Making onions is a process that requires strict adherence to technology. Only in this case, you can count on a good result. With a well-made bow, you can send arrows right on target, while it must be powerful enough to hit the game, which will eventually become the prey of the hunter.

It is worth undertaking its manufacture with your own hands, first of all, for those who already have experience in hunting with such a weapon, but with the right approach to business, anyone can cope with the task. Consider how to make a bow for hunting with your own hands, using materials and tools that are available to everyone.

Varieties of bows

The main parts of such a weapon are an arc and a bowstring. By design, bows can be divided into two main groups:

• simple - for these models, the arc is made of one material - wood or PVC;
• composite, or composite - the arcs of such bows are made of several materials.

The form is distinguished:

• classic bows - the arc of such a hunting weapon has one bend, when bent it has a D-shape;
• recursive - their arc bends three times and has an M-shape.

Also bows can be divided into simple and collapsible. The arcs of the former are made from a single piece of material, while the latter consist of several parts.

From natural materials, for the manufacture of composite arches, wood can be used for the middle part, the horn for the inside, as well as tendons that are attached to the outside. This three-piece design provides the weapon with good resilience, flexibility and power.

Today, in the manufacture of industrial collapsible bows, high-strength modern materials with optimal properties are used - fiberglass and carbon fiber, aluminum and magnesium alloys, and so on.

The device of such a weapon can be quite complicated, but making it yourself at home is a task that requires some experience, as well as a lot of time and effort.

It is better to make a simple non-separable bow with your own hands. With the right approach to business and adherence to technology, its accuracy and power will be enough for hunting.

Tools and materials

To make such a bow, you need a minimum set of tools:

• hacksaw;
• plane;

To give the arc the desired bend, it is better to use a special slipway. You can also make it yourself from a board and a few bars.

To make a simple non-collapsible bow with your own hands, you need:

• wood or PVC tube to make an arc;
• strong rope, rawhide ribbon, wire, thick line for making bowstrings;
• thick rope or other suitable material for the handle.

During the drawing of the bow, its shoulders should bend, while the bowstring practically does not stretch... The arrow is sent to the target precisely due to the force of the arc of the weapon, which straightens at the moment of the shot.

How to make a bow out of wood?

Let's consider how to make a hunting bow out of wood. Yew is considered the best material for this - it was from it that the best examples of such weapons were made in the Middle Ages. However, it is difficult to get such a tree, so other species are usually used instead. It can be:

• hazel;
• juniper;
• Rowan;
• ash;
• larch;
• cedar.

A good onion rod should:

• do not have cracks, it is also better to select rods without knots, but the presence of a small amount of them on the surface is not critical, the main thing is not to try to cut them out when processing the rod;
• have a length from one meter to one and a half meters;
• be dry;
• be straight.

For the manufacture of onions, you can also use several thin rods of the same length, while they must be securely fastened by pulling in several places with electrical tape or other suitable material. This option is suitable if you need to quickly make a bow in field conditions from what you can find at hand.

Wood harvesting

Harvesting wood to make a hunting bow with your own hands is better in winter, at a temperature of -10 degrees or slightly lower. If you look for a suitable twig in the fall, you will not have to wander through the snowdrifts in search of. It is necessary to cut it off, while the length of the bar should be several tens of centimeters longer than the expected length of the onion. This is necessary, since the ends of the rod may crack during drying.

Before making onions, the wood must be dried for a long time, on average three months are enough. For this, a room with room temperature is suitable, in which the bar must be suspended.

At the same time, it is not necessary to remove the bark, but it is better to paint or varnish the ends, which will not allow moisture to evaporate, then the future arc will dry out evenly along the entire length. A rod with a slight curvature can be straightened over the steam.

In field conditions, drying can be quickly carried out with the help of a fire, the main thing is to do it carefully, do not lower the wood too close to the fire and do not dry it out. Such onions will be more fragile and less durable than dried at room temperature.

Making a bow from a wooden rod

When the rod is dry, it must be processed with a plane, while the shoulders should not become cylindrical, but flat. The bow of a simple collapsible bow does not consist of a single piece of wood or PVC, but of two separate arms that are attached to the top and bottom of the handle. In this case, the handle is easiest to make from a wooden block or cylinder of suitable thickness. Moreover, in the central part, they can be turned by making a comfortable grip under the arm.

If you intend to make a simple bow with an arc from a single piece of wood, and not with two separate shoulders, in the middle, the rod should be left round in cross section.

It is important that the shoulders have the same length, width and thickness, only in this case the force on them will be evenly distributed and the bow will strike accurately.

Then the workpiece must be given the desired shape - in the form of a simple arc or M-shaped. To do this, the wood is heated over steam and fixed for a while in a special slipway, which will fix the desired shape. Such a device can be made from a board by fixing several bars on it. You need to keep the onion in the slipway for about a week.

When the arc is ready, you need to make notches at its end and fasten the bowstring. You also need to braid the handle. To get a reliable installation, the fixing points of the bowstring and handle must be glued.

Making a bow from skis

Skis are great materials for making bow bows and often don't even need to be processed. Therefore, if a suitable pair is available that is not suitable for use, there is no need to harvest rods or look for other material. You can use both wooden and plastic skis, the second option is preferable.

To make a bow, you need to saw off the two ends of the skis of a suitable length, which will be the shoulders, and fasten them to the handle. The handle itself can also be made of skis by stapling the trims of the desired length in several layers and processing them so that you get a comfortable grip. After that, you just need to attach the bowstring, and the bow is ready to use.

The optimal length of the finished product is about 1.3 m... If the bow made of skis exceeds the length of 1.4-1.5 m, its power will be insufficient, since such a long arc cannot give the arrow enough momentum. Also, the shoulders should be narrow - so that to make an arch of wide skis, they must be sharpened from both edges.

Making a composite bow, each shoulder of which must be made not from one material, but from several different ones, is a more complicated process. However, such a weapon is made according to the same principles as a simple homemade bow for hunting. If you approach the matter correctly, a self-made bow will strike powerfully and accurately, while at the same time it will be able to serve for quite a long time.