Added: 4 years ago
From: Paleoaleo
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  • @joec123able if i could i would make one but i dont have the time tools or knowledge

  • i think ill just buy a bow

  • @ITzMafiia thats what the world has come to just buy everything

  • i wanna make a bow but i dont know how to make the string

  • if you need a 40lb pull on bow for deer- can you amend the current bow to increase pull? if not what do need to get a 40lb or above pull so you can deer hunt.

    i imagine as is- this could be used for squirel or rabbit and what about hog?

  • would this bow be powerful enough to kill a deer?

  • @MrJake512 u need a 40 pound bow for a deer, this is a 35 pound bow.

  • can u make a vid on how u made ur quiver? please

  • so pleeeease tell me that bow is till workin for ya today! so much work put into it i would be heart broken if it broke

  • another thing what kind of wood do you preffer one that will last a while

  • what kind of string are you using

  • @samstterhamstteer, the string is linen bowstring material.

  • awsome stuff, im going to try this thanks for the vid

  • Paleoaleo, thank you for making these videos. I am making atlatl darts from river cane, flintknapping my own chert and getting ready to start making my own bows, and your videos have been exactly what I needed.

  • Thanks paleo. I like your mellow voiceover.

    S.

  • Oh, cmon! Your not even gonna test it and show us how well it works?

  • What material did u use for the string?

  • Sorry.can you tell me from what material is string done?

  • which side of the bow dont you want to shave any wood off?

  • On the back of the bow, growth rings (grain) composes the tension side. If you cut through the grain, you expose and area in the wood were it can start pulling apart. Never "cut" into the back of a bow. When I tiller my bows, I scrape (blade at right angles) with a machete blade until I work the back out to one growth ring. You do 90% of the bows work on the belly. Here you can cut through the wood, because it's being compressed. I scrape it to tiller it evenly, cut to deep you can weaken it.

  • we used to make disposable bows out of tamarack, using broken glass to do the

    shaping and leaving the bark on the back.

    Once they dried out they were useless, but

    fairly effective on small game.

    I'm glad to see someone else knows how to make things from ordinary materials.

  • where do you get all of that cool stuff you are using, do you make it all?

  • Great work, i appreciate it. Is it important to follow the grains and natural shape of wood during the making stone age bow?

    Greets from Serbia

  • Hey, I live in The north Jersey area what kind of wood would be good for these kind of bow. Thanks,

  • That region harbors some of the best bow wood species (apart from Osage and Yew, if your lucky to come across them). When I lived in Jersey, Black Ash, Oak, and various species of Walnut turned me out great hunting bows. Even Spruce and Pine work if you make the limbs wide and thin, with a slightly working grip. If your a begginner I highly reccomend you build wide limbed flatbows and sinew or rawhide back them, regrdless. Until you can learn to work wood and not cut through the grain and such.

  • Tom: Do you ever seal your bows to protect them from getting wet? I am currently making some primitive arrows and will start a bow project this winter. I do not want to use any sealer that would not have been available to the pre-contact Indians and have been thinking about natural bees wax or bear grease; any thoughts?

    Rey in Ohio

  • If you boil the outer bark of Hemlock (the tree species) it makes a beautiful reddish wood preservative. A few coats do the bow good. Rendered Deer and Bear fat work well, especially when you heat the grease up and rub it really good into the wood.

  • Nice job:bow:

  • i want to make a bow but dont have the money wont the wood break when it drys

  • You don't need money to build a bow. Look at what this man is doing. Don't you see he is making a bow from natural materials? I believe we are modern people and if we have tools that work, than that is what I use. I use simple steel tools for bowmaking. But I admire the "true" primitive bow makers. And actually, wood fibers shrink as they dry, the bow will become more durable as it seasons. Excessive drying can make the bow brittle, that's why I do a few coats of bear grease now and then.

  • Great Job!

  • that was very cool. the bow didnt take half as much set as i thought it would. i guess being that it is only 30 pounds helps a bit.

  • 0:01

  • sehr schön gemacht!!!

  • stone age camera...

  • are you for real?

  • would a bow like that ever break?

  • they would usually stress a little, but they usually wont break

  • i believe that ancient paleolithic cavemen didnt have pencils.....

  • Charcoal would be much the same for such a use.

  • I believe that the pencil makes no difference, since usind a piece of cole would be as easy. The pencil is not an important tool here.

  • you cant be that thick man!!!they'd have a firepit FULL of coals...jeez

  • how long should the string be relative to the bow?

  • 4 inches shorter i think

  • what is the string made of?????

  • the entrails of a thousand chinese slaves.

  • Hey a cool bow! Looks primitively but...cool.

  • very awesome vid, are those bows for sale?

  • did any one elss hear the kids yelling in the back ground for most of the video. if he wants to realy test that bow he should see if it will drop one of thows kids lol

  • lol yeah

  • stupid humans always geting in ur way with stuff like breathing

  • which arrows would you recommend for dropping a mid sized dinosaur, would it do a triceratops ?

  • in my experience, you would need a bodkin tip, you need to penetrate the scales to do damage, a broad head will do wider damage, but won't go in as far. Allot of traditional dino hunters use primitive crossbows to get more force behind the arrow.

  • dino hunters? never were such men because dinosaurs died well before people appeared.

  • dude i know i was mocking that first guy, who i am pretty sure was also joking, but anyway this is youtube so your perfectly correct in assuming we were for real, as i have seen even dumber things that people were actally serious about lol Dino hunters

  • @JohnTheRipper2 I don't get it.. I mean, what you wrote here..Is this a statement, or question, or is it related to someones stupid comment? =)

  • @genieoner i have absolutely no idea. i don't even recall writing this comment :))

  • great bow !!!!!!!!!!

  • sorry my ignorant but didnt watch the first 4 :)

  • beautiful bow, any tips on shaping it? i dont have a lot of patience

  • I have a tip... learn some patience!

  • yeah lol

  • patience is the essence of worth, if that makes sense, crappy quote short, don't be a lazy ass

  • Good Job. Thanks for showing how a person can simpley get out find a useable stick for a primitive Bow & make a great project thats usefull. Ive been itching to try this, so you have pumped me up to get out and do it. Cheers

  • i gotta make one of these. this is awsome man.

  • ty so much man i got like five of them now and i made some medeivl arrows for it

  • Thank you verry much this series of videos helped me out a lot! these all ae the same tecnique I was tought once but I forgot. Thank you again!

  • ah

    thats awesome

  • man... i made a bow and i also bout a recurve but i cant aim for shit could u help me out???

  • when you pull the bow string back pull it to the side of your cheek then look straight down the arrow then just let go

  • it won't land where you point it because it is not a center shot bow like the compound. you need to aim a little to the right from what i know, and expect some pretty big fish-tailing (arrow bending)

  • If you need to aim to the right , that your arrow lands to the left on a normal shot , right. You neen a more flexible arrow , either longer , wich is the easyest way , or the wood has to be thiner or a bit more flexible. You can always shorten it if it's too flexible and goes to the right. Don't forget the wight of the tip , heavier tips might make it snake more , sending it to the right... to each his own....

  • what knots did u use?

  • how would u make bowstring with materials you find in a COMMON little forest type thing?? O_o like bark.... no special plants plz.

    (could u make this in video format?)

  • with animal leather. but first, you have to kill an animal with quite thick leather, without using a bow :P if you never find one, you can still use it as a walking stick, or spanking tool, if the survival situation becomes kinky :P

  • does the thickness change how well it shoots? example how much further it with shoot etc

  • It changes how much power is needed to draw the bow back. Thicker means more power needed to draw it back.

  • this is sick.

    thats a nice bow considering the tools u used.

  • what type of bow string were you using?

  • I like your work.

    A lot.

    Thanks so much for posting this.

  • Thanks for watching and for your kind words. I'm not much of a craftsman, and this was my first time making a bow with stone tools. I'm more fascinated by the use of the stone tools than I am with the actual bow making. I was just experimenting with the stone tools to see if I could learn some things about using stone. Any woodworking project would have sufficed, but I like making bows so that ended up being the project. Tks again for watching.

  • how long did it take to complete?

  • I'm not exactly sure, but I basically made the bow in 3 sessions. It was green/wet wood when I started. After the 1st session, I let the bow dry out for about 2 weeks before the 2nd session. I think it was about the same time between the 2nd and 3rd session. I'd guess at maybe 5 hours total working time? probably a little less??

  • There's no video cameras, or computers, or youtube either!

  • nice lol

  • You could take a piece of coal....

  • I am an Indian person myself i was wondering if you can give me any tips on flintknapping. I am young and don't really have any experience.

  • The best tip I can give here is to look through the flintknappng videos on youtube. There are some great ones out there! Also, on PaleoPlanet, there are some flintknapping forums and some cool people who like to help new folks. Tom

  • Ooops...I just deleted a question by mistake. Someone asked if Pecan and Cedar can be used for bows. They answer is yes, Pecan makes great bows. So does cedar, depending on the subspecies. Eastern Red Cedar makes fantastic bows! I hear that Western Cedar works, but is more brittle than the eastern stuff. Many say that you need to back Cedar with sinew or rawhide. Some say you don't! I only made on cedar bow and I sinew backed it. Tom

  • i made one!!!!!! thanks but with a nettle sting thanks again!

  • Very cool! I'd love to see it. I'm a cordage fanatic too...so I'd like to see the nettle string as well.  I've made bowstrings strings from Yucca before, but not yet from Nettle. I've made lots of nettle cordage...just not a bowstring. Lots of work!

  • how would i be able to shape the bow even tho i dont have that wooden thing that holds the wood?

  • You can use a vice or a clamp of some sort. Or nothing at all. Most of this stuff can be done without any clamping device. I only used it because I was experimenting with using large two-handed scrapers...and also because I have the tool handy. You dont' need a shaving horse (the bench thing) to make bows. It's a luxury item!

  • inspiration.

    i wanna make one so bad, but what wood can i find in melbourne :S

  • any type of hard wood will do

  • thanks mate

  • Inspirational! I realy liked the antler wedges but it was all instructive.

  • excellent stuff, thanks

  • Final question now lol, am I right in saying the harder the bow is to rig, the further the shot?

  • For the most part, yes. The stronger the bow, the more power you get out of it. But that's not everything. A strong, heavy poundage bow can be slower than one that is of a lower poundage if the heavy one isn't designed as well. For instance, thick and heavy bow tips will slow a bow down and make it shoot poorly. Thin, light tips on a bow will increase speed and make for a sweeter shooting bow.

  • excellent, thank you so much for the help! I will be attempting this myself today. I live in Southern England so the easiest wood for me is ash? That any good?

  • Ash is not great for bows. If you must use ash, make it a very wide bow, with flatter limbs. But if at all possible, use a more common bow wood like hickory, english yew, or walnut. There are many websites with good info on bow woods.

  • Thanks everyone for your kind words. I'm not quite sure I deserve them! But it's nice reading them just the same.

  • That is absolutely brilliant. That arrow you had there looked great too. Seemed quite accurate. What kind of range does that bow have?

  • The bow turned out fairly light in draw weight. It's only about 40lbs draw at 26" or so (I'm just guessing at the weight). The bow would be useful for small game within 20 yards or so. It would shoot much further probably. But it's not a very powerful bow. Most of the bows I shoot are in the 60 - 65lb draw weight. Again, the whole point to this video was to experiment with using stone tools to make a bow, and not necessarily to make a fantastic bow or anything like that.

  • Ah I see, sorry I am a lover of dutch arrows if you have ever tried them? I am sure you have. Which is why I am interested in range as well as accuracy. With the exception of using those awesome tools you have there, how would you go bout making a further ranged bow? Like a long bow? Would you taper down both sides to make it as slim as that? Or would you make it thicker with higher draw weight and more resistance?

  • thank you so much

  • thanks really

  • BRAVO:)

  • thanx for the lesson...it was informative : ))

  • You sir are a walking inspiration.

    Beautiful work done in a quite beautiful way.

    Thank you for taking the time to do this video.

  • wow spectacular!

  • great series im starting a project on bow making ill take all that info in thanks!!

  • that was so cool best chapter sires ever

  • This is great!now i know what i'm gonna do to save myself,when the ww3 is coming:)))

  • Do you know the force needed to pull the bow in lbs?

  • Sorry, i forgot to tell you thanks and good job on the bow.

  • Can you use fishing string instead of what you used?

  • I'm impressed. Gonna try this out on a piece of locust. Any info on how to make pine pitch adhesive?

  • did you smooth out the other side that had the bark still on it?

  • how deep do the knocks have to be?

  • dang buddy you are really good at this, you shuold really think about starting a buisness, 5 out of 5, bro, keep up the good work =]]]

  • Thanks for the kind words!

  • hi!

    i am happy to find these videos. they are very helpful. Tom, was the bow still green(wet) in this video or you have given time to the wood to get totally dry? sorry for my bad english :)

  • in the chapter one you said that it was freshcut, so i mean by the first stringing it was still green? while using the bow won't it get deformated?

  • Sorry for the late reply! Yes, I allowed the bow to season for about 2 weeks between the 1st session and the 2nd. Some more time was given between then and the final chapters. The thinner the wood, the faster it dries.

  • I WILL MAKE ONE MY SELF 5/5 you own man!!

  • lol u sed a pencil again... u did that on vid 3 as well he he :p nice bow tho i want 1

  • lol did you make that nice little knife?

  • Yes, I did. If you search on my screen name Paleoaleo and the word imageevent you can probably find my photo albums with all sorts of stuff including stone tools, knives, arrowheads, etc. I'd post a link here but the system won't allow it.

  • enjoyed all five videos a lot

    thinking of making my own

  • HOw much is a bow like that and what do you use to set the stone tools into the wood handle

  • how much would you charge for one of thos bows and a dozen arrows??

  • Dude....Make me a bow lol j/k I'm sure you'd probably charge an arm and a leg for one

  • what was the draw weight of that bow and how accurate was it. And was it tillered at all

  • 5/5 excellent work.

  • Thank you very much. You did a great job my friend. all of these videos was very helpful to me.

  • well done

  • Great series!!

  • and i used machine's and that stuf:P well he looks pretty good now.. only (scratching some more??) and he is done.. wel will take a week i think.. but the wood i dry so.. only i need to make some arrows.. but ok thx for all ya tips. (and agian srry for the bad typing lol )

  • ah thx :) i know whate yor maen.. its called (walnootenboom) well i stared with making a bow of Grenen wood.. the translation cant find the good word for it.. well i dont know if i may send a link: in a commend.. but i take the risk.. its dutch.. but then u can see bye yor self the wood

  • gast ben je ook nl? ik maak al jaartje flatbows van essen balken, maar dit is wel het egte werk ga er morge direct mee beginnen, maar wel met metale werktuigen, geen zin en skill om stenen werktuigen te maken xD

  • ey verry nice bow. But i ghot a qeustion about it.. whate wood you used? is it oak?

    If not.. can u send me a link of photo from that tree? because.. i am from dutchland.. and i dont know the name's of the tree's there in. thx man:) wanna make a same bow (ps)srry my english is not good so srry for the bad typing :)

  • Hello. No, the bow is made from Walnut - okkernoot (in Dutch). I used a translation service for the translation, so I am not certain it is correct! Tom

  • try to use Yew =)

  • hi me again i was wondering how well softer woods like pine works

  • Pine would be a poor choice. If you have a Home Depo nearby, you have a source of great bow wood. They sell Red Oak boards. I've made many great bows out of this stuff. You must choose well Email me at Paleoaleo at yahoo and I'll explain more. Tom

  • very very cool. Great job

  • are you suppose to let the bow dry fist or do you start bending it while it's still wet.

  • The wood was green/wet when I started, but I allowed it to dry in the middle of the process. The wood will dry faster if you get it thin first. You can bend it when green, but no too much!

  • dude its so awsome you don't even steam the wood to make it bend!!

  • also can you make a tutorial on how to make the arrows for the bow please? that is if you have any free time.

  • hey that was great, i have some questions though, how tall should the bow be and what kind of string did you use for the bow. another question is where did you get the thing to hold the bow strait when you were carving it? also where did you get the really smooth stones?

  • Great stuff, extremely helpful for us newbies.

  • Thanks folks. I'm sad that I had to rush the ending due to my PC problems. Perhaps I should make a final vid showing some more of the finished bow shooting or something. Perhaps a short recap like they do on those home repair shows! lol...

  • Excellent series of videos, very interesting!

  • grate vid

  • Thanks for putting up with my amateur videography, narration, etc.! I'm looking forward to the next stone tool project. Maybe just a series of smaller projects to document the process of my learning about using stone-age tools. Thanks again folks. Tom

  • Excellent - thanks!

  • Thank you!

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