Marc's Bows and Arrows
Marc's Bows and Arrows
Arrows, Quivers and More
Below are some quivers I have made along with some hunting arrows made from a variety of materials. I make mostly Birch bark quivers as White Birch is a common tree here
The Birch bark quiver below was made for a community project designed to raise money for charity. It was part of a bow, arrow and quiver set that was made by a select number of bowyers from the Primitive Archer message board with the intent of auctioning them off. The quiver was my contribution to this project along with my skills in tillering the bow out that went with the set.
Below is a Bark quiver all dressed up ready to go hunting. This quiver has a Cedar base, leather frills top and bottom, a leather strap and decorative tacks at the bottom. A quiver such as this one sells for $100
Below are some Meadowsweet raw arrow shafts. Meadowsweet is a small shrub of the Rose family and is native to most parts of Eastern Canada . It is very strong and grows straight with little to no branches for the length of most arrows. It was without a doubt a source of arrow making material for natives of several hundred years ago and still is today. They are my favourite shoot shaft and I have harvested game animals with arrows made from them.
Below are a couple of River Cane arrows I made for hunting Moose. Rivercane is a member of the Bamboo family and native to North America. It makes extremely strong arrows that are virtually indestructible. These arrows are footed with a very dense wood called Ipe which comes from Brazil into which is hafted my home-made trade points. The arrow nocks are also made from Ipe as well. The broadheads are made from good quality tempered steel. The fletching is Canada Goose feathers with a slight RH helical twist.
The next 3 pictures are of a set of stone tipped hunting arrows. The arrow shafts on these arrows are Meadowsweet that are 30" long. They are self-nocked with a fibre wrap to re-enforce the nock. The fletching is comprised of 2 Canada Goose feathers 6" long with the cock feather being a white domestic Turkey feather with a fibre wrap at the front so that they can be shot off the hand. The points are tied glued with Fish glue and tied on with a fibre wrap then sealed from moisture. Arrows such as these sell for $35 each.
Below is an assortment of arrow heads designed for hunting. The first is a common point that was used by NA natives. They are made from the leg bones of Deer, are very hard and can be sharpened quite easily. These are deadly and can be used on any NA game animal successfully.
Next are steel points. These are what would be called
trade points as the NA natives would trade settlers for the steel to
make them or the points themselves.
The points below are traditional stone points made from a variety of knappable stone. These are quite
deadly and can harvest any game animal one cares to. The most common
material used to make these is Flint but Obsidian is also a common
material used along with Chert. All these materials are merely some
form of crystallized silica, silica is what is used to make modern
glass.
The last photo is of a 4 1/2 octave harp that I built for my musician wife. This instrument took approximately 1 month to build and was as interesting to build as any bow I have ever made. According to my wife it has the sweetest sound of any harp she has ever hear.
