Project for local Cubs/Scouts group

[Pointman]

G'day

Now that my kids are getting a bit older my wife has been hauled back into the Scouting movement and is now the Cub Leader for our local Scout group.
She's been looking for projects for the cubs to work on - wanting something a little different to the usual paper machie and sticks jobs. Given my involvement in archery and the bows I've been making she was asking about bowmaking for Cubs.

So. I just wanted to bounce a few questions off the readers here.

Would a bowmaking project be a little too ambitious for a Cub group given that they're about 8-11 years old?
If it is in any way feasible, what would you recommend as a type of bow to construct? it needs to be fairly easy to construct but utilising a fair amount of grunt work (I'm thinking lots of sanding here). Minimal reliance on power tools. Fairly cheap materials. Being actually able to shoot with them would be a pleasant bonus. No more than about 10# pull I'd think.

Personally I'm leaning toward the "Too ambitious for their age group" camp.
However, If it were feasible, I was thinking a very simple board bow - possibly made from Bamboo flooring. Working handle - shoot off the hand. Paper or linen backed if necessary. I was thinking that I'd just cut a number of staves - say about 20-25mm wide. And prepare a bunch of templates to glue onto the back with the lines to sand down to pre-marked on the back; and get the cubs to sand or plane down to those lines. Smooth or round all edges. Make some simple nock overlays for them to glue on and get them to cut a simple string groove. Basic strings made from something strong enough - not sure what. And arrow shafts made from basic dowelling with simple fletches. 1-2 arrows each.

I was wondering what the more experienced bowmakers might think.

Any thoughts?

[tishtail]

hi if you like to try u-finish bow jim at rudder bow archery sells a u-finish kit for young adults $45.00 each plus a nice disc. for more than 5 units if for kid groups, churches etc.hope this helps LjT

[John Scifres]

I have made   Rattan Kid\\'s Bows  with my son's scout pack.  It went well.

[Pointman]

I had forgotten about Rattan bows.
I'll investigate a little to see where I might be able to source rattan locally - or within easy delivery distance anyway.

Bamboo floorboards on the other hand, are readily available around my area. I've bought a few boards before for practice projects etc.

The U-Finish bow from Rudderbow might be a workable solution however I suspect the postage costs to Australia might be prohibitive.

[Uncle Buck]

If cost is a factor, you might consider using PVC pipe, if you search Tradgang or google you will find ideas and plans that make a very shootable kids bow that will light the fire in them to go forward in archery.

[Loren Holland]

I made a kids bow for a friends 5 yr old son, from a 1/4 inch red oak slat, 48 inches long. I glued on an 8 inch riser, faded it 2 inches on both sides, leaving four inches of grip and arrow rest (plenty for non-adult hands). I made the profile as a plain longbow, with no attempt at reflex, and pyramid taper from the 2 inch wide fade down to just under 1/2 inch tips. brown paper backed, w/TBIII. it needed virtually no tillering. i made a locator grip, wrapped in bailing twine set in TBIII, and twisted down the fibers smooth, then lightly sanded when dry. i put on some tip overlays (nothing fancy, just a couple scraps of oak) taped it all up to paint it and used the simple camo job build along here on tradgang. pulled of the tape and sprayed a couple coats of semi-gloss, and then topped it off with a coat of wax. obvioulsy, i went through a lot more trouble than a kids bow really takes, but that was the point, i wanted to do all the steps i would otherwise do, just in miniature. i even twisted him up a flemish twist string in blue and yellow. it was a blast, and ended up about 14 lbs at 17 inches. and it was safe enough to overdraw several inches, so i had no problem handing it off to a kid. total cost was less than ten dollars, as it was all scraps, or on hand matl (except for the slat to begin with )

[Pointman]

Thanks for all the suggestions.

I think I'll spend a bit of time this w/e looking to see what materials are available and possibly making a trial piece.

Probably will be a bamboo pyramid bow. I'll do a trial to see just how fiddly it is and what sort of weight it comes out as.

Thanks again.

[JesuslovinGoose]

I've made some of the PVC pipe bows at church camp for 3-6th graders.  We predrilled the holes and slots and had them spray paint, make the handle, and had precut string.  It probably took 30 minutes to help make 10-15 and kept their attention because they were shooting within 30 minutes.