile force, which affects the overall destructive ability of the product. A rigid frame made of reinforcement is not very suitable, although it looks impressive. Focus on the material's ability to be flexible and ductile. To make your own archery bow, you will need some hard wood. Suitable varieties are beech, hornbeam, pine, yew, oak and ash. A branch that is too flexible will bend into a doughnut, and a branch that is too rigid will break. Therefore, always choose durable yet flexible types. More modern options include PVC pipes, steel, bendable fittings (Figure 2).

Figure 2. Design features of a homemade bow

The rope for the bowstring must be strong, capable of plastic stretching or another method of transferring energy to the projectile (tension blocks, springs). A rigid frame also requires a rigid thread, so choose it just right. On the steel frame there is a steel cable with sealed edges. On wood - braided fishing line, thin thread made of braided leather, paracord and even laces. Paper is unpretentious, so an eraser will suffice. The optimal length is always 20 cm longer than the length of the frame. This is necessary for two things - reliable fastening and further adjustment of the tension. How to make onions with your own hands at home?

How to make a bow out of paper?

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09.01.2015

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Every boy dreams of his own bow, from which he can shoot arrows and play robbers or Indians. If earlier a bow could be made from a wooden stick, then in today's cities it is very difficult to find a suitable tree. And it’s not humane to break trees for toys. In our article we will tell you how to make a bow from paper, one of the most affordable materials.

It is worth noting that any child can make such a device. If he encounters difficulties, then you can help him.

Paper - A4 sheets are best.
Good and sharp scissors.
Two ballpoint pen refills.
Single-sided, wide tape.
Insulating tape.
Strong and thin rope.
Cocktail straws that we will use as arrows.

Once you have prepared all of the above components, you can proceed directly to making the bow.

1. First, take an A4 piece of paper and make a square out of it. It is best to bend it diagonally and cut off the extra piece.
2. Once you have the paper blank, you should start working on the ballpoint pen refills. Almost any of them will be suitable for our purpose, the only condition is that they be the same in length and thickness. However, it is advisable to take thin rods - this way they will bend more easily.
3. Having selected the rods, take one of them and start winding the paper blank onto it. You should start from the corner of the square and you need to do it very well: make sure that the paper fits tightly to the plastic. After you finish winding the paper, you should secure it with tape. To do this, you can simply rewind the package in the middle. You will get a tube that we will use later.
4. Repeat the procedures described above and make another such “tube”, we will need it later.
5. Now fold the two blanks together and carefully cut a small piece of paper on each side. Make sure that after this they are the same length.
6. Fold them together again and bend one edge - make sure that the length of the folded parts is the same. Separate them and carefully straighten the smaller parts - this will be the central part of the bow.
7. After you have completed this procedure, you need to fold the flat parts together and wrap them tightly with electrical tape. It is to this part that we will apply our arrows.
8. After this, you can begin to bend small sections at the ends of the “bow”. This must be done to give the weapon the proper shape.
9. Having bent the ends, you need to tie a rope to them. It is best to take a long rope - this way you will be sure that it will be enough for the entire length of the bow.
10. After you have wrapped and secured everything, you can move on to the issue of shells. As we indicated above, for these purposes we will use cocktail sticks, which should be weighted. This can be done using several layers of electrical tape, and you can also shorten the stick to make shooting more convenient.

When testing such a bow, you may find that it shoots quite poorly. To fix this, you should use stiffer materials to create the frame or use a long elastic band instead of a rope.

Such changes will not greatly affect the overall design of the bow, but will significantly improve its quality. It is worth noting that you must use it with extreme caution and try not to aim at people - you may hit the eye.

However, if you didn’t like our idea and you intend to make a bow not from paper, then we can give some advice in this matter.

1. First, you should find a good stick or rod. It is advisable that it be dry enough, but not too dry, otherwise it will break. Ideally, it should not have cracks, knots or any other mechanical flaws that could affect its strength. Nevertheless, a dry stick is much better - it will give more force than a freshly cut young twig. When choosing the source material for the workpiece, you should take into account the presence of a curved part - this will simplify your further work.

2. Sometimes the place where the rod bends is not visible to the eye - in this case, you need to find it yourself. This is quite easy to do. To do this, you just need to place the stick vertically on the ground and press on its upper part - the rod itself will bend in the right place. This must be done without using strong efforts. Otherwise you will simply break it.
3. Once you have found the bend, you need to determine the central part - this is where you will hold the bow. Having decided on it, you can also mark the edges to which the bowstring will be attached. In these places, notches should be made with a knife.

4. Having divided the onion into parts, you can proceed to direct processing. So, the central part can be freed from excess wood, knots and other unnecessary elements that will interfere with your ability to hold the bow. You can also make sure once again that you have chosen the correct places for attaching the bowstring and that they are at an equal distance from the center. It should be noted that the middle part should be the thickest, because it is in this place that the pressure on the bow is greatest. In addition, you should not put too much pressure on the stick while removing excess parts - you may accidentally break it.
5. Having finished processing, you can move on to attaching the bowstring. As you already remember, we made notches in the appropriate places - now they can be made larger. It is worth taking into account that the bowstring is firmly attached to the protrusions. Separately, it is worth noting the choice of material from which the bowstring will be made.

6. The following materials are best suited for a bowstring: a thin strip of rawhide; nylon lace; strong fishing line; strong twine
7. Once you have figured out the material, you can safely tie the bowstring. Make sure it is less than the length of the bow to create tension.
8. Thin twigs can be used as arrows. They can be lightly roasted over a fire to make them drier and stronger.

DIY bow made of wood

Take a walk through the forest. While walking, you have every chance of coming across a good piece of log for harvesting, especially in the warm season. If you have an axe, saw or chainsaw, and also the desire to feel like a lumberjack, you can get the wood yourself (Figure 4). Well, or buy a beam with a 5 cm edge at the nearest hardware store.

Please note that there is liability for illegal cutting, so cut down only individual branches.

To make a bow and arrow with your own hands, you will need eight hours of time, possibly more. Try to set aside a day for this. If you are thinking about how to make a combat bow yourself, then it is better to use hard varieties, ideally carved from a log.

World of holidays

If you're planning a Robin Hood themed party for kids, make a DIY bow and arrow for the kids so they can play creative games, practice target shooting, and improve their gross motor skills! Making a bow is very easy, in an hour you can make several of them, if you have enough materials, and arm all your guests. By the way, the quality is super, the kids will love it. And when everyone leaves, hand out the bows as gifts.

How to make a bow and arrow for kids

Materials:

PVC pipes (approximately 96 cm in length and 1.5 cm in diameter)
nylon rope or fishing line
2 bamboo canes (approximately 55 cm long)
rubber
scotch

Tools:

drill
scissors

Step-by-step instruction

Drill through holes in both ends of the PVC pipe. Pass the thread through the first hole and tie tightly. Then bend the pipe and tie it at the other end, ask someone to help so that there is a good tension.

The bow should be bent in the shape of an arc, and the bowstring should be well stretched (here the bowstring turned out to be 74 cm).

Arrows are just as easy to make..

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DIY ski bow

Old tools forgotten on the mezzanine for an activity that has long been of no interest to you, made using Soviet technology, skis have excellent elasticity and strength. In addition, they were treated with special solutions to reduce wear from friction and moisture. The principle here will be slightly different, since this is a composite construct: it has a middle section that holds fixed “shoulders” (Figure 5).

How to make a bow and arrow with your own hands in this way:

Cut the skis into two identical pieces, cutting two holes at the base wide enough for a good bolt.
Carve a rectangular handle from the timber, with an inclination for the mounting surface of 10-15 degrees. File down the area for your hand.
It is also possible to mount it on a flat surface, but then power is lost.
Drill holes in it for the bolts.
When fastening, two fronts are used. The contact surfaces must be covered with wood glue, having previously treated them. It is necessary that the parts are facing forward, towards the target.
Next, you need to tighten it tightly with bolts and washers. Place a piece of thick leather under each of them to distribute pressure evenly to avoid damage.
Self-tapping screws cannot be used. Never. This is not a toy. Unreliable fastening can cause damage.
Pull the rope as usual, bending your shoulders.

Of course, this design does not look as impressive as a DIY bow made from a PVC pipe. If you get the hang of it, you can use it for hunting. How to make your own compound bow with your own hands?

Figure 5. Old skis can be an excellent raw material for making a bow.

The main material is steel frame. Although it is possible to equip a ski model with such a mechanism. For such a DIY bow, drawings, videos, dimensions and accuracy are quite important, check out the materials available online before getting started.

The blocks retain a fairly impressive reserve of power. The counterweight system maintains tension and provides significantly greater shooting force. It is not difficult to make such a device with your own hands, however, for each product the drawing is purely individual. If you stick to the basic principles, you can put it together.

DIY paper bow

Paper is shredded wood with the addition of clarifier. Therefore, in theory, something strong and dense can be made from it. How? You will need many A4 sheets (Figure 6).

This will be somewhat similar to a bow for DIY hunting, provided that your game is empty tin cans:

Fold the sheets like an accordion, inserting them into each other, then gluing them together. Compress them each time, pressing firmly.
After reaching a thickness of 2cm, the base can be considered ready.
Use a rubber band as a string.
For a larger specimen, you can experiment by thickening the base.

Figure 6. The paper construction is unlikely to be suitable for serious shooting.
An alternative option is to wrap the pencil in a sheet, folding the edges. Take out the pencil, attach a rubber band with glue to each edge and have fun.

Homemade paper bow

This option also has a right to exist if you have paper at hand and a desire to shoot. Of course, it is not suitable for hunting, but it is suitable for fun.

You will need:

Paper
Scissors
Pen refills
Scotch
Rope
Cocktail straws

How to make a paper bow:

Cut a square shape from a piece of paper.
Take 2 identical pen rods.
Wrap one of the rods in square paper. Then, twisting the workpiece from the corner, make sure that the paper fits tightly. Secure with tape. Do the same with the second rod.
Gently wrap the paper not all the way. There should be a couple of cm left free. It is necessary to squeeze these ends so that they become flat.
Place them on top of each other and secure tightly with electrical tape.
For the bowstring we attach an elastic rope.

For arrows, you can use cocktail tubes, wrapping them in the same way with electrical tape.

That's all. Paper bow and shells are ready!

It doesn't matter what kind of bow you want to make. Whether it's Elvish, Asian, short or whatever, it's important to stick to the basic rules and then everything will work out!

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It is worth noting that any child can make such a device. If he encounters difficulties, then you can help him.

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DIY bow made from PVC pipe

Option in postmodern style, for handy and cunning archers. In order to make such a bow with your own hands, drawings, videos, and dimensions are not required. You will need one PVC tube up to 80 cm long. The thickness of the plastic is up to 1 cm. You will get a kind of children's bow with your own hands. Pull a loose rope, and you can follow the trail of wild cans and bottles (Figure 7).

Figure 7. PVC pipe - a universal material for making bows

But it will be difficult to make a hunting bow with your own hands from such material. The reason is simple - plastic does not have outstanding rigidity parameters. However, you can try. The DIY bow pattern will be as follows. The tube will need 160-180 cm, with a thickness of 1 cm. Make holes for the bowstring at each end. Slightly bend the pipe and tighten the cable. If it vibrates like a guitar string, you have achieved the right result. No further action is required.

How to make arrows with your own hands

Perhaps their production is the most important and no less complex part of production. The main problem is the straight and even rod. The second difficulty is the plumage or guide ribs. Requirements for the body - it must be light. You can use aluminum or thin and even strips of PVC from a large-caliber pipe. Do not use steel (Figure 8).

You can make plumage according to the following instructions:

Draw a triangle with equal sides on paper.
From each vertex draw a bisector perpendicular to the edges.
Three lines form a point in the center.
Take a sheet of plastic and cut out the blanks for the feathers. The feather is made as follows - 4 cm of indentation on each side of the main part.
Place the rear end of the projectile in the center of the drawing.
Now, using the blanks, glue the layers on the side, directing the tip to one of the vertices.
Alternate feathers in the direction of the vertices, filling all three cells.
Wrap the wire/duct tape tightly around the edges of the feather.

Figure 8. Main stages of making arrows