Here is how I am making the arrows. A reader wrote and said not to forget arrows. I'm haven't. Right to left (just to be different this morning) are 4 willow shoots, fresh and curvy. The bundle to their left are about a month old. The are bound together to begin their drying process and to straighten. The bundle in the middle is from last year. They are bone dry. Except for one in that group they have had their bark removed, and straightened as necessary by heat after rubbing the shaft with vegetable oil. The finished group is farthest left. They are all currently cut to 32 inches, and weight 550 grains.I will trim them to 30", final sand and match weights and stiffness, stain them and varnish them. Then I will put the turkey feather fletching on, and build points. These will all be getting blunt points that will be attached with hide glue for target practice. The heads will be removable and the very best and most consistent will get homemade hand forged broadheads. Yes, I know you can buy hardware dowels at Home Depot and Walmart. Why willow? My goal is to make as much of the bow, arrow, quivers from local, very local, materials as possible. The Hohokam and Pima used desert willow suckers for their arrows (but they shoot much lighter bows, around 30lbs pull).

Saturday, February 2, 2008 8:07 PM
Bow project pictures - the continuing saga of my first flat board board bow, 70" long. Should draw 50 lbs. at 28 inches when I'm done tillering - if I don't break it before then!

	This is the bow on the tiller stick earlier in the week. Slowly I filed and scraped marking stiff areas and "hinge" areas. Also you can not here that the right hand side is not bending in the same arc as the left (bottom limb of the bow). I was considerably thicker on the upper limb and worked to reduce it. I tillered about 4 times, taking off just a little each time - mostly because it is hard work with just a file, scraper and sand paper.
	Here is the tiller late last night. I was at 22 inches of draw, but what is very different is that the bow is no strung with a flemish bowstring that I braided using dacron B-50. It has 14 strands of dacron. The curves are a better match to each other, but now you'll notice that I'm stiffer in the lower limb out towards the end. I corrected that throughout the day but then disaster struck. My new bowstring is only tied on the bottom during tillering, and I did a sloppy job adjusting it -and it slipped. I thought the bow had blown up. It lept off the tiller stick and rapped my knuckles and one of the screws in the tiller stick ripped a small pencil eraser sized chunk of the silk on the backing.
I cut the little bit of ruined silk away and smoothed the underneath oak and put a larger patch across the silk there. It is dry but I'll have to wait until the afternoon tomorrow to go back to the tillering stick. My knot slipped because I did not have beeswax, but that's another story.

Above is the balance scale I made last week for weighing the arrows as I work them down to the correct weight and size for the bow. I'll have pictures of the arrows for you later. They are very cool. The scale is a bit of brass wire, two dry willow sticks, a sardine can and a tuna can. I use pennies for the known weight, each penny is 2.5 grams which is 38.5808 grains per penny. Each arrow should be 10 grains of weight for 10 lbs of pull of the bow. 50 lb pull should have a 500 grain arrow, which is about 12.5 pennies. I've worked down seven arrows to just above that weight at 32 inches. The arrows will be shortened 1.5 inches which will put the arrows right in at 500 grains/arrow.

Here is the bow strung low - not the full depth it will be strung too when the tillering is done. You notice the silk does not connect across the handle on the back (the side facing you). The handle will be rounded and formed to my palm and covered with goat leather laced and glued, and none of that will be visible.

Thursday, January 24, 2008 9:31 AM
Lot'o'pics this morning. I took pictures of the altoid can kit and they are ready and will ship on Monday or Tuesday from Oregon, for those who have already ordered them. I believe we have the mak-ins for 12 more. Details under the pictures. Also, I have a few pictures of the hike up Palm Canyon that Phil and I did, two days ago. It's raining here in the desert and one wet coyote already went by the window. I hope he understands that a little rain equals a lot of grass equals a lot of bunnies and ground squirrels. You're right, probably not, no more than we understand our resource limits and we have those enormous heads that the rest of the animal world makes fun of (when they're not running from us).

Lets start with the altoid can emergency kits. You can simply create one yourself by looking at my pictures, adding specific things that tailor the can exactly to your location and needs, or you can buy one from me. I spent some time getting all the stuff, buying a lot of altoids, begging empty cans etc. There is always an enormous trade off in the end about what goes into the can. A lot of that is based on my ability to use what is in the can. These can's have a learning curve, and while I encourage everyone to have one in the car, their pocketbook, fanny pack, or backpack, if you haven't spent the time to learn to use it, to actually make a fire for instance, your best hope in an emergency is that you are with someone who does know how to use a compass, a flint, make a fishing pole, etc. They will bless you even as they mutter under their breath, god that person is useless. I recommend education, and doing.

This is how the can sits in my fanny pack. The one in the truck is similar but I don't have the parachute cord on that one. Which is very bad. The cord is extemely important in many ways - but in this case it stops you (me) from stealing things from the can, because you have to commit to winding the cord back on. I'm putting parachute cord on all that we sell.	Here is what the can looks like without the cord. The three rubber bands are part of the kit, and have many uses in snares and fishing.
Here is the can packed. Many variations have been tried over a couple of months and we suggest this layout. Click for a larger picture.	Click here or on the photo for a larger picture. This is everything that is IN the can. The duct tape and parachute cord is outside of the can when it is closed. There is a list of all that is in and on the can below these pictures.
Many variations of holding the fishhooks were tried. This has worked the best as it allows you not to lose the fish hooks when you want just one.	Four layers of duct tape act as your "moleskin" and repair repository. Duct tape is always the answer, but for blisters duct tape is the poor man's moleskin.
Ok, you're going to have to trust me on this, I put this back together, without care about the rubber band being pretty and I didn't wrap the cord as nicely, but it only took 1 minute to assemble everything back in the can. Commercial small emergency kits often have little tiny plastic packages all thrown together. Great, except there is no way to put them back together. This works.	This is what I carry on every walk. A good multitool, you in a carry pouch, and my survival can in my fanny pack. I consider this minimum for being anywhere away from "civilization." For being in "civilization" add a concealed weapons permit and your handgun of choice and size.

Here is a list of what is in the can:
one Light LED super bright, one Flint firestarter (actually Ferro Cerium), 6 fish hooks of two sizes (I've forgotten the two sizes, like 10 and 6), four Birthday candles (firestarting,light), one 18” snare wire (bunny gourmet), one Salt tube, one tube of Aqua tabs water purification tablets, two razor blades, two bandaids, 30 feet 6lb test monofilament fishing line, 20 feet 20lb test monofilament fishing line, four split shot sinkers, six strike anywhere waxed 1/2 length matches, and
small compass, a can opener, pencil stub and small post-it pad, 4 can length duct tape strips, and 20 ft of real parachute cord with seven strands inside (additional fishing line, lashing, etc). one altoids can (no guarantee on flavor). No the altoids that were in the can do not come with the can.
You also get several wordy pages from me included in the flat rate USPS Priority package which talks about each item in the can and how to use it.

Lazyman disclaimer - Everything in the can is subject to color change or replacement with a like type, can't be sure I'll aways get the same of each thing. I love the flashlight and have been using one down here in Q everynite - so I'll try and keep that the same as long as they are available. The cerro cerium spark sticks are hard but make good sparks, and I would like to find softer ones, even if it meant fewer uses. I would like eventually to put a eyelet on the each end of the snare wire too. So that's my lazyman disclaimer. Also if you are an idiot I take no responsibility for what you do with what is in the can. There are sharp things in here and I expect you might have to run with them. Once you open the can, you're on your own if you hurt yourself. If you hurt yourself with what is in the can you're an idiot. This is definitely not a present for children under 10 or so, and even then they would need training before using it. Enough blah blah blah.

Get started making several for the glove compartment, pocket book, or if you leave off the parachute cord, just for your back pocket. If you don't want to do it yourself - order one, two, or three from me!

Yea but what do they cost?
One - $41.13 (includes Priority 2 day USPS shipping).
Two- $74.03 (includes Priority 2 day USPS shipping).
Three - $107.34 (includes Priority 2 day USPS shipping).
PAYMENT - currently only paypal - to penchant@escapees.com (if I get a lot of orders - I'll make a paypal shopping cart - for now - just send me an email saying how many you want and go to www.paypal.com and pay me, penchant@escapees.com the amount shown. I will confirm the order without 24 hours - in case we run out).

I'll have the palm canyon pics up tonight - sun just came out - got to go. Sorry so many of you are cold today, but sunlight calls me with her siren cancer song and I must follow her out of my very small (but very comfortable) trailer. I'm going to go file on the bow a little. Can't tiller until tomorrow - want the silk and glue backing to dry fully.

Wednesday, January 23, 2008 2:40 PM

Left: Phil stopped over last night to have me photograph his latest piece. It is a huge Mayan eccentric knife. that is a quarter to the right of the obsidian blade. Holding the neck of the nobleman, my hand fits comfortable, without crowding. This is a damn big piece of obsidian and Phil is certainly one of the few people in the world who can do this. Above: I received Dianne's blouse by UPS, a sacrificial blouse donated to the bow cause. I burnt some Silver Sage over it, thanked the silk worms of China, and cut it into usable pieces for the bow. the four longer pieces were used - see below. Blouse and silk pants are the preferred material for a red oak board bow. The silk and the glue stop the grain from rising during the draw of the bow. The silk expands just enough, in fact it adds five lbs to the draw weight. What is created is the primitive form of a fiberglass, with silk being the fiber and titebond II being the matrix that holds the fiber. Primitive man did this and even today, sinew is used with hide glue to do the same thing, though sinew is actually better, and makes a stronger bow. My problem with sinew and hide glue is that the 100% humidity of the Pacific Northwest causes the bows to come apart. They have to be kept dry and or varnished, oiled, etc. Anything to keep the moisture away from the bow. Titebond is nearly 100% waterproof, and my bow will be finished in spar varnish.

	It's putting on the silk day (yesterday). I sanded the flat forward side of the bow, called the back, and dusted it in preparation for coating it with titebond II.
	I draped the four most likely pieces of the blouse down the arms of the bow, allowing an overlap of about 1/2 inch. Butting the joint would have been prettier, but weaker. The silk plays a very important role in this bow.
	I have smeared glue with my fingers along the wood, then laid the silk on, smoothing it from the narrow nock end toward the handle. When one piece was on I overlapped the second piece and continued.
	Here is the bow today, dry, and trimmed with a razor and file to a perfect fit. There'll be mo' & better photos of it as I go back to the tillering tomorrow.

The bow got another coat, a thin application of glue over the whole silk surface to protect it. It is standing next to me already dry, waiting for me to get the balls to do the dangerous part of the tillering. I don't want to break it - waaaa! When all tillered, I'll lightly frost the silk with a light spray of beige, then I'll hand paint a Hohokam pottery design combined with petroglyphs down the silk face of the bow, which I see as a canvas. The quiver will have the mountain lion and one petroglyph, in order to fashionable match the bow. The arrows will be finished in mink fletching - whoa. no, got away from me there. .

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