Part III

stick is fashioned in a certain shape it will cast the arrow better than if it is unformed, and this form constitutes the science and art of bow making. Modern archers have settled upon a bow that is flat on the back, round on the belly, gradually tapering to the tips and of about six feet in length as the desideratum. This is commonly known as the long bow. The bows of many savage tribes are much longer and a larger percentage of them much shorter. The much over- 194 American Archery > estimated American Indian archer used a shorter bow. There is nothing intricate about bow making. Compared with the art of the fletcher it is like breaking sticks. You can make a bow out of most anything and in any form. Some are better than others, that is all. In the following remarks it is our purpose to give some simple directions, which if followed by one with slight skill and much care and patience, will result in turning out a con- ventional bow along English lines. The 'material out of which you will make your bow is the important question. If you consult the ordinary book or article on bows they will tell you that bows are made out of u yew, washaba or lance." That is very good. Where are you going to get the material? My Did you ever see a tree of such ? Century Dictionary does not even tell me what washaba is. You can buy these expensive and imported woods in the large cities, but we do not all live in the large cities. That being the case we have to use what we have at hand, and when we look over our posses- sions we are surprised to find the wealth of material we have at hand. A good bow .can Bows and How to Make Them 195 be made of many of the native American woods, and the best in the world out of Oregon yew. I say best for the reason that it has been proven in actual contest that they will shoot as well as the imported English and Italian yew bows and last longer. But then we do not all live in the Oregon mountains where this wood is obtainable, so we must look some where else. We do not have to look far, for in fact any wood will make a bow. Of course some is much better than others, but the fact remains that with proper attention given to the grain of the wood and sufficient length provided a bow can be made out of the most brittle wood. But, of course, a bow of nine feet in length would be out of the question, and that would be the length you would have to make your bow in order to use some of the woods we have at hand. The most common wood that is used for boys and Indian bows is hickory, but there are other woods easily obtained that are much better. After use hickory seems to lose its cast, due to the fibre of the wood becoming crushed in the belly of the bow. You know that every time a bow is drawn to its capacity the fibre in the belly is crushed or pressed 196 American Archery together while that in the back of the bow is pulled and stretched. Hickory will stand this pulling but fails when it comes to the crushing test. This characteristic of hickory is taken advantage of by bow makers when they make what is called a backed bow or one made of two pieces of different woods. They select for the belly a wood that will stand crushing, as for instance red cedar, the sweet smelling kind that is used for making pencils, and hickory for the back, and produce a bow that is as good as the best. But then We we have not come to that yet. will tell you about backed and grafted bows later on. If you have access to growing timber you can select your own bow material, and thus, have the advantage of the city dweller who will have to get his at the lumber yard or wagon shop and be compelled to put up with old and brash wood which in all probability will be kiln dried and consequently ruined. Select a sapling or young tree of from three to five inches in diameter, the trunk of which is straight and free from knots or limbs. In making your selection you can take either mulberry, black locust, sassafras, apple, black walnut, osage orange, elm, ash, hemlock, Bows and How to Make Them 197 dogwood, and if you find nothing better, hickory. Among these woods mulberry and black locust are considered the best, but you are not justified in refusing to use any kind of wood you can get that has a long straight grain and that is not notoriously brittle. Experiment, and you might find a better bow wood than has been heretofore discovered. When you have selected your sapling cut a piece from the trunk not less than six feet long. The length of your bow will depend upon your size and strength. Your bow should be as long as you are tall, but at least six feet long. For a youth fourteen or fifteen years of age the bow should be five feet and three inches or better still five feet and a A half. short bow is liable to break, and while it has a "snappy" cast, it is not pleasant to A use. safe rule is to make your bow of such length that you can easily brace, or string, it by the method to be hereafter explained. After securing your tree trunk you must re- move the bark and then saw the piece length- wise through the middle. This will give you material for two bows, and if you have selected a sapling large enough you can saw each half through the middle and will then 198 American Archery have four quarters for the same purpose. You will find that there is a marked difference between the heart and sap of the wood, both in looks and quality and we will take advantage of this fact later on. Of course the wood we have is green and unseasoned and before we use it we will have to season it. This is done by finding a running stream of water, if we can, and by weighting our sticks we keep them in the water for from two to six weeks, depending upon their size and the nature of the wood. A wood with a close compact grain will require more time than one with an open porous grain. The theory in this method of seasoning, and it is proven in practice, is that the sap in the wood is supplanted by the water, and when the water is subsequently driven out the grain of the wood is left tough and elastic, rather than dry and brittle, as would be the case if the wood was allowed to season in the air. This is shown by the fact that kiln-dried timber is almost invariably brash and liable to fracture upon the slightest strain. Of course if you cannot find a stream to immerse your sticks in you will have to put them in a trough, tank or cistern. Running water simply accelerates Bows and How to Make Them 199 the elimination of the sap. Of course if you live in the city and have to buy your bow material you will get it already seasoned, but be sure you do not get kiln-dried if you can possibly help it. Osage orange makes a good bow but it is very liable to weather check, and when seasoned is hard to work. Cedar is also good, but it is very hard to secure pieces of sufficient length, free from knots. I have made a most excellent bow from a piece of sassafras secured from a two A inch board sixteen inches wide. sapling of this wood should make a desirable bow. While our material is seasoning we will discuss the size of our bow. The strength, and consequently the casting power of a bow is determined by the number of pounds it is necessary to pull upon the string in order to pull it back the full length of the arrow and called weight. This statement, as far as the casting power of a bow is concerned is only partially true as some bow woods are much quicker than others, and with two bows of equal weight, i. e., pull, but made of different woods one is liable to have a farther cast. It is this characteristic that makes yew so valuable, not this alone, however, as snake- 200 American Archery wood has a quicker cast, but is rejected by- veteran archers on account of being heavy, A and its liability to jar and fragility. bow for a man should range in weight from 35 to 70 pounds, depending upon the individual and whether the bow is for target shooting or hunting. The main thing to be guarded against is to not get a bow that is too strong for the shooter. To shoot with a bow beyond your strength results in poor scores, sore fingers and ultimate disgust and condemna- tion of a pastime, the beauties of which you have denied yourself in attempting to impress upon your fellows that you were possessed of superior physical prowess. The best archers use a bow many pounds lighter than they are capable of using. Archery is not a test of strength, but of skill and the intelligent use of such powers as we possess. Of course as the archer masters his bow he will increase in strength and should in just that proportion increase the weight of his weapon. The weight of a bow is determined by its length, the amount of material left in it and the quality of the wood. The hard dense woods such as ash, hickory and osage orange will require less bulk than the softer woods Bows and How to Make Them 201 such as sassafras or cedar. In all probability your bow will range in size from $4 inch to A iyi inch square at the largest part. lance wood bow 1 inch square will weigh 65 pounds while a sassafras bow of the same size would weigh about 25 pounds. The shorter a bow We of given size the more it will weigh. can- not determine in advance just how large the finished bow will be but will have to ascertain that by experiment and repeated trials, so a safe rule is to make your bow larger than you have reason to believe will be acceptable and then reduce it to correspond to your strength. After your stick has been taken from the water, wiped off and dried in the shade for three or four days and then hung up over the kitchen stove for a week it will be ready to work upon. For your first trial select your poorest stick to practice upon. If it is a success in the first instance you have in reserve a better stick more thoroughly sea- soned from which you can make a better and stronger bow as you increase in skill and strength. After determining the length you want your bow, measure your stick and cut a piece as long as you want the bow to be from nock to nock, that is if you intend to use horn 202 American Archery tips, but if it is your intention to cut notches in the bow itself to carry the string then you must cut your stick four inches longer than you want the finished bow. The sap of the wood is tough and elastic, it must be used for the back while the more dense heartwood is used for the belly. Square up the edges of your piece with a drawing knife so that it may be firmly held in the vise with the sap uppermost, in doing so you can shave it down until it is \yi inches wide, but do all of this work on the edges, not on the sap or heart of the stick. Now comes the important part and the durability and life of your bow depends upon your careful attention to this feature of its manufacture. Now place your stick, which by this time has been reduced by the drawing knife and its two sides planed smooth with the jack-plane, in the vise with the sap uppermost. Study the grain of the wood. Does it run true, flat and even, or does it dip and thicken up in places, if it dips, does the same increased thickness show upon both sides of the stick? Now we must reduce this sap so that we will leave a layer from yi to %6 of an inch in thickness along the back of our bow, and in doing so we must Bows and How to Make Them 203 follow the grain of the wood as nearly as possible. Of course any slight wave or depres- sion we can ignore, and make our back prac- tically level and flat, but if we encounter a pronounced bend or depression in the grain of the wood we must follow it. In other words a bow which has the grain of the wood " run- ning out" or cut across on the back will not last. The cheap lance and lemonwood bows are finished with the back perfectly smooth, while at a meeting of the National Archery Association will be found bows cost- ing as high as one hundred dollars and made of yew in which the back is far from straight, owing to the grain of the wood being followed in their making. However the sides of. these are, and all bows should be, perfectly straight, so that when they are strung up and you look along the string and at the belly of the bow the string divides the bow equally. Now if you have followed the instructions above given you have a billet of wood i*/& inches wide, with a layer of sap along its ^ entire length of about inch in thickness and more or less rounding, depending upon the size of the sapling in the first instance. If this convexity is too pronounced the centre 204 American Archery may be slightly reduced so as to make the back almost flat, that is, flat across the grain. Now measure your stick and find its centre and mark it. From this point make a mark I inch above and 3 inches below. This is for the handle. Mark these last two points by drawing lines squarely across the back of the stick, and, of course, four inches apart. With a chalk line pulled very taut mark the centre of the back from end to end. At both ends of the stick mark a point yq inches from either side of the chalk mark. Draw lines with a straight edge from these points to the ends of the cross lines which you have used to mark the handle. Now with the drawing- knife at first and plane afterwards reduce the sides of your stick to these marks, and have the sides at right angles to the plane of the back. Now turn your stick on its side and mark a point at either end f� of an inch from the back, and 1 inch from the back at either end of the handle, connect these points with a line. Then reduce the heart of the stick in the same manner you reduced the sides. You now have a stick $4 inch square on the ends and the centre of which is 1 x ij^. Bows and How to Make Them 205 The handle, so far untouched, should be rounded on the inside, care being taken from now on that the back remains untouched, and should be made as large as can be conven- iently held in the hand, and noticeably larger than the largest part of the finished limbs of the bow. When the bow is fully drawn it should not bend, even the slightest, in the handle, for this reason we are compelled to leave a lot of wood at this point. The measurements we have been working to we will find are for a bow probably stronger than we can pull, but we have taken this pre- caution in order to get our handle large enough, and having secured that necessary condition we will proceed to reduce the size of each limb by planing them on the belly and sides down to the required size. These measurements will vary somewhat depending upon the kind of wood we are using. The corners of the belly are rounded and planed off so that a section of the bow at any point U if sawed through would look like a letter which was almost if not quite as deep as it was wide; for instance if one of the limbs was I inch wide and J4> inch deep at the largest part it would be probably y� inch wide and 206 American Archery xk deep at the ends. It will be impossible to plane the belly to within 4 or 5 inches of the handle, as to do so would make it the same size of the limbs, when it should be at least a quarter of an inch deeper, so at this point it will be necessary to carefully taper the handle into each limb by the use of the drawing knife, spoke shave, rasp or scraper. The handle may be wider than the limbs, however, without harm. In reducing the belly of the bow we must be careful to follow the lines of the bow as determined by the back. The back is the base line from which we work, and if there is a kink or depression in it we must have a corresponding bulge or raised place in the belly. Another thing to bear in mind is that if we encounter a knot of small proportions, commonly called a pin knot, we must not condemn the stick and throw it away, as we may save it by doing what is called "rais- ing" the knot, that is, leave the knot and the surrounding wood higher than the limb on either side of the knot. Many excellent bows are thus constructed. They look rough at rest but in use bend with a graceful curve if properly made. Bows and How to Make Them 207 The ends of the bow will be finished by filing with a small rat-tail file notches on either side for the string, care being taken to leave no sharp corners that are liable to cut, or placing horn tips thereon, as fancy dictates. If you want horn tips, and they are the most satisfactory, secure two inches from the tip of a cow's horn and drill a one-eighth inch hole in the larger end and one inch deep. Make a reamer of flat steel one inch long running to a point and as wide at the base as the tips of your bow. Sharpen the edges of this reamer with a file at an angle similar to the blade of a pair of scissors and having left a shank, on your reamer put it in a brace and ream out the hole in the horn to fit the ends of your bow which will be sharpened like a pencil to fit the tips. Sharpen a hard wood stick to fit in the tips and clamp the stick in the vise and with rasp, file and scraper fashion the tip to suit your fancy. File a notch in the tip to hold the string, making it round and smooth and at such an angle that the string will rest on the bottom of the notch when the bow is strung. The top of the notch should be cut away so that when the bow is fully drawn it will not interfere 208 American Archery with the string. If the horn works too hard it may be softened by boiling. Finish with emery paper. The horn tips may be securely fastened on the ends of the bow with glue. To brace or string the bow slip the eye of the string over the upper end and fasten the lower end with a timber hitch, so that the eye will be about two and one-half inches below the upper nock. The bow is strung by holding the lower limb with the inside of the foot, pulling upon the handle with one hand and depressing the upper limb with the other, a '. the same time slipping the eye of the string into the upper nock. Use either hand to grasp the bow at the handle as suits your convenience, and you will find that whichever hand you select you will use the foot on that side of the body to hold the lower limb. Now examine the bow and see if it bends evenly throughout its entire length. Look along the back lengthwise and see if it bends even and flat or if it pulled out of shape by the string. If the latter is the case and the string does not cut the middle of the bow it will be necessary to cure this defect by scraping that side of the belly which is opposite Bows and How to Make Them 209 the portion of the back which is bulged out; in other words, scrape the low side of the belly. Do this very gradually and carefully and closely watch the result of your efforts. If one limb bends more than the other the stronger limb must be reduced to correspond. Remember the handle must not bend in the least and each limb must bend with an even graceful curve from the handle to the tip. After getting the bow to bend to suit you it must be weighed. To do this adjust your string so that when the bow is braced it will stand from 6 to 6j/� inches from the inside of the handle, and with a spring balance draw the string, at its centre so that it will be 27 inches from the inside of the handle. If the spring balance shows that the bow weighs the required amount, well and good, if it is stronger than you want then the bow must be lowered or weakened by scraping it evenly throughout its entire length, taking off but little at a time and frequently testing to see that we do not go too far, and being careful that we scrape one side as much as the other in order to preserve the balance. Another way to test the bow is to weigh out in a sack as much sand or soil as necessary to give you 210 American Archery the desired weight, and tie it up and affix a hook thereon. Drive two very stout nails at a convenient height above the floor and 4 inches apart; mark a point on the wall 27 inches below these nails; hang your bow on these nails by the handle and hook the bag of sand in the centre of the string. When the bag of sand will pull the string down to the mark you have a bow of the required weight. Of course in making this test or the one with the spring balance you must not allow the bow to be under strain any length of time; hang on your weight, ease it down to the point where the bow will hold it, note the distance and immediately remove the weight. To finish the bow it must be rubbed per- fectly smooth with sand paper or steel wool, and the pores of the wood filled with a filler if necessary. Three coats of rubbing varnish or Chinamel, well rubbed between each coat should give a nice finish. If the handle is large enough, and of such shape as to feel pleasant to the hand nothing additional will be required beyond the trimming, however if it is small and hard to grasp it must be increased in size and improved in shape by glueing upon the back a piece of pine as Bows and How to Make Them 211 long as the handle and nicely rounded. The trimming will be a piece of green or red plush glued around the handle, or any other material that suits your taste. In locating the handle you must remember that it is not in the exact centre of the bow but between the marks we put on the back as guides, which results in the upper limb being longer than the lower. This disparity in length causes the upper limb to bend more than the lower, so that if the bow when braced shows a very slightly increased bend in the upper limb it is not objectionable. Barnes, the famous American yew bowyer trims his handles with strips of split leather wound around the handle. A good covering would be a piece of calf skin, cut to fit, and sewed along the back with the base-ball stitch. Soft wood bows should have a piece of ivory, mother of pearl or any other hard substance let into the left side of the upper limb just above the handle, to allow the arrows to glide over without wearing the bow at that point. This is called the arrow plate. The bow which is now finished and ready for use is what is called a self bow, that is one made without a back. There is another kind of bow which is a self bow but is made 212 American Archery of two pieces joined in the handle, and it is known as a grafted bow. As it is hard to get a piece of yew of sufficient length, and suffi- ciently clear of knots and pins to make a perfect bow, the grafted variety is very com- mon in bows of that wood, and they are entirely satisfactory, that is if well made. Expert bowyers claim that there is a difference in the quality of the wood in either end of a six foot stick, and for that reason indorse the grafted bow for the reason that wood of the same quality and from a half length of the same stick may be placed in either limb of the bow, with uniform results. If you are unable to get a clear stick of sufficient length to make a bow you should have no difficulty in getting a stick of half that length, and large enough to get two limbs from it. Prepare your sticks by reducing the sap as you did for the bow just described, and select the butt end of the stick for the joint. To make the joint you must make the ends of your limbs per- fectly square for a distance of four inches. This may result in cutting across the grain in the handle, but as the bow will not bend there and will be protected by a whipping it will be of no consequence. In squaring the Bows and How to Make Them 213 ends you must remember that in the finished handle there must be left sufficient wood to give it rigidity. On the back of one of the W limbs mark it in the shape of a which is upside-down, as wide as the stick and at least three and one-half inches long; carefully mark the belly to correspond. Clamp the stick securely in the vise and with a fine saw V cut out the shaped piece in the middle and with drawing-knife and plane cut off the long triangular pieces on either side down to the outside mark. If you do not get this sawed out accurately it will be necessary to dress it up with a knife-edge file, using the utmost care to keep the surfaces flat and true. Saw two deep notches in the other limb, first mark- ing them out, so that when finished the one limb will fit into the other and the sides of the two limbs be parallel. The two things to be watched in making this joint are to see that it is a perfect fit on both the back and belly, and that when the stick is joined it will be straight. This joint is called a double Now fish joint and is very strong. with the best glue that you can procure, the same having been put to soak in cold water over night, and then boiled in a glue pot, or water 214 American Archery bath, and used while boiling hot, thoroughly coat the proposed joint getting the glue into every portion of the joint and fit the pieces together, driving them smartly home with a mallet, and clamp the joint very firmly in the vise until dry. In a day or two the glue will be sufficiently hard to allow you to work on the stick and reduce it to about the proper size and shape for the proposed bow. Now you will have to put a whipping of very stout cord or tape around the joint, starting well outside of the ends of the joint, winding close, smooth and as tight as your whipping will allow. This whipping should be laid on in glue, and after completed if it will not make too much bulk in the handle you should put on a double or triple whipping. There is a very severe strain on this joint and you cannot make it with too much care nor too strong. The more whipping you put on and the tighter you draw it the better will be your joint. Let the glue in this whipping dry at least a week before you attempt to brace the bow, which, of course, you have not attempted before the whipping was on. This bow will be finished the same as the former one excepting that the whipping will Bows and How to Make Them 215 receive repeated coats of varnish to make it absolutely water-proof. The backed bow is a most excellent weapon and one in which hickory demonstrates its peculiar merit, as most all backed bows are made with such backs. To make one secure a piece of well seasoned second growth white hickory of the width and length you want your bow and when planed and smoothed up of three-sixteenth inch in thickness. Excellent backs may be secured by procuring from a carriage maker or hardwood dealer a buggy reach or coupling. These are six feet long and 1% inch square. By looking over a large stock you can most likely find several in which the grain is straight and even and does not run out, which when taken to the planing mill and ripped on a circular saw will afford material for three or four backs; use sharp saw. Carefully dress the back you select with a sharp fore-plane. The belly will be made substantially as wide as the back, at least in the centre, and of sufficient depth to leave plenty of wood in the handle. The back of the belly must be planed smooth, true and straight, and upon this planed surface the back must be glued. The 216 American Archery surfaces to be glued should be combed with a fine toothed saw. The glueing process is the difficult part of the job. The glue must be of the best, in perfect solution and boiling hot. As soon as it is applied to every portion of both surfaces, immense pressure must be exerted upon the two sticks to force out all surplus glue. You can exert this pressure by means of wedges or cabinet makers clamps. If you use the former method nail two inch planks parallel to each other and about three inches apart on your bench and provide a series of short double wedges for the entire length of the bow and so arranged that the small square end of one is snug against the large end of the next one and so on. By driv- ing the end wedge all are thus moved and a uniform pressure is exerted from end to end. If you use clamps use as many as you can put on, and clamp the bow, back down, to a two inch board. This board keeps the back straight while being glued on. Do not take the bow out of the clamps for a week. Dress down and finish as for a self bow. It requires nice adjustment to make your wedges so that by driving the end wedge all will be equally tightened and you can get Bows and How to Make Them 217 almost as good results by leaving a space of three-quarters of an inch between each set, and driving each wedge individually. They may be driven by a notched hard wood stick. Drive them all they will stand. To make a good glue joint immense pressure is necessary and you must remember this is making a grafted as well as a backed bow. In making the joint in the grafted bow if the jaws of your vise are not exactly as wide as the joint you should cut hard wood blocks just the length of the joint and place them on either side of the joint and clamp the whole in the vise. If the blocks are longer than the joint the solid wood will take the pressure that is intended for the joint. Another thing, while the back and belly are to be planed perfectly true and flat where they are to be glued, they should not be left smooth but the surfaces should be scored by scratching them length- wise with a fine toothed saw, as explained. There are special planes made for this purpose. The roughened surface gives the glue a better opportunity to take hold. While hickory, next to yew, is the best for backs there are several woods that are excellent for bellys. Among them are red 218 American Archery cedar, the heart wood of black locust, black walnut, mulberry, osage orange, and sassafras. While the directions herein given are general in their nature they are intended to cover the making of an ordinary sized bow for a man. Of course if the bow is wanted for a woman or a youth the length and size of the bow must be reduced accordingly, as well as the draw. The ordinary length of men's arrows are 28 inches and they require a bow of at least 6 feet in length. Among my bows I have one 3 inches over 6 feet, which weighs 65 pounds and it has stood a lot of hard usage in the wild. While we have given the weight of bows for men as ranging from 35 to 70 pounds the limits are not hard and fixed. For target use 45 pounds will be found to suit the average man. Many expert archers including Thompson, Taylor, Richardson, et al., use a heavier bow, at the targets, while other experts use lighter than the weight indicated. When hunting we require a much heavier bow, for the reason that the arrows are very much heavier than the fragile target arrow. They are weighed in ounces not shillings. Then the bow is more constantly used than at the targets, and there is no Bows and How to Make Them 219 dwelling on the aim. The result is that we can without effort fully draw a bow that weighs 20 to 25 pounds more than the bow we are accustomed to use at the targets. If you have a good, well finished target bow do not run the risk of ruining it in hunting. You will scratch and mar it in the under- brush and the quick snappy draw you give when your game is sighted may result in its fracture. Make yourself a hunting bow of hard wood and follow the call of the wild. There is nothing like it. 220 American Archery CHAPTER XXI Yew Bow Making By Dr. Harold G. Goldberg AMONG poets the yew tree has become synonymous with the weapon which is made from it and thus we read of the twanging yew, the yew obedient to the shooter's will. "Sons of Luth," says Ossian, "bring the bows of our fathers, let our three warriors bend the yew." So it is not only true that the yew has always been associated in history with the long bow, but down to the present time no other wood has ever been found in bow-making to take the place of this classic tree. The tree, taxus baccata, is an evergreen which sometimes attains great size. Accord- ing to the encyclopaediac descriptions, "speci- mens of remarkable antiquity are commonly seen in old church yards. The timber is extremely durable and valuable and was formerly much used in making bows. Its leaves and young branches act as an acrid poison when eaten by man and the lower animals. It seems to be a native of almost Yew Bow Making 221 every country of a temperate climate, the finest specimens being found in Spain and Italy." Wood from these two countries was so well known and held in such high regard in England that during the reign of Edward IV a law was devised compelling the wine merchants of Spain and Italy to deliver a certain number of yew staves with every cask of wine imported into England. In the United States the yew is found in the State of Oregon and in many other parts. Some of the finest specimens of the wood have been taken from the Cascade mountains of Oregon. The tree is cut during the months of November, December, January and February when the sap is down and then split and seasoned in the log. It is in this form that it is generally supplied by the dealers. Yew bows are of two principal kinds, self and backed. The former is made up of two single sections of wood, joined at the handle, while the latter is made up of two sections of wood joined at the handle, each section composed of two or more pieces of wood or other substances glued together longitudinally. Yew bows are made of two sections of wood rather than of one continuous piece because 222 American Archery it is desirable to secure two limbs of as nearly the same growth as possible. Were the stave of one piece, one limb would be of different density than the other, owing to the difference in the age and development of the two parts. The belly of the bow is always the rounded portion nearest the shooter, during the act of drawing and the back is the opposite surface, a flat arc, always white in color. The color of the belly of a yew bow varies from a deep chocolate shade to a golden yellow, the color commonly seen being a light yellowish red. Of all the woods used in the manufacture of the self bow, yew is the wood par excellence. It is light in the hand, sweet of cast, steady of aim and has great propulsive power. To obtain a perfect piece is such a difficult A matter that one is scarcely ever seen. perfect stave should possess a fine, close grain which should be even and straight, the line of demarcation between the white sap and red heart should be well defined, and not thickened by a blur of purplish discoloration which in some cases is evidence of decay. It should be free from knots, pins, curls, season checks, galls, wind checks and pitch pockets. Do not let the amateur bow-maker Yew Bow Making 223 be discouraged, however, by this detail of imperfections, because very good bows may be made from staves exhibiting many of these faults. It is just such difficulties in fact, that the bow maker must encounter, that makes the art of bow making so fascinating, while the planning of a bow from an imperfect stave incites the ingenuity and skill of the maker to a point of greater endeavor. Were a piece of wood without the imperfections enumerated easily obtainable, anyone without even an ordinary amount of skill and with few tools might turn out a very serviceable bow. Such not being the case, however, the various faults must be met with each in its turn and conquered in a way best adapted to each individual piece. The tools A needed in bow making are as follows: hatchet, cross-cut saw, rip saw, jack plane, finishing plane, large and small spokeshave, a Stanley scraper, a coarse and fine file, a glue pot suspended in a water bath, and a vise workbench. The log-sections are generally 3 feet 6 inches long by 6 or 8 inches wide by 3 or 4 inches in thickness. The bark is first removed and if the log is fairly straight in grain 224 American Archery and has not many bumps or knots upon its outside or sap surface, it is cleft its entire length with a hatchet. Should the grain appear to twist or turn, which may be deter- mined by comparing its two extremities, it is safer to saw it in as nearly a straight line as possible. Before either of these operations is attempted, the line of cleavage should first be determined with due regard for the irregu- larities upon its sap surface, so that the limb should be as flat and straight upon its back as possible and finish at the extremities with the lines of separation between the sap and heart parallel to each other. It will require, as a rule, careful observation to obtain this result, but the effort is well repaid as the subse- quent steps of the process are much simplified. Perhaps of all the woods from which bows are made the yew is the most uncertain in A quality. beautiful log may turn out the most disappointing staves, so the beginner must not be discouraged by such results, if he ever expects to succeed, as these logs are almost certain to be met with; most likely upon the first occasion. The limb now having been produced, we proceed to shape it. The sides are first Yew Bow Making 225 straightened with a jack plane until the block is l}4 inches in thickness. It is then set in the vise and the back formed. This is a very important step in bow making and great care must be exercised to obtain the necessary result. Taking the actual plane of the tree, which in the log is of course slightly rounded, as the plane of the back to be established, the spokeshave is drawn carefully backward and forward until the sap has been reduced % throughout its entire length to inch in thickness. This will produce a barely per- ceptible curve which is to be retained until the finish of the bow. The curve of the limb must be followed, the tool dipping with the depressions in the heart, preserving the same proportion of sap to heart the whole length, i. e., y^ inch in thickness. Often it will be found that the sap dips more deeply into the heart upon one side of the limb than the other. In this case the side upon which the sap is thinnest must be selected and the peculiarities of the wood followed upon this side. In such a case should the sap upon the opposite side dip X very deeply into the heart, the mch may be sacrified somewhat for the sake of flattening 226 American Archery the general plane of the back, otherwise our relation of sap to heart would be considerably out of proportion. Except in the white portion, yew is a very soft wood, in spite of what some text books would lead us to believe. It is compact, but of about the cutting con- We sistency of white pine. must therefore use great caution with our spokeshave, work- ing carefully in both directions, following the leaves or feathers of the grain, as they run first in one direction and then in the other. A too vigorous stroke will sometimes raise a sliver of wood that will penetrate so deeply that our stave may be ruined. Having shaped the two limbs about i^ inches in thickness and established our back X m a flat arc mcn thickness, at a perfect right angle to our roughly planed sides, we now proceed to cut the splice. This is accom- A plished as follows: piece of drawing paper is obtained, being somewhat thicker than ordinary writing paper and two parallel lines are drawn upon it. Our splice is to be 3^ 1% a fish tail inches in length by inches in width. This is marked out upon the paper. Yew Bow Making 227 The lines are divided with a knife and separated, and the two sections thus formed pasted one upon each limb at its extremity. We have first decided which extremity this is to be, selecting the end of the limb contain- ing the greater number of imperfections in the wood, since this portion of the finished bow is to be the thicker, and consequently less apt to fracture. The paper having been pasted upon the wood, sighting along the back to determine whether it is parallel to the sides, the limb is placed upright in a vise and we proceed to cut the splice. This step requires considerable skill as much depends upon its successful result. Taking the sharp rip saw we cut through the lines in the paper pattern, being careful to saw always in the same plane from top to bottom. 228 American Archery The splice cut, it must next be glued. For this purpose ordinary joiner's glue is selected, not cold prepared liquid glue. The glue is melted in the water bath until it is of the consistency of sugar syrup. If it is too thick the vise will squeeze the segments apart, while if it is too thin, the wood will absorb too much of it, so it is important to have it just right. It is better to set back, or reflex, the limbs somewhat from a straight line, about yi inch being a safe angle, so before the glue is applied, the two limbs are fitted together and this angle marked with lead pencil as a straight line along both sides, well beyond each extremity of the splice. When the limbs are glued and joined after this we simply preserve the continuation of these straight lines and our splice is then at an exact angle we have determined that it should be. The splice is now covered upon all its surfaces with two or three coats of glue and placed in the vise, the sides of the limb protected, if the vise is of metal, by interposing a piece of soft wood between the jaws and the wood. It is squeezed tightly, not enough to crush the wood and allowed to remain for two days. Yew Bow Making 229 We now have a stave something more than 6 feet in length and it is time to proportion our bow. The stave is placed in the vise for the sake of convenience, the irregularity over the surface of the splice caused by setting back the limbs is shaved away, and the measurements are proceeded with as follows. Taking the 3^2 inch splice as our basis of measurement, it is divided into half, marking a line in lead pencil, i^i inches from each of its extremities. The middle of the bow is to be one inch above the center of the splice, which point is also marked off in lead pencil. The rest of the operation is very simple. Lay a rule upon the back of the stave and measure off 3 feet from the line which has been placed 1 inch above the middle of the splice, i. e., that which is to be the middle of the bow, a mark is made upon each extremity of the stave, and the excess wood cut off. If a measurement is then made from each end of the splice to each end of the stave, it will be found that one limb is 2 inches longer than its fellow, which are proper proportions for a 6 foot bow. (See diagram.) 230 American Archery The outline of the back of a yew bow differs from those of the denser woods, such as lemon and lance, in that instead of inclining in a sharp straight line from the handle to the extremity, the back is made broader, inclining very gradually from the handle until within about one foot of the extremity it inclines more rapidly, ending in a sharp point for the reception of the horn. It is very important to obtain this correct out- line because were we to adopt the pattern of the denser wood bows, our yew would be entirely too whippy at the ends, requiring too much wood in the belly and favoring the formation of chrysals, which in time would surely end in the destruction of the weapon. It is in fact its peculiar shape combined with the different character of the wood which makes the yew so soft of cast and conse- quently easy on the shooter. We now plane down the sides of our stave, much care being exercised at this time to avoid raising splinters, until it is perfectly 1% straight and is from iyi to inch in thickness, depending upon what the power of our bow is to be. About i}4 is assumed to be a good general average for a bow varying Yew Bow Making 231 in weight from 40 to 45 pounds. A pattern is now made of paste board, first outlined in lead pencil and then cut with a sharp knife of the exact proportions of what our back is to be. This is laid flat upon the back and with a pencil a line is drawn upon each side of the pattern marking the outline upon the wood which is to be followed with the plane. The next step is to form the belly of the bow. Taking the middle and not the ends of the handle, as is the usual custom, we measure off for a bow which is ]/& inches in thickness at the handle i^- inches from the surface We of the sap into the heart of the wood. measure off ^i inch from the sap surface into the heart at each extremity, and then draw an irregular line, assuming that the stave is irregular in form from one point to the other. If much wood remains beyond this line, for the sake of saving ourselves considerable labor it may be sawed off with the rip saw, keeping beyond the line some- what to avoid error. From now on the spoke- shave comes into use, first rounding the sides, gradually approaching the summit of the belly until a perfectly rounded form is obtained. This is the most difficult step in 232 American Archery the whole process of the undertaking, as the grain of the wood varies so constantly that we must always be on the alert to follow its We peculiarities. may now take our Stanley scraper, it being no longer safe to continue the use of the spokeshave, and complete the form of the belly. Every curve in the back of the bow must be carefully followed. In shaping the belly, gradually tapering toward the end, pins must be raised; by this is meant leaving a little more wood over the surface of the small black points that appear in the wood. Any other imperfections must be provided for in the same way. As has already been stated, in choosing which end of the limb is to form the handle, we have paid due regard to the imperfections of the wood. Keeping in mind that the principal bend in the bow is between a point 17 inches from the handle to within 8 or 9 inches of the end, we adjust the limbs accordingly. To secure the splice a strip of soft wood somewhat wider than the back of the bow and 3^2 inches in length is glued over the joint, pressed in the vise, allowed two days to dry, and finally rounded in shape with the plane and file until it takes the general symmetry of the Cros J �S�cf/'orj . Yew Bow Making 233 handle. It should have the same lines as upon the belly side, more wood being allowed to remain at the corresponding center than at either extremity, which end in a gradually sloping angle. (See illustration.) This must be further secured by wrapping it with a thin layer of raw flax saturated with joiner's glue and smoothed to an even surface. After this is dried hard and further shaped with a file, a coat of shellac is applied to render the joint moisture- and sweat-proof. This method of centering the bow was suggested by Dr. S. T. Pope, of *San Francisco, Cal., an expert amateur bow maker, and so far as the writer knows, the method originated with him. It seems the most effective scheme yet devised by any bow maker and having once handled a bow of such proportions, it will be found that it balances perfectly upon that portion of the hand into which it most comfortably rests, giving a steadier aim and allowing less chance for error in every detail. The horns are next put on. Their openings should be yi inch in diameter, or not less than t& inch. They are carefully fitted to the end, filing away the wood until this is accom- plished; cold (liquid) glue may be used to 234 American Archery secure them in place. After they have dried, the bow is ready for tillering. The tiller is a staff of wood about 3 feet in length with a depression cut at its top to receive the middle of the bow, and notches cut down its face at intervals of several inches to a final depth of 26 inches. The tiller is placed upright in a vise and the bow braced. Before proceeding any further we turn the braced bow back up and then down, sighting first along one surface and then the other. This is to determine whether the back is perfectly flat and the string cuts the bow exactly into halves from notch to notch. Should the bow be cast to one or the other side, we may be assured that it is ill proportioned and that there remains too much wood upon the side toward which the deflection is formed. This is removed by means of the file or scraper. Now holding the bow at a transverse angle and satisfying ourselves that the curve of the limbs is about equal, the handle is placed upon the tiller and the string drawn to the first notch; in effect a great cross bow. As each successive notch is reached, gradually approaching the full draw, we step away from the tiller and observe the curve of the par- Yew Bow Making 235 tially drawn bow. This observation must be made quickly, removing the bow each time, stringing and riling and scraping until a perfect arc is produced, and the exact weight which the bow is to remain has been decided. We now finish the bow with sand paper, steel wool and powdered pumice until all file marks have been removed and the bow has reached a fine smooth surface. After this it is rubbed to a polish with boiled linseed oil and the final dressing applied. This may be either shellac after the method of French polish or colorless varnish may be used in order not to darken the beautiful shades of the wood. The French polish is applied as follows: Dissolve white shellac in 95% grain alcohol, making a solution the consistency of syrup. Prepare a pad of cotton enclosed within a bit of gauze or cheese cloth. Dip it first in a dish of shellac and then in a dish of linseed oil; rub the surface of the wood vigorously. Repeat until a high, smooth gloss is produced. By this method only one coat may be applied and subsequent attempts to add to this will only mar the original coat. The first coat is rendered durable and sufficient by repeatedly 236 American Archery rubbing the bow, several times during the season, with beeswax held in turpentine, or ordinary floor wax. If varnish be used, as many coats as desired may be applied and this latter method is chosen in the case of backed bows, where it is necessary to coat the surface more heavily against the effects of moisture. The handle may be covered with leather, rubber or bound with braid to meet the fancy of the workman, but best of all is a handle of cork. To produce this, cut strips of thin cork about }4 inch in width and winding them around the handle in water proof cement. The excess at each end is pared away, the cork smoothed with sand paper and the two ends secured by a binding of leather strips }� inch in width, skived very thin. Should we care to further embellish our bow we may, before the finish has been applied, imbed a section of pearl or ivory just above the top of the handle upon the left side of the upper limb. This is the arrow plate for the protection of the wood against the abrasion of the arrow and, while it is not a necessity, it adds to the appearance of the finished bow. It may be shaped in accordance Yew Bow Making 237 with the taste of the worker and placed upon the spot where the arrow crosses, excavating the wood just enough to receive it when it is glued into position. Backed Bows In describing backed bows, only two kinds will be considered, yew-backed-yew and rawhide-backed-yew. Backed bows were originally designed to make use of selected portions of wood which were considered unfit for self bows. Perhaps a heart was serviceable and the sap useless and vice versa. Bow makers then would put aside these staves until such times as they had obtained two perfect sections each of heart and sap and from these would make up their backed bows. In selecting wood fit for the backed bow, we must first of all have a perfectly even grained section of sap. It may be slightly curved in either direction but it must be straight of grain and at least yi inch in thickness with the side which is to be glued upon the heart perfectly smooth upon its surface. It must also be entirely free from knots, pins and other defects. This is carefully sawed from its defective heart with a rip saw. 238 American Archery In the case of the heart, however, we are allowed more scope in our selection. The grain need not necessarily be perfectly straight, since it is to be covered upon its back by the perfect reinforcement of sap and so we may utilize almost any kind of heart providing it is free from the glaring defects already described. It seems hardly worth while, however, to make a yew backed yew unless we have a heart free of all defects with the exception of an irregular grain, which may be entirely disregarded because it is generally possible to obtain such a piece free of blem- ishes, possibly a strip which has been sawed from one or more of our self bows, and which has been preserved for just this purpose. The heart section should finish in the block i}4 inches in width by iy& inches in thickness, perfectly flat upon all its surfaces and pre- We ferably perfectly straight in form. next make the two surfaces of sap and heart which are to be glued together exactly even, and this is not an easy matter but requires great care with the plane and file. The writer's method is to cut two blocks of some soft wood about 2 inches wide by 1 inch in thickness and as long as each limb. Now Yew Bow Making 239 make transverse saw outs about 1 inch apart to a depth of y& inches, using these blocks for the press which is to be placed upon the limb after the sections have been glued. All our parts are now arranged in order upon the work table and the heart section is laid belly side down at the edge of the table and quickly- covered with a coat of glue previously melted in the water bath. The sap is likewise glued, placed upon the heart and next the 2 inch block of soft wood upon the sap. The more tightly the two sections of sap and heart are squeezed together, the more firmly will they adhere and to effect this result without all the tools the professional bow maker has at his command, the writer has found that the small iron screw clamps which may be pur- chased at any five and ten cent store will serve very well. Enough of these are secured so that they may be placed about three inches apart, using the under surface of the table and the block of soft wood as the two surfaces against which the clamps are screwed. These are placed quickly, screwed into position with the fingers, and finally tightened with pliers. At the end of three days they may be removed and at the end of a few more 240 American Archery days we may proceed with the further steps. These are the same as described in the case of the self bow. Raw Hide Backed Yew The writer will attempt to describe the method of Dr. S. T. Pope, of San Francisco, Cal., with apologies to Dr. Pope for any errors that may appear in the text. Dr. Pope maintaining that the sap wood serves no part in the cast of the bow entirely disregards any irregularities which may appear upon its surfaces in the formation of his back and planes the surface to a common level, in some cases entirely removing the sap if it is necessary to produce this result. In every other respect the bow is built in the usual way. The bow having been shaped and the proportions obtained within a few steps of the finished bow, the points are filed at the extremities to receive the horns, a little more wood being removed from the back of the point to allow for the strip of rawhide, and the stave is ready for its rawhide back. This is obtained from the tanners. It is a calf skin used principally by makers of artificial limbs and is about te inch in thickness. Yew Bow Making 241 The hide is cut lengthwise into strips of \yi inches in width. These are soaked in warm water for about yi hour and are quicklypainted upon their inner surfaces with melted glue. The limbs are treated in the same manner, the strips, first one and then the other are bound on at the handle, quickly stretched and bound at the tips. They are then smoothed and carefully bandaged their entire length with a gauze bandage. This dries over night and the overlapping edges are cut off with a pen knife and finished with a file. The horn tips are again fitted, glued, the handle piece of soft wood applied, bound, finished and shellacked and the bow is ready for tillering. This having been accomplished, it is sand papered, rubbed with steel wool and pumice powder, the rawhide sized with a thin layer of LePage's glue, rubbed with linseed oil and the bow finished in the manner previously described. While the writer cannot agree with Dr. Pope's contention that the sap plays no further part in the formation of the bow than a protection for the heart against fracture, he can enthusiastically com- mend the method to the bow maker, be he professional or amateur as one worthy of his 242 American Archery best efforts. It is a far wiser and safer method for the beginner than either the self or yew backed yew and as for its shooting qualities, the writer has nothing more to say than that a beautiful fine grained dark mahogany yew bow made for him by Dr. Pope has stood the test of a season's shooting in the most delightful manner, finishing with no more loss of cast than one should expect to find in the finest bow, of any quality and without following the string to any excessive degree. It is always best to allow the bow to remain idle for a year before it is put into active use for the sake of seasoning it in the form in which it is finished. The English bow makers take about five years in the manufacture of a bow, allowing one year to elapse between each step. While the writer cannot see any good reason for permitting so much time to these various steps, assuming that we are working on a stave already seasoned in the log, the fact remains that a well seasoned stave will give better results in the finished bow than a younger piece of timber. The wood darkens with age and in the bow increases in cast, so certainly some time should elapse between the finishing of the bow and the time it is Yew Bow Making 243 put into use. Yew bows will follow the string to a certain degree and lose about 3 pounds in weight, no more, if the wood is properly seasoned and well proportioned. If the limbs are unequal in strength, the bow will lose cast and follow the string from this unequal strain, and will finally break; so all these points must be borne well in mind. In conclusion let the writer say that he does not pretend to be a bow maker of any particular merit or even long experience. He does not claim that the methods mentioned are the best, but they- are practical, and an attempt has been made to present them to the reader in a concise and comprehensible form, leaving nothing to be assumed. If he has succeeded in this, he will feel amply repaid for the effort. In this form they are offered to the reader with the hope that he will derive as much pleasure from their practice as the author. "Thus when our sports are over, In Autumn's final day, Each Bowman sure will say; Come, a parting cup, Ay and bumper it up To the next merry twang of the tough yew bow." (Dodd, 1 81 8) 244 American Archery CHAPTER XXII How to Make a Bow-String By L.W. Max'son , Seven Times Champion Archer of the United States (Although the following article was printed in the Archer's Register for 1903, Mr. Maxson, shortly before his death, kindly furnished a manuscript copy for this book.) TAKE best flax thread (Barbour's No. 12 preferred), and form three strands of fifteen threads each. Wax these and cut out the threads at one end to form an even taper eight or ten inches long. Form double tapers of a little more than twice this length and wax these to the main strands so as to lengthen the loops when completed. Lay the strands together and, beginning where the loop is to be formed, roll or twist each of the strands away from the body and lay the outermost over the others, drawing it firmly towards you. Continue this operation, always using the outer strand, till you have formed a cord long enough for the loop. Turn this back upon itself and wax down the tapered How to Made a Bow-String 245 ends, each with one of the main strands of the string, arranging them so that they embrace one of the other strains. With the ends of the loop in close contact, resume the laying operation, " twisting from and draw- ing towards," till the cord has been laid beyond the filling pieces. Comb out the strands with the fingers, draw tight, and cut off about eight inches longer than the desired length of the bow-string, taper the ends and add strengthening sections as before. At this point I generally catch the finished loop over the nock of the bow and drawing, the strands tight, begin to form the second loop about two inches short of the opposite nock. The second loop is formed exactly like the first, the three strands of the string being combed out as necessary, to prevent tangling. When the loops have been com- pleted, wax together all the strands, partly twist them, and stretch upon the bow. Rub down with a piece of paper and repeat the twisting and rubbing till the portion of the string between the said sections becomes round and hard, and the bow is strung to the A right height. coat of varnish and proper serving complete as good a string as any 246 American Archery archer needs. If the archer prefers, a silken serving may be laid on from loop to loop. For a ladies' bow three strands of thirteen threads are used. A bow-string made as above seldom gives down, when once stretched, and may be adjusted in a moment by giving it a slight twist. Notes on Arrow Making 247 CHAPTER XXIII Notes on Arrow Making By Z. E. Jackson THE construction of a good arrow requires attention to so much minutia and detail that it seems almost a hopeless task to attempt to describe the many opera- tions in a single chapter. It will be understood in the beginning that this is not intended as a lexicon or an archery dictionary and if the weight of a bow is mentioned as being 50 pounds it does not mean that that bow, if laid upon the scales, would register 50 pounds in weight. Likewise, if an arrow is referred to as 4-6, meaning 4 shillings 6 pence, it does not refer to the cost of the arrow but to its weight. Where the superlative "best" appears it does not mean that the particular method or material referred to as being best is the best that the art or market has ever afforded, but is the best within the experience of the writer. If the name of a dealer in materials is used it is for the purpose of giving to the lovers of archery 248 American Archery the benefit of much