How to Make a Longbow
Posted on May 28th, 2009 by Carmelia
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If you’re a fan of medieval weaponry or you’re into recreating scenes from history, the longbow may be one of your potential arsenal. You can make a pretty decent longbow from materials right out of your own backyard. Here’s how.
Materials
- Sapling branch
- Sticks
- Knife
- String
- Scissors
- Bonfire
Procedure
- Look for a sapling with a branch that is about six feet long. The branch must be a few inches thick, supple and strong. Test its flexibility by bending it back a bit and seeing if it springs back. Remember that this will be taking a lot of pressure, so choose wisely.
- Use a knife to cut a small slit near each end of the sapling branch. This slit is used to hold the string, later the bowstring, in place.
- Get the string and tie it to the slit. Bend the sapling branch and tie the other end of the string to the opposite end of the branch. At this point, the sapling branch should look like a proper bow. Use scissors to cut the string off cleanly.
- The sticks will be your arrows. Look for straight sticks with a uniform length (around 3 feet long) and thickness. Use a knife to shave off any other smaller branches or protrusions sticking out.
- Use your knife to sharpen the head of each arrow, like the head of a newly-sharpened pencil head.
- Make your arrows stronger by charring them in a fire. Charring, not burning. Hold the point of the arrow in the tips of the flames until it is uniformly blackened.
- Get the tail of the arrow and cut a slit where the string of the longbow will fit in.
- Test your longbow and arrows in a safe place where no one can get hurt. Put the slit of the arrow into the string of the longbow, pull it back and release. Adjust the tension of the string if needed.
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