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View “How Bows, Arrows, and Arrowheads Get Made”

Written by Meghan Ward

This gallery is a supplement to The Lost Art of Traditional Bow Hunting

While chipping, or “knapping,” a piece of obsidian into the shape of an arrowhead, flakes continually fly off. Given the microscopic edge that obsidian takes, you might not even feel it if a flake cuts you. “Sometimes when I’m knapping, I’ll suddenly notice that my pants feel wet,” Miossi says. “Then I look down and see all this blood.” But don’t fear. The upside of obsidian’s sharpness is it how quickly a cut mends. “If I make a butterfly bandage out of crazy glue and a piece of paper towel, in two days it’s completely healed.” photo courtesy of Gabriel and Dana Miossi

To make a sturdy bowstring, Miossi gathers stinging nettles (once they’ve died and lost their sting). Since the nettles only grow to one or two feet in height, Miossi will use the bark from at least a dozen different stalks; he’ll then blend the collection into a seamless, five-foot string. photo courtesy of Gabriel and Dana Miossi

While weaving the strands together, Miossi impregnates the nettle bark with bear fat. Once the string is complete, he coats it in beeswax to protect it. The beeswax is reapplied regularly to help the string last. photo courtesy of Gabriel and Dana Miossi

One of the most common disasters to befall a beginning bowyer is to see his bow break at his first attempt to bend it. To avoid this problem, bowyers “tiller” the bow. This means shaving the wood down, slowly and carefully, layer by layer, until you’re certain that your thicknesses match at both ends, and in between the bow narrows in a perfectly uniform taper. photo courtesy of Gabriel and Dana Miossi

Meghan Ward, a Berkeley-based freelance writer, is the author of "Runway: Confessions of a not-so-supermodel."

© 2023 Meghan Ward. All rights reserved. Under exclusive license to Craftsmanship, LLC. Unauthorized copying or republication of any part of this article is prohibited by law.

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