How to Make a Bow in the Wild

Finding yourself stranded and having to survive using your skills and wits is much more successful if you have learned some ways to provide for your basic needs. A bow can provide food and protection, two of the basic things necessary to survive. Making a bow in the wild is not difficult. It does take some know-how and finesse to fashion a young piece of wood into a workable bow, however.

Things You'll Need

  • Knife
  • Sapling branch
  • Nylon cord, sinew or plant fiber string
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Instructions

    • 1

      Choose a sapling or young tree branch for the stave. Look for a flexible wood by bending it with your hands to see if it moves easily or is stiff. Choose a sapling or branch that is at least 1 inch in diameter, or 3 inches at the maximum. Cut a length of wood about 5 1/2 feet long.

    • 2

      Cut off all knots, branches and twigs. Make the stave as smooth as possible. Scrape the bark with the knife at a 90 degree angle to remove rough bark and blemishes, but don't cut into the wood and peel the bark with the knife or you may cut into the wood. This kind of shaping will be done later.

    • 3

      Place the stave on the ground, and push gently against the center with your hand. Allow the wood to bend naturally. It may pivot and turn when you push. You want to find the natural curve of the wood. Let the wood come to rest with the natural curve pointing outwards. The side facing you will be the belly of the bow, or the inside of the curve.

    • 4

      Keep the wood flexed and look to see which areas are bending, and which are more straight. Shorten the bow to a comfortable length by cutting off length from the end or areas of each end that do not seem to flex or bend. Make the bow from 5 to 3 1/2 feet in length, whatever is comfortable for you.

    • 5

      Carve notches on either side of both ends of the bow for the string. Do not carve into the belly or back of the bow for the notches. You can make a triangular shaped cut by making a horizontal cut into the side of the stave about two inches from the tip, then a 45 degree angle cut down into the stave to meet the point of your first cut. Don't cut too deeply and weaken the bow, just deep enough to hold the string.

    • 6

      Tie a small loop in one end of the bow string. Notch it around the bottom end of the bow, and bend the bow slightly by placing the stave end between your feet, then bending it behind one leg and holding it at the top. Bring the bow string up so that your leg is between the string and the bow. Curl the bow and pull the string around the top notches. Pull until there is approximately a 6-inch gap between the string and the belly of the bow, then tie off the upper end of the string.

    • 7

      Pull the bow back but don't dry fire it (fire it without an arrow.) See if any areas of the bow tend to remain rigid when the bow is flexed. Use your knife to whittle away a small amount of wood on these areas on the outside of the bow only. Continue testing and shaping until the bow flexes comfortably when the string is pulled back. Don't reduce the bow to less than a 1-inch thickness. Attempt to make the bow about an inch thick and 2 to 2 1/2 inches wide for best results.