/diy/ - Do It Yourself

>>422383

You don't need yew to make a good bow. Yew is actually harder to work with than most bow woods, anyway.

>>422091

The taper shouldn't be a huge worry, if your picture is any indication, you don't intend to tiller the bow anyway. If performance is affected, shave some wood off the face of the bow (you are "face-to-face" with the bow when shooting").

>>417386

I find the wood seems to like to dry better if you leave the bark on - if you care out your basic shape, the wood might crack a bit as it dries, which is obviously not something you want in a bow. Given that you have three staves though, it won't hurt to try it. Drying with a heat gun is almost certain to produce cracks.

Dipping the ends in white glue can also help prevent cracking, since it's exposed wood as well.

>>406364

Probably deer.

>>406331

If they're particularly old, they'll be brittle, and if you need to cut them open, they'll stink, on account of the marrow.

But, bone is a nice material. Let it soak in a bleach and water mixture before working with it. Soaking it in water for longer will make the material far easier to work with.

I've made guitar picks, tool handles, and arrowheads from bone.

The easiest way to do it is select a wood with a soft pith (like hazel) and burn it out. Put a coal right on where you want the bowl, and use a thin hardwood stick burned to an ember at one end, and push it down the stem to burn out the pith.

And easy way to do it is select a portion of tree with a branch sticking out, so the shape is pre-made, and te pith already runs along where you're burning.

>>403458

You can drink birch sap raw, which will help you in a pinch if you're thirsty in the woods. It's kind of sweet.

You can also boil it down into syrup, which requires a lot of sap, a lot of time, and it produces a lot of steam.

>>403717

Yep, if it doesn't chip your teeth, it's not hard tack. I used to carry it hiking, and I'd soak it in my morning coffee to get it soft enough to eat.

>>403729

Honey never goes bad.

>>401930

I use a tarp almost all the time, since they're cheaper, have more uses, and depending on the size, weigh less.

I used a +5 bag when I bothered to carry one, except for in the winter, when I used a winter bag my grandparents brought back from a trip to Mongolia. When camping in August, that bag will be more than enough.

>>401554

I wouldn't make it to cover your boots, since walking is going to chew the pants up really quick. Have it down to the ankles at most and lace it up to keep it tight. A setup like that would be pretty good, since you're covering so much of your body. I wear Carhartt overalls to work, and I can run around in a mine without having debris and material getting in my clothes. Keep in mind making a garment that big out of leather is going to weigh a ton.

If it's your first time, take lots of food and water with you, and several ways to start a fire. You should practice every method you have available, from Bic lighters to friction fires. Take a good knife, preferably not a folding blade, unless you don't plan on doing any heavy work with it. Bring lots of rope or cordage, and a good tarp to sleep and work under. A hatchet is great if you intend to work with a lot of wood, but if you're just going to be cutting wood for fires, then take a bow saw and cut standing dry wood for your fires.

Don't feel bad about taking a lot of gear in when you're starting out. There's a lot you want to learn before you start relying on your skills rather than your gear.

>>401336

There are quite a few bugs that I try to avoid, most notably ticks. If I'm in dense brush, I'll sometimes tuck my pants into my boots, and my belt is usually tight enough to keep them out. My shirt is always worn loose though, so I'll find ticks on my torso and armpits. Keeping my hair short helps. Wearing a hat doesn't do much, since they can just crawl right under. If it's vital to keep bugs out, like some certain people I hike with who are skirmish about bugs, use the bug spray on all entry points - spray your shirt collar, sleeve cuffs, and around the waist. DEET isn't something you want on your body, so putting it on clothes is preferred. Even after every precaution, I still check for ticks every evening.

Having the smell of smoke on you seems to help with mosquitoes and flies.

If I'm making a trail in thick brush, I prefer a machete. For the most part, though, I don't need a path, since I'd only travel through the area a few times. Better to just push through it than waste time making a clear avenue for travel.

>>400244

Nope. But hide glue is pretty fucking strong.

>>401209

The quickest cordage I use are spruce roots, but they can be a bit cumbersome for finer things. If you need twine, then you need to take a fibrous plant (like nettles) and break it apart lengthwise, then let the fibers dry. From there, you twist the fibers into small cords (twisting several together with an overlap to increase the length). These cords can then be twisted or braided into a rope. I can go into more detail on twisting/braiding if you really need it. It helps to oil the fibers a bit when you're working with them, to make them last longer. Rub a bit of animal fat on them, or better yet, wax it if you have any available.

Animal sinews make good binding or stitching. Ligaments should be pounded into a more fibrous consistency. It'll shrink and become hard when it dries, so it's good for arrow bindings or other things that need to be tight.

The inner bark of cedar makes a good fiber to use. Don't use ferns like bracken, since they tend to become too brittle for long term use.

>>401169

Yeah, its a Wacom Bamboo tablet. Its a few years old. I used to do a bit of flash animation on Newgrounds.

I'm working now, saving for university. Gonna go into molecular biology. Just a labour job up north, where I'm getting experience on heavy equipment as well. It's good money, but there's nothing but prairie for 500 kilometers in any direction. The Northwest Territories border isn't that far though, so I might make a long trip up there in the summer. I was thinking of starting a kickstarter so I could film a couple months in the woods and make a web series or something.

>>400919

Haha, yep, I've got a couple of stories.

One day, I was out hunting deer with my larger bow - it was carved out of black locust wood, and was about as tall as me unstrung. Didn't see any deer, so I made my way back home, when I was startled by a grouse. It flew about 20 meters before stopping, and then promptly forgot about me. It stood there, facing the other direction, and it was such a perfect shot that I had to take it - despite only having a deer bow with broadheads on it. It had plenty of time to take the shot, and I aimed for the upper body. The arrow flew a bit flatter than I expected, and when I went up to collect my kill, I saw that I cut the head clean off with the blade. The arrow went on another 30 or so meters before pulverizing itself on a rock.

>>400945

There are two nocks that I made with a rat tail file. In a rare case of guidance, an old guy with a bow shop said I should make one groove across the back of the bow to seat the string, as in pic related. The string is just a piece of cotton clothesline. This little bow was my "bird bow", which I used on everything from grouse to geese.

>>400978

I AM QUALIFIED I HAVE MY PHD IN OUTDOORS LISTEN TO ME THANK YOU

>>400788

Let me show you something.

This is what a 20 lb bow looks like.

>>400785

Look at the thickness of the limbs, and look at how short the bow is. The lack of leverage from such a short bow increases the draw. And I didn't cut through the cambium, I peeled it off.

>>400761

I'll humour you.

The bow functioned just fine. It had a draw weight of 45# at 28", which I measured. While it is true that using a stave with knots is unwise, it doesn't effect the durability of the bow for my purposes - these things aren't meant to last a decade. And backing a bow isn't necessary on cedar. On bows made from yew, juniper, and other strong but inelastic woods, backing is more useful.

Here's my two cents.

Wire snares weigh very little, so there's no reason to carry only five. A rule of thumb is a 10% success rate on snares, so I wouldn't carry any less than ten if I was relying on them for food.

It will help immensely to carry an 8x10 tarp. They don't weigh much at all and will cover your body just fine. Get a green or camo one if you're worried about being detected. It is vital to stay dry, and a tarp is the easiest way to do so.

It might be worth it to throw in a little jar of instant coffee, or a bottle of caffeine pills. In any "bug out" situation, caffeine can play a part. Being tired sucks, especially when you have to think on your feet and make quick decisions.

A bottle of multivitamins will also go a long way. If you're not eating enough plants, you won't have enough vitamin C; if you don't eat enough meat, you won't have enough vitamin B, and so on. Won't hurt to throw in a bit more food, too. Assuming a 2,000 Calorie per day minimum, I'd say to pack enough food for three days, at least.

>>400521

And drawn.

>>400361

Didn't take a camera with me for most of the stuff I did, but I do have one picture.

>>400387

Remove kebab.

>>399398

I assume by throwing stick you mean atlatl.

A lot of the time, I didn't put a head on my arrow, just sharpened the wood. When you're dealing with sub-5lb animals, you don't really need massive hemorrhaging to kill them. It wasn't too hard to find metal to use for my broadheads, though. Sometimes I'd pound a spoon flat and sharpen it to make a head.

I did most of my hunting by the book, but there was only one CO for the entire WMU I lived in, so I never had any reason to fear running into them while I was out hunting, especially since I'd only ever seen two other people on my mountain.

>>399406

You're one of those city slickers, eh?

>>399471

Mosquitoes don't bother me all that much, but a smoky fire will keep them away. If you let the smoke smell get right into your clothing, then most bugs will leave you alone.

>>399615

Quivers aren't all that complicated. They're just a tube with with a cap on one end. Using hides will make a long-lasting quiver, but it's best if they're still pretty tough, so brain tanned hides aren't good for this. Just make sure it's just a bit longer than 1/2 your arrows, because you don't want a large range of motion when you go to draw an arrow. Quivers aren't great for hunting, since they tend to rattle and get stuck on brush if you're moving. What I do is just hold all my arrows in the same hand as my bow (http://youtu.be/NOpOqgotJZc).).

>>399623

Just drawing them as I go.

>>399630

I spent most school days at school, but it only takes up six hours of the day. I woke up at about daybreak, and went for an early morning hunt before school (Woke up at about 4 AM, bus arrived at 7 AM). I was able to get most homework done in class, so I didn't have much work to do at home (except at exam times, which fucking sucked). I'd get home from school at about 4 PM, where I'd prepare any meat I bagged that morning, or go on another hunt/gathering. Morning and evening are prime hunting times anyway.

>>399358

Yep, I used a 3 foot throwing spear for a while. It was nice because it was always at the ready, but it had a pretty large range of motion and a pretty short effective range.

I experimented with atlatls as well, but they're large and cumbersome in woodland.

>>399322

Get green wood and heat it up over the fire, then work the bends out of it. Wood is very workable when it's still green. This is why bow wood is seasoned before it's used, to prevent setting.

>>399317

Right now I'm working in a mine, saving up for university.

I learned to hunt on my own. I've never hunted the way I do with anyone else (bow and arrow, spear, slingshot, etc). The first thing to do is to learn how to walk in the woods, which most people pick up with time. If you're walking quietly and smoothly, you'll see a ton more animals than you normally would, and sometimes you'll catch animals doing things you wouldn't see otherwise. Ever see porcupines mating?

Hunting for me involved a lot of observing signs of animals, like tracks, signs of feeding, nutshells from squirrels, mating calls, etc. I knew exactly where to find animals in my well-traveled areas. However, just walking until you see an animal can be pretty effective, too. Grouse are known to fly away when spooked, and if you've ever heard a grouse take off, you know it's pretty loud. But, if you're not a quick shot, you'll lose it, or have to stalk it a ways anyway. I wouldn't just plan to come upon big game animals, I'd always stalk them.

>>399281

For starters, he had a lake full of fish available to him, and only one rod and line. The first thing I would do is set up several set lines for fish to maximize my chances for meat. I only ever saw him using that rod, though. When it came to rabbit snares, those weren't done right. There was no discernible rabbit run at all, and so it was pointless to just set up a random snare - especially if it isn't choked off at all to force the animal through. He didn't catch a single rabbit because of all that. His best source of meat, porcupine, are ridiculously easy to hunt. If he spent a couple days just walking around, he'd see a hell of a lot more porcupine up in the trees, which make very easy targets when you have a gun to shoot em with.

When it came to the amount of gear he took, I thought it was ridiculous. When he packed up to move, he could hardly walk under the strain. He actually had two firearms, as well, which seems pretty dumb since he only ever used the shotgun (and he would only need to use a shotgun).

He chose to spend time and energy building a lean-to when he had a perfectly fine tarp to sleep under, which doesn't make much sense when you're not hauling in the food to support yourself.

I don't think killing a moose would have made the difference for him. I'd have to question if he would have the ability to prepare the meat to make it last.

He also points to moose tracks shit and says "Looks like a bear". He had incredibly insufficient knowledge to try something like that at all.