A quickly made children`s bow.

[Buemaker]

In the summer I travel to several Viking and Medeival reenactment markets and usually bring som bows for sale or trading. Even a child`s bow when perfectly made, sanded and oiled can be too much for a small boy or girl to afford.
So I figured I would like to make some bows that were fast to make, did not cost much, shot well and had a long drawlenght so a child could grow with it.
This bow is made from a Hazelnut tree. A 2" diameter tree is split in half and taken down to rough bow dimentions and strapped up as shown in the pictures. In the spring the bark is easily stripped off and the soft Hazel wood can be bent into recurves without any problem. The good thing is that this wood dries very fast, in a normally heated room the stave is dried out in 10 days and ready for bowmaking.
The bow is overall 60" long and 47" between were the recurves start. On the full draw pic it is drawn to 26". It is featherlight in the hand and shoots very nice. I am not concerned about a perfect tiller on these light bows, as long as it bends reasonably well I am happy with it.
It is easily made in an hour, the new owner can finish sand and oil it if he/she pleases.
It is best to leave the bow full width when drying since the recurves somtimes twist a bit.
Bue--.

 
 
 
 
 
 

As usual I got some comments from my better half concerning the background choices for the pics, washed clothes and paint buckets, but what the H--.

[Shaun]

Good stuff Bue.

At the MOJam gathering they make kids bows from rattan. It looks like solid core bamboo about 1 1/4" in diameter. Split into two staves on the bandsaw and tillered with the bark side as the belley they shoot great. Can make one in a few minutes on the bandsaw with no other tools. Sash cord for a string and away they go.

[Shaun]

In this picture the boy in the blue shirt is shooting a rattan bow.