Making traditional
arrows is a skilled craft.
Before gunpowder fueled weaponry, Native Americans used such things as spears, clubs, knives and bows and arrows as their hunting tools and tools of warfare. Making a traditional arrow can be a useful way of bringing traditional ways to life, as a supplement for a history lesson.
Instructions
1. Study look for tree shoots to make a traditional arrow shaft. Examples of woods used for shoots to make arrows include black locust, birch, chokecherry and ash. Look for them in places such as along the highway or underneath your own trees. Alternately, look for reeds from reed grass to make into shafts.
2. Find shoots that are one-quarter inch in diameter and as long as the length from the ends of your fingers to your armpit. Cut them down with the knife, bind them together and let them dry. Remove the bark with a sharp stone. Cut a notch with the knife on one end of the shaft for the arrowhead.
3. Learn knap an arrowhead, which means to form an arrowhead by chipping bits off of a stone by hitting it with another stone, a piece of antler or a hammer. Look for the right kind of stone to knap such as flint and chert in such places as your garden. Practice knapping arrowheads, using protective goggles and gloves, until you get one that is correct, and make enough arrowheads for all the shoots. For each arrow, set the arrowhead into the notch on the end of the shaft, and bind it with the sinew.
4. Look for the kinds of feathers traditionally added to arrows to help them fly true, a process known as known as fletching. Places where you can find feathers include your yard and parks. Examples of feathers used to fletch arrows with include crow, eagle and goose feathers.
Split a feather in half, lengthwise. Tie each half on the opposite side of each other with the sinew, on the end opposite the arrowhead. Repeat for all arrows.
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