Phase 02 — Stone, bone, wood and fibre toolkit / About year 1

Bow and arrows ⚠

bow stave, string, fletched arrows with stone points

FoodYear 1Story day 24Stands on 14 earlier

AWhat it needs

Needs 14 other products in all, 4 of them directly.

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02.21 Bow and arrows ⚠Food Year 1 needs 14 products
- 02.03 Stone knives, scrapers and engraving pointsMaking Year 1 needs 3 products
  - 02.01 Knapping kitMaking Year 1 needs 2 products
    - 01.02 HammerstoneMaking Year 1 raw materials only
    - 01.03 Sharp stone flakeMaking Year 1 needs 1 product
      - 01.02 Hammerstoneshown above ↑← shown at left
- 02.05 Pitch glueMaking Year 1 needs 6 products
  - 01.08 First fire and stone hearthMaking Year 1 needs 5 products
    - 01.06 Tinder and kindling storeMaking Year 1 raw materials only
    - 01.07 Bow-drill fire setMaking Year 1 needs 3 products
      - 01.03 Sharp stone flakeshown above ↑← shown at left
      - 01.05 Twisted plant-fibre cordMaking Year 1 needs 2 products
        01.03 Sharp stone flakeshown above ↑← shown at left
- 02.06 Sinew thread and rawhide lashingMaking Year 1 needs 9 products
  - 01.15 Fire-hardened spear ⚠Making Year 1 needs 6 products
    - 01.03 Sharp stone flakeshown above ↑← shown at left
    - 01.08 First fire and stone hearthshown above ↑← shown at left
  - 02.03 Stone knives, scrapers and engraving pointsshown above ↑← shown at left
- 02.08 Hafted stone axe ⚠Making Year 1 needs 13 products
  - 02.05 Pitch glueshown above ↑← shown at left
  - 02.06 Sinew thread and rawhide lashingshown above ↑← shown at left
  - 02.07 Ground stone axe headMaking Year 1 needs 2 products
    - 01.02 Hammerstoneshown above ↑← shown at left
    - 02.04 Sandstone grinding slabMaking Year 1 needs 1 product
      - 01.02 Hammerstoneshown above ↑← shown at left

Open a box to see what it needs. A dashed box is a product already drawn in full: click it to jump there. In the org chart, drag to move around.

BWhy

The bow stores the slow pull of the arm and gives it back all at once. It shoots further and far more quietly than a thrown spear, from a standing or kneeling position, and a hunter can carry twenty arrows. It is the best hunting weapon the settlers will have for years.

CYou need

For the bow: a straight young tree of yew, ash, elm or hickory, as thick as the wrist and as tall as the archer, cut with the axe (02.08). No knots, no twist.
For arrows: straight shoots of hazel or dogwood, as thick as a little finger and as long as from the chest to the fingertips of the outstretched arm
Scrapers and notched flakes (02.03), pitch glue (02.05), sinew (02.06)
Wing feathers, and small stone points

DSteps

Split the young tree in half down its length. Each half makes a bow. Peel off the bark carefully.
The outside of the tree, just under the bark, becomes the back of the bow: the side that faces away from the archer. Never cut or scrape it. Its unbroken fibres are what stop the bow snapping.
Mark the middle. Leave a handle a fist long, full thickness. From there, shape each limb two fingers wide, tapering to one finger at the tip.
Take wood only from the inner side, the belly. Scrape it evenly until each limb is about as thick as a finger at the middle, thinning toward the tip.
Dry it for a week in a warm airy place near the fire but not close to it, tied flat to a board.
Cut a slanting groove on both edges near each tip, for the string.
String: twist sinew or the best plant fibre into a three-strand cord as thick as a grass stem. It must not stretch. Tie a loop at each end.
Tiller the bow. String it so the string stands a fist above the handle. Hook the string on a notched stick, pull it a hand-span and look. Both limbs must bend in the same smooth curve. Scrape the belly wherever a limb stays stiff. Pull a little further each time, and scrape again. Never pull it past the length of an arrow.
Arrows: straighten each shoot over the fire. Shave it smooth with a notched flake. Cut a notch for the string in the thin end, and bind below it with sinew so it cannot split.
Bind on three split feathers, a hand long, evenly spaced, just in front of the notch.
Fit a small stone point in a slot at the thick end with pitch and sinew, as for the spear.
Make arrows in matched sets: same length, same weight, same stiffness.

EIt worked if

Both limbs bend in matching curves and the bow springs back almost straight when unstrung.
A set of six arrows shot from twenty paces all land within a circle a pace across.

FWhat goes wrong

The bow breaks at full draw. The back was cut, there was a knot, or one spot bent more than the rest. Start again with clean wood and leave the back alone.
It stays bent after unstringing and shoots weakly. It was strung or drawn before it was dry.
Arrows wobble or veer. Bent shafts, unequal feathers, or shafts too soft for the bow.
The string breaks. It will take the bow with it. Make the string four times stronger than seems necessary and replace it when it frays.

GSafety

Never release a drawn bow with no arrow on the string. The bow shatters.
Never draw toward a person, and never shoot unless the ground behind the target is seen to be empty.

HIn the story

Wren has shot since she was seven, with bows made in a factory. She breaks two on the island before she understands what the old books meant about the back of the stave. The third she tillers for three evenings, refusing all help. On the twenty-fourth day she shoots it in front of the camp. Kofi, the chief hunter, watches six arrows land in a space he could cover with his hands, and understands that he is no longer the best shot.

IFigures

not drawn yet

Fig. 02.21-aThe bow from the side and in section, naming back, belly, handle, limbs and string grooves; and an arrow with notch, feathers, shaft and point.diagram

not drawn yet

Fig. 02.21-bWren with the bow hooked on a notched tillering stick, studying the curve of the limbs, scraper in hand.making

not drawn yet

Fig. 02.21-cWren at full draw, Kofi a step behind her, six arrows clustered in a hide target twenty paces away.use