Make an authentic Native-American arrow
By Gordon Soaring HawkIllustrations by Amy Bryant
From the November 2001 issue of Boys' Life magazine
Click here for a PDF version of these instructions.
I make arrows the way my Iroquois ancestors did long ago. You can, too.
In our modern world, the hard part is getting the material, but you can use some alternatives that I’ve suggested.
Just remember: These arrows might look crude, but they’re not toys. Use them for target practice only, under the supervision of an adult, or display them in your room. Be careful!
WHAT YOU’LL NEED
- Adult help and/or supervision.
- Quarter-inch or 5/16-inch dowels.
- Bone, metal or slate, ground to shape, for arrowheads.
- Stout thread or cordage to attach feathers and arrowheads to the shaft.
- Hot glue, wood glue or ferrule cement.
- Wing feathers from a craft store.
- Water- or oil-based paint.
STEP 1: Shafts should be about as thick as your little finger and a couple of inches longer than the distance from your armpit to your fingertips. Make sure they’re straight as an arrow! After you gather them (get permission before cutting any growing thing), bundle them in groups of five and let dry for a few days. Dowels can be used as a substitute; they are available at lumber and building-supply stores.
STEP 2: Once the shaft is dry, scrape off the bark until the wood is smooth.
STEP 3: Cut a notch (about as deep as the diameter of the shaft) for the bowstring by scraping one end with a sharp stone. To get a sharp stone, find a piece of quartzite cobble (river stone) and break it in half with another rock. At the end of the shaft that receives the arrowhead, scrape out a notch that is 3/8 – to 5/8-inch deep. You can also use a knife, small saw or file.
STEP 4: Grind an arrowhead into the right shape by scraping the material against a sidewalk until the arrowhead has a point and a sharp edge. It’s a simple but tedious process. For safer arrowheads, you can round off the point.
STEP 5: Using the sharp rock, gouge a notch on either side of the wide end of the arrowhead for holding the cordage.
STEP 6: Place the arrowhead in the notch, wrap it with a piece of cordage 8 to 10 inches long and glue it with hot glue. I use resin, which is made from boiling pitch (sap) from trees. Making resin can be dangerous because natural turpentines must be burned off. For cordage, I use sinew, which I prepare by pounding deer tendons between rocks, then separate them into long, stringy fibers. Before I can use the sinew, I must chew it. The enzymes in saliva help dissolve the collagen that holds the tissues together, and this is what makes it work like glue. (Soaking it in water won’t work.)
STEP 7: For fletching (arranging) the feathers on your arrows, make sure each vane comes from the same side of the wing. Split each feather down the middle of the spine (use scissors or pocketknife) and trim it to size.
STEP 8: Glue the feathers onto the shaft, making sure the top feather is aligned with the bowstring notch, then space the two others equally from the first. Wrap more thread around each end of the feathers and set the arrow aside to dry for a day.
STEP 9: Once the wrappings are dry, the arrow is ready for painting. I put animal fat in a tin can and melt it in the sun. Then I mix in some reddish earth and daub it on the arrow with a paintbrush. You can use watercolors or oil-based paint.
Now it’s time for target practice!
can i buy wooden shafts
Awsome
this is awesome ,got to try it.
might have to try that
cool i want to do this
in stead of using a stick you could us a dowel rod
I like to try but not for killing animals
i found a cow bone for my arrows
its fun making an arrow
I know how to make a tomahawk.
instructions are sharp
looks expensive
this is awesome!!!!!!!!!i love it!!thanks! >>——> 0)>
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i think I will try it, and hope it works
This was the first time i ever tried fletching my own arrows and i was very successful. The instructions are clear and are very good.
the Arrows really work. i enjoy fletching my own now ^u^
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i find real arrowheads and use those on my arrow and besides wooden bows are kinda rare well a little bit o yeah u should make one about bow makeing and explain the sinew a little more and how to get it and where to get it o and plus if u were to walk into my room its like an indian paradise o and remember this message dont forget.
i tried it and it worked
I am a bow hunter and have killed two elk, a deer, a bear, and tons of small game animals. I just got a longbow like the Indians used and I think this was pretty helpful because i make arrowheads out of a type of flint called Obsidian. I use a deer horn and a round rock to shape and sharpen the rock but i couldn’t figure out how to make the shafts so i read this page and tried it out. IT WORKS! i was also impressed with how strong the sinew was.
i am 1/4 kumeyay native im gonna try this looks fun, haha idk bout the boiling animal fatpart though kinda gross oh and were do u get a bone from
I’m going to try this as sone as possible.
does the metal point have to be flat??
prety good i use bone arrow heads