Dela
For thousands of years, bows have been a trusted tool for humans and the craft of building them part of our cultural heritage. This course aims to make you part of that tradition and to provide you with the knowledge and skills to build your first self-made bow.
The course will allow you to learn all the required steps to create a bow from a piece of wood, teach you a wee bit of the language associated with bow-building and teach you the essentials of creating a functional bow for re-enactment, sports or instinctive shooting.
Special focus will be laid on shaping the bow properly and providing you with the skills to tiller a bow to a functional state and the “why” and “how” of this process.
We will spend 5 to 6 hours creating a bow that you can take home with you after you at the end of the day. An entry point in the art of traditional archery or a prop for your re-enactment endeavours.
Creating bow strings will NOT be part of this course. The bow strings for your bow will be prepared and provided by us, as we want to keep the course within a reasonable timeframe.
What you will learn in this course:
- A little bit of theory. We can’t avoid it … A bit of theory to understand the underlying mechanics of a bow, what qualifies as a bow wood and why.
- How to find the correct position of the bow on a stave and to make what marks to make to make your work easier.
- Rough shaping from stave to bow.
- How to tiller (“refine”) and how to create a proper bend for the bow, from floor tiller to the finished bow.
What we will provide:
- Bow stave (prepared) (Manau/Rattan)
- Shaving horse
- Draw Knife
- Spokeshave
- Files and Rasps
- Grinding paper
- Tillering aids
- Bow-string finished
What we will NOT do in the course:
- Put a finish on the bow (i.e. applying oil, dye or leather appliances to the bow)
- Create bow strings
- Create arrows
- Tool care
What you should bring:
- Food and drinks (non-alcoholic) as we will not take longer breaks
- Clothing that can take some wood dust and is reasonably durable (sharp tools)
- A good mood ;-)
Note: Tools and workbenches that are used in the courses will be made available for purchase after the last course, in case someone is particularly interested in bow-making and wants to proceed with the craft at home.
Arrows and other archery aids will be available for those who are interested.
The course takes place in Berliner Rittergildes camp on Strandgärdet.
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