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Organic Archery
Приєднався 15 чер 2021
Hand-Crafted Primitive Bows & Wooden Arrows
The Art of Arrow Making - Split Timber (Chapter 2)
Chapter 2 of this six-part Arrow Making Series covers the split-timber method, which is an excellent way to make high-quality wooden arrows from common boards (or logs).
The "shooting board" jig was in widespread use throughout the Medieval Times; but there's no telling when it was invented or just how old it really is.
This is my personal favorite way to craft arrows, because it gives you a tremendous amount of control over the process and can produce closely matched sets faster and with less effort than other methods.
This set receive feather fletchings in Chapter 5, which will cover four different methods of fletching arrows; and points in Chapter 6, which will cover four different styles of arrow points.
PS : Organic Archery's 2025 Workshop Schedule is live on our site! If you've ever wanted to craft a selfbow from start to finish, check us out. We have novice and advanced courses and have hosted well over 100 students ~ and no one has left without a formidable bow!
www.organicarchery.com
A huge thanks to www.advmachinery.com for supporting today's video!
The "shooting board" jig was in widespread use throughout the Medieval Times; but there's no telling when it was invented or just how old it really is.
This is my personal favorite way to craft arrows, because it gives you a tremendous amount of control over the process and can produce closely matched sets faster and with less effort than other methods.
This set receive feather fletchings in Chapter 5, which will cover four different methods of fletching arrows; and points in Chapter 6, which will cover four different styles of arrow points.
PS : Organic Archery's 2025 Workshop Schedule is live on our site! If you've ever wanted to craft a selfbow from start to finish, check us out. We have novice and advanced courses and have hosted well over 100 students ~ and no one has left without a formidable bow!
www.organicarchery.com
A huge thanks to www.advmachinery.com for supporting today's video!
Переглядів: 5 579
Відео
The Art of Arrow Making - Dowels (Chapter 1)
Переглядів 5 тис.14 днів тому
Chapter 1 of this six-part Arrow Making Series is a detailed tutorial on crafting high-quality arrow shafts from store-bought poplar dowels. Dowels are one of the cheapest, most readily available materials for DIY archery enthusiasts! Even if you live in an "arrow wood desert" and don't have easy access to suitable wild materials, you can typically still find common 3/8 dowels at most hardware ...
Oldest Known Bow Recreated by Professional Bowyer
Переглядів 263 тис.5 місяців тому
The Holmegaard bow is the oldest complete bow ever found; dating to roughly 7,000 BC (Mesolithic Period - Middle Stone Age). It was found alongside several other bows recovered from a bog in Denmark in 1963. The Holmegaard bow is frequently mistaken for and/or used interchangeably with the Mollegabet artifact, but they're quite different. The Holmegaard is a fairly straightforward flatbow with ...
Making English Longbows from Common Woods
Переглядів 30 тис.7 місяців тому
The question has been asked a million times - "Will wood make an English Longbow?" I'll refer to them instead as D-bows, because the design was quite widespread throughout history and is relied on by several of the remaining hunter-gatherer tribes to this day. Several different trees are used for traditional English longbows most famously Yew but also Ash and Elm which were referred to as the "...
Neolithic Ash Longbow Made w/ Modern Tools
Переглядів 19 тис.9 місяців тому
In this video I use modern tools to make an "archer-tall" ash longbow inspired by some of the ancient artifacts from the Neolithic period. Some prehistoric bows were at least as tall as the archer and made with rounded bellies, much like the renowned English longbow and warbow. Regardless of what you call it, it's a widespread design used by both hunters and warriors throughout human history. T...
How To Find & Prepare Bow Wood
Переглядів 8 тис.10 місяців тому
One of the most challenging parts of a new bowyer's journey is actually finding bow wood; and once you've found some, the work has only just begun! As with all things in woodworking, wood carving, and other lumber trades ~ quality wood must first be sourced, processed, and most importantly dried before it's stable enough to transform into functional and long-lasting products. The same rules app...
Make a Primitive Bow by Feel - No Special Tools
Переглядів 69 тис.11 місяців тому
Bow making technology has changed since the ancient times, but the process remains much the same. With no shortage of primitive archery how-tos showcasing the benefits of specialized tools, it's always good to be reminded that bows can be made with nothing more than one or two readily-available implements. If you're not confident in your wood carving skills with a hatchet, practice on scrap woo...
Sharpen a Card Scraper the Easy Way
Переглядів 8 тис.11 місяців тому
This Bowyer's Bench video covers a simple and effective way to sharpen both rectangular and gooseneck card scrapers, also known as cabinet scrapers or hand scrapers. If you build high-end cabinets or furniture, you might want to make your scrapers razor sharp by stepping down to finer grit sandpaper. For building and tillering wooden bows, 220 grit is plenty sharp. This method works well regard...
How to Make a Back Quiver
Переглядів 6 тис.Рік тому
In this video I show how to make a simple and effective back quiver from split bison hide. This is the proprietary style I've been making for Organic Archery customers for the several years. I use 4-5 oz split bison hide and a cowhide liner for improved broadhead protection. These quivers can only be used with 2-blade broadheads and are not safe for use with 3-blade. If the straps are made long...
How to Freehand Sharpen a Draw Knife
Переглядів 7 тис.Рік тому
This Bowyer's Bench video covers a quick and easy freehand sharpening method that works for all shapes and sizes of draw knives. What would you like to see covered in future Bowyer's Bench videos? Let me know in the comments! Instagram: @organic.archer Website: www.organicarchery.com
Making an Eastern Woodlands Bow
Переглядів 31 тис.Рік тому
In this video I make a replica of the Eastern Woodlands bow from the Catawba Tribe found on page 78 of the "Encyclopedia of Native American Bows, Arrows & Quivers - Northeast, Southeast, and Midwest" by Steve Allely and Jim Hamm. The Pre-Columbian Catawba territory consisted mainly of present day North and South Carolina, and they were later considered by early colonists to be one of the most p...
Making Otzi the Iceman's Bow w/ Modern Tools
Переглядів 382 тис.Рік тому
In this video I build a nearly identical replica of the bow found alongside Otzi the Iceman. Modern steel hand tools were used, and the measurements differ from Otzi's bow by only fractions of an inch as the process unfolds. This happens naturally while working it down to the desired draw weight, which in this case was 65-70 pounds at 26 inches. It's important to remember that every piece of wo...
Great info. Can't wait for #3. You make it look easy. Thanks
It's interesting to me, that in general woodworking, shooting board is whole lot different tool than the one used in arrow making. In general woodworking it is a tool, where one can trim and joint board edges, generally to ensure 90 degrees all around and reduce tear-out when end trimming
@@apinakapinastorba interesting. I didn’t know that!
Now imagine making that with chips of sharp flint and pieces of sand stone, by eye.
I appreciate so much that you actually went to a hardware store and showed us real-life examples of wood grain that we would likely come across!
I’m glad I was able to find enough wood to finish the tutorial, haha! Sometimes you leave empty-handed.
Excellent tutorial. You are a gifted teacher. Looking forward to tuning too.
Much appreciated!
Beautiful Bow and well made and shot sir.....
One of these days you will have to try Yellow Pine for your shafts. Excellent tutorial. I have made thousands of wooden arrows using a shooting board. I managed to pick up a few useful hints. I am a new subscriber, looking forward to seeing all your videos.
I used yellow pine with tight growth rings once. It made some really nice arrows that lasted a long time!
Spine pretty close?
Never mind, you covered it.
3/8 veritas doweling jig. Air dryed ash lumber. Tapered slightly. I adjust the spine while tapering with shaft chucked up in drill with sandpaper
Those pencil sharpener jigs work well! I have the fancy Veritas dowel machine with the arrow inserts. It makes excellent arrows very quickly! The only thing I don’t like about it is the required 1/2” blanks make for more waste and less yield. Didn’t wanna show a $300 specialty arrow machine when they can be shaped by hand with common tools. The simple and inexpensive methods tend to be more appealing to DIY archers.
What an incredible video. I planned on buying some blanks and fletching them myself. You’ve convinced me to just make my own.
It’s an enjoyable process! If you already have some of the tools, it’s also about 1/4th the cost of buying blanks.
Very nice tutorial I will give a try to make some arrows? Greetings from France Happy new year....
Happy New Year and good luck with your arrow build!
Really nice series, im really enjoying it! I also wanted to ask, since i dont have a hand plane but i do own an electric one, even though i dont know much about adjusting the blades or anything, could i use that electric plane to make arrow shafts in this style?
Sounds kinda dangerous to me! A used hand or thumb plane can be found for $10-20, so I wouldn’t risk it.
Can't say enough about how fine the instruction is that Correy provides.
Very much appreciated! 🙏🏼
Getting the shafts that close in weight with natural materials and handmade processes is insane
It takes a lot of practice, and a little luck! 😅
Im never going to make a bow and some arrows but I enjoy watching you make them your a great craftsman !
Glad you’re enjoying the videos, even though you’re not making them yourself!
If I may offer some observation of an often seen error in drawings even in some period books yet written by authors (even then) that had more been "reporting on" than actually doing a given craft like traditional arrow making... "Rift sawn" (in your drawing) is reflecting the error seen in most books and now repeated in all manner of documentation, including videos. "Rift" wood does not have any grain angel as your drawing indicated and is what should have been seen in your "quarter sawn" example. "Rift" was at one time, "riven sawn" which in turn comes from "riven wood" and the best possible lumber (particularly for those of us that still work in traditional green woodworking crafts of timber framing, and folk styles of furniture making...as well as...bows and arrows.) Your technical description for selecting suitable blanks for arrow shafts and fabrication in a modern context was excellent other than missing those germane details that are more culturally specific to both species of wood and culture be it Western or Eastern in orgin as well as those within the indigenous cultures. Google "rift saw lumber" and look for the diagrams where you see a bolt section (aka log section end) where it looks like a lot of wood is being wasted. This is the true form of "rift sawn" lumber which is more wasteful than even if it was traditionally riven yet yields the highest grade lumber. "Traditional clapboard saw mills" that create traditional clapboard siding does the most economic milling of "rift sawn" wood. These "claps" or "fletch" are for siding, but as you can imagine, back in the day traditional Bowyers would hand select from here for their arrow stock as I have on more than one occasion in my youth. "Radial Saw mills" (aka "swing blades") will produce excellent stock as well and my original "Lucas Mill" made many such cuts when I was producing stock for some Bowyers I knew at the time. There is still a mill like this operating in Maine and a few have them within their private collects also...Thank you again for what you share... ua-cam.com/video/QMcBbaivqPA/v-deo.html
Great video! The step-by-step process of arrow making is amazing, and the details were very well explained. I want to highlight how much the addition of the audio track helps. It makes the content more accessible to people around the world who don’t speak English, which is essential, especially in cultures where archery is not widely practiced. This feature can truly expand the reach of your videos, helping more people learn. Congratulations on the great work, and thank you for this thoughtful effort!
Glad you enjoyed it! At some point the channel became eligible for automatically generated captions. I wasn’t able to do it in the beginning. It’s a UA-cam feature and I’m glad it’s there now!
Excellent video. Thank you for a great presentation!
Thanks for watching!
Just found this channel a few days ago, and I’ve been through every video. Seriously eyeing the sessions to build a bow, but have to convince my wife of the “need” to do it!
I bet fine wood working is great for unstressing. Plus I can see you're a floridian. With a good bow, you can take out those pesky crocs without any noise
We’d love to have you out for a build. You’ll have a great head start going into it after watching the bowmaking videos!
Excellent instructions and explanations!
Glad you found it helpful!
Wow great video. I wish I could have found this lesson years ago.
Better late than never! 🙌🏼
This may seem like a dumb question but I didn't understand the sizing of the blank. Let's say I want 9mm arrow, I'll have to make a 10x10mm square blank? Is that it?
Exactly. With some practice you’ll be able to make a 9mm arrow from a ~9mm blank - but by going with 10x10mm blanks when first learning, you’ll have more room to fine-tune the size and remove any tear outs left by the plane. When you go straight for the finished size, you’ve got no room for error and need to have your technique dialed in.
@organicarchery thanks!
I thought that this sound of an arrow flying by was just made up for movies and that they don't whizz like that in real life 😂
All of your stuff is so great. Thanks for making these videos. I can’t believe you can make a whole video and not even show off one of those beautifully crazy grained hackberry bows! Great work my man.
I’ll get around to filming a hackberry flatbow soon enough. It’s probably my favorite bow wood!
Awesome video, thank you. Such a shame the wrap all those boards in plastic
Agreed. Never understood the plastic!
It is so rare to see perfection in teaching! I have 2 university degrees and have never been taught a new subject as well as you do. You know how to do the subject as well as how to teach it. It is so refreshing to see and learn from you. Looking forward to your 3rd video. All the best in 2025 and keep the perfection in all your work!
Thank you, I really appreciate that! I’ve been obsessed with the subject matter for over a decade and acquired a knack for teaching in the Marines. Makes it all the better to hear people are enjoying the in-depth tutorial side of the channel.
Nice video Marine! Get some Japanese arrow bamboo and grow some nice shafts, if you're in the right growing zone (I'm north of Seattle). I have more than I could ever use.
I’ve considered growing some bamboo one day! For the time being, I spend a little time in the south each year and stock up on cane when I’m there.
Are you going to do a video on spine testing?
I was really into it for years but don’t do much proper spine testing these days. I prefer to match them by feel. Quite a few of the primitive archers out there are getting away from machine/jig calibrated spine. I’ve killed plenty of deer and even won some competitions with arrows that were spined by feel, so at this point it just doesn’t matter that much to me (within reason of course). I’m more concerned with weight matching. I mentioned a few thoughts on spine in the last segment of this video. You’ll find lots of great tutorials out there, though!
That was the fastest 40 minutes I think I’ve ever experienced! I’m not even an archer😂
I just fell into the rabbit hole of watching this channel and Benjamin Stevens recently.. I have a suspicious feeling I'm about to become one
Glad to hear they’re still enjoyable for people that aren’t yet archers! Hopefully it helps light the fire. It’s a great pastime!
😄👍
Do you do anything to reinforce your nocks? Great video cant wait to try this!
Definitely! I always reinforce my nocks with a wrap of either real or artificial sinew just below the cut. I do it at the same time as the fletching, and will cover nock reinforcement in chapter 5!
My process too.
Professionally crafted arrow shafts. Great video❤ thank you
Thanks for watching!
Another excellent tutorial
Glad you enjoyed it!
🏹
I need to find a good source for lumber. Menards is absolute trash. All they have for hickory is “rustic and knotty” hickory. All the red oak is trash and has grain runout. Been checking every few weeks. Thankfully I’ve found shag bark hickory and hackberry trees in the timber on the 6 acres I rent to live on so there’s bow staves. Hopefully Menards has some better boards in the arrow woods you recommend. The good old timey lumber yard in the nearest town closed down years back due to Lowe’s and Menards showing up🥴 wonderful addition to the arrow series! Thank you!
I’ve never had great luck with Menards for board bows, but can usually find good arrow wood there!
Awesome. I've been looking forward to the next chapter in this series.
Glad you’re enjoying the series, more to come!
I know that there have been many mind boggling inventions throughout history, from the printing press to airplanes, autos, the radio, television, computers, and space craft to mention just a few. However, I am just as impressed, if not more so, with the first knives, the boomerang, the atl-atl, and the bow.
I love the comment, "Don't get too attached to a Stick"!😂 Why Not, My Dog does!
Stoked for this series!
Would be interesting to see someone make this bow with period accurate tools.
Not yew though?
can you post that paper you keep showing somewhere. it would be very helpful
Have you ever had one explode on you? I’m so paranoid I’ve only gotten 10 dowels I feel are worth out of 5 hardware stores lol.
@@opossum2255 the one and only time an arrow broke on me was when I didn’t notice it had been impacted and damaged by another arrow. As long as you’re particular with the grain and inspect them often once they start looking beat up, it’s pretty low risk. The chances of dowels breaking goes up with heavy bows. Anything above about 65 pounds draw probably needs more serious arrows.
@ thank you for that tidbit. That happens to be exactly what my hunting bow is. I’ll stick to my tries and true cane arrows for it.
9000 yr old gun made from scraps. Humans were clearly going places.
a masterpiece. beautyful
I am fascinated by your careful, Zen like approach. I too am a craftsman but after watching you I have to take a step back and savor the experience. Quality work, just watch it unfold. Thanks.
Slow is smooth, and smooth is fast when it comes to bowmaking!
what is the avg. speed of the arrow in flight?.....what would be the distance that you can accurately target a deer when hunting with this bow?...50 yards,...more, less?
My bows average around 165 FPS with 650 grain arrows and a heavy hunting string. I could get them above 170 FPS if they were designed for speed, but I prefer a slightly overbuilt bow for durability. I don't shoot deer past 20 yards; preferably closer. There are too many variables in hunting. Moving animals, obstructions, etc. When they're more than 20 yards away, doubt creeps in; and I like high percentage shots where I'm certain it'll go as planned.
how long to heat treat your bow?
this is fascinating to watch