intersted in a project

[broketooth]

ive seen and heard of people doing this before, i was wondering what the proper steps would be toattempt a greensappling survival bow .i have access to woods near my home and have been tossing this idea around. would i be wasting my time or would this help me start to learn about bow building. any ideas would be helpful and im seriously interested in outside opinions... whether they are positive or negative

[Pat B]

Ruddy, sapling bows were probably the preferred bow stock with the Native Americans. They didn't have the tools or desire to chop down a mature tree.
  Look for the straightest, limb free sapling you can find. Cut it as long as you can, determine which side should be the back and reduce the belly from the handle out each limb. If larger than 3", split the sapling down the center.
   Almost any wood will work. Look for hickory, oak, crabapple, ERC, etc. a 40#+ bow is possible.

[Bert Frelink]

I build one out of Choke Cherry a few weeks ago, about 55" long and roughly 1 1/4" in diameter, roughed it out on the band saw and left it to dry in the shop for a couple of weeks, spend about 15 minutes on the belt sander after that, it pulled 50+ pounds at 20"
Go for it, you will be pleasantly surprised!!!!
Regards, Bert.

[John Scifres]

Go to youtube.com and search for "survival bow".

[Dan Landis]

I have one that I made out of a 1-1/2" black locust sapling.  Just peeled the bark, shaped and tapered the limbs with a draw knife.  It is 62" n2n, pulls 58# @ 27" and has about 2" of set.  I did let the sapling dry for a few months after roughing out the shape though.

[frank bullitt]

Ruddy, Tim Baker has a chapter on Stone Age Bow in TBB3 if you have it. Good read . I have made an osage sapling bow back in the early '90s and took a doe with it. Took it out for some shooting last week, after seeing some posts of sapling bows. Gordonof on here does alot of sapling bows. His are GREAT! Would love to shoot one of his! Go for it and post for us.