Ever wondered like I have, how to make your own bow in a realistic manner? I found the following on the internet and I think it would prove useful when role playing making a bow and arrow as a panther girl.
1. Choose a long piece of wood for the bow
Find a piece of dry, dead but not gray and cracking hardwood –about 1 meter (about 1 yard) in length. The wood should be free of knots, twists or limbs.
Try to get a piece of wood that curves enough so that when you release arrows, the string doesn’t slap the side of your hand (which is very painful).
This piece of wood should be somewhat flexible.
2. Shape the bow
Using a knife to shave wood off the inside of the curve or the “belly” on the thicker half of the stick until it has the same width and pull as the thinner half.
3. Cut notches to hold the bow string
4. Select a bow string
Some strong sinew or twine
5. Select sticks for arrows.
Some strong, straight plants for arrows are goldenrod and mullen. They can be found in fields.
6. Shape the arrows
7. Construct the arrowheads
You can also construct an arrowhead from metal, stone, glass, or bone and attach it to the arrow’s tip by notching the wood, inserting the arrowhead into the notch, and then lashing the arrowhead to the wood with some sort of string or cord.
8. Make fletchings
Find some feathers to make the fletchings and tie them onto the back ends of the arrows. Use feather from the tail of a bird, or from the wings. The feathers give the arrow its spinning during the flight.
9. Some tips
Tightly wrap the bow with a wet strip of leather around the center two thirds of the bow (before stringing) and let it dry naturally. This will give your bow extra strength to resist breakage and should allow you to project arrows at a greater velocity.
You can carve a notch about a centimeter into the wood and an inch up to put your arrows on once your bow is pulled back(to rest the arrow on, and keep it from wobbling).
To make a fire using the bow, you will need to gather dry moss, dryer lint, or other suitable tinder, a piece of hard wood that fits into your palm, and a piece of soft wood (softer than your arrow shaft). Cut a nock in the soft wood approximately 3 centimeters deep running the thickness of the wood, place this nock directly upon the tinder. Drill a small hole into the hard, palm-sized wood slightly larger than the diameter of your arrow shaft and no deeper than 5-10 millimetres. Twist a de-headed arrow into the string of the bow and place the butt of the arrow into the hole drilled into the hard wood. Be careful, as the arrow will want to twist out of the string and may injure you. Place the tip of the arrow into the nock of the soft wood. Begin pulling the bow back and forth, keeping the motion steady and even. The soft wood will begin to heat, smoke, and will eventually produce a small ember. This ember should fall into your pile of tinder. If carefully nursed, and blown upon until small flames appear, the pile can be picked up and carried by the bottom, carefully, and quickly to a prepared fire site.
Source: http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Bow-and-Arrow
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