Bundle Bow and Arrow

By Kathreen Ricketson
Category: Craft, Fun & Games, Woodworking
Time Required: 1-2 days
Difficulty: Moderate

By Kathreen Ricketson, Rob Shugg, and Orlando Shugg

As a boy, my partner Rob Shugg always had a bow and arrow. He was quite a little ragamuffin and had a wonderfully free and adventurous childhood, very different from all the cautionary parenting of today.

With the resurgence of books about adventures for kids and 19th-century DIY projects, some of these more exciting pastimes are enjoying a comeback. Rob wanted to share some of these adventures with our son, 5-year-old Orlando, who is only too happy to go along for the ride. Making the bow and arrow is their first step toward a bush camping trip they’re planning for later in the year.

For this father-and-son weekend project, we made a simple, safe, and sturdy bundle bow out of bamboo that’s fairly quick to make with materials available at any hardware shop. We chose bamboo because of its strength, flexibility, and availability, but other materials, such as straight sticks or fiberglass, can be used.

A bundle bow, also called a quick bow, is made from a few straight sticks of varying length that are bound into a bundle. Bundling sticks of different lengths adds stiffness to the center of the bow and allows flexibility toward the limbs.

The trick to getting the bow to bend correctly is to make it symmetrical, with tension that gradually tapers off toward the ends. The shortest stick is half the length of the longest one, while the middle sticks extend somewhere in between.

Steps

Step #1: Make the bow: shape the bow’s center, and smooth out the sticks.

Using a small axe, split the bamboo into 1"-wide strips. You’ll need 4 straight, cut, and trimmed sticks in total. From the ground, measure the length of the bamboo against the intended user, mark the spot at the user’s forehead, then cut 1 piece of bamboo to that length, 1 to half that length, and 2 lengths in between. When the 4 are clumped together, the center should be about 1" square.
Trim the bamboo sticks with the trimming knife, then sand them down with the sander. Make them all as even in thickness and width as you can.
Also sand the internal knobs of the bamboo to make it smooth all over. Sand and whittle a little until the pieces lay flat against each other. Bamboo edges can be sharp, so you may want to wear safety gloves.