Cheap bow.

[xelasnave]

This idea has been around for a while and of.course utube has many examples but I draw attention to the PVC bow.

That's right a bow, as in archery, made from PVC pipe.

I made two from a length of PVC that cost $10.

These were not perfect mainly because I did not use a template.

So if you have kids for little money you can make them a bow... Probably given the price of arrows you may wish to make some arrows as well.

However if you or the kids are thinking about getting into archery I would build one of these before spending hundreds of dollars cause sometimes well you know use it twice and then gathers dust until it rots.

They are not too powerful which is great if you are new to archery but I think if you filled one with builders foam it would be respectable.

And you can make a rather fancy shape with multiple curves even a "cupid" style...which seems to work best.

Remember although somewhat toy like and arrow in the eye will cause discomfort.

Alex

[xelasnave]

What I forgot to mention was that you form the shape by heating the pipe with a heat gun
Alex

[LewisM]

Tree branch.

Free.

Environmentally more friendly than PVC.

Traditional.

My father used to make me bows from sheoak branches. More flexible than wattle and eucalypt. Could put an Ok weight on it before it snapped - well within what a kid could draw.

[sharpiel]

Built crossbows when I was a kid using the leaf springs from mini minors. Probably illegal now. At what point does a bow become a weapon needing a licence?

[xelasnave]

Mini minors are still legal.

I don't think they require a licience, bows, but there is a case for that...they should at least be taxed.

Alex

[xelasnave]

When I was a kid made so many but that was the way back then if you wanted something you made it.

Mmmm billy carts and small canons.
Alex

[AndrewJ]

Back in the late sixties, we preferred drainpipe howitzers :-)
Bury about 10" of heavy galv downspout, aimed loosely at the houses over the road. Pour in black powder from a few "blank" 12G shells
Pour in a handful of gravel and ignite.
Listen for the rattle of gravel on corrugated iron roofs.
OH&S probably precludes that as "fun" these days

Andrew

[Wavytone]

Les crossbows are definitely illegal.

Forget bows and arrows - there is a simpler weapon from the middle ages with devastating range - a sling - made from two of the longest bootlaces you can find with the ends wove to make a pad to hold a fair sized pebble. Made one as a kid and was very surprised by the range. Accuracy is achieved with practice at a target. It fits easily in a pocket, and delivers a definitely lethal payload as a decent rock will go through a roof.

Foot soldiers advancing into a barrage from slings fared a lot worse than arrows.

Slings are also totally illegal. Expect jail time if caught with one.

Ah yes... PVC howitzers.. I recall as a kid every year some damn fool blew his fingers off, or a lost a hand while trying this.

[xelasnave]

It surprises me to hear a sling is illegal.
I believe a blow pipe is illegal also.
I was going to make a spear and a spear thrower next I suppose they are illegal as well.
I don't see the harm so long as you don't use them against people or animals.
And you can't carry a small knife and they are so handy, cleaning and trimming finger nails cutting up food making a tooth pick and cutting string and rope you hardly ever use it to stab someone.

And you can't make explosives these days.

Soon they won't let you have a still or grow your own tobacco.

Alex

[Nebulous]

They take the fun out of everything don't they.


A good friend of mine was given still for his 65th birthday by his wife. Now that's the kind of wife to hang onto!. :) But he's been too busy to use it yet. His target is fortified wine rather than moonshine but it will be interesting to see what he can make when he gets going. And how long they put him away for if they catch him...

When I was a kid we made our own bows and arrows with sticks and string but they never worked very well. If you managed to get the arrow to land much past your feet you were doing OK. Shame, because we probably needed them to hunt dinosaurs for their meat back then…. But we did get a couple of shop-bought wooden bows too - plus a proper painted target with a straw backing - and those did work.

Other weapons of the time were the ever popular catapult, made from a forked stick and some strong elastic (lethal and surely now illegal) and the ball-point blowpipe (relatively harmless). The blowpipe was made from the hollow tube of a biro and fired slugs of chewed up paper.

Cap guns were also in vogue but were used mostly by smaller kids. The bigger ones tore a strip off the paper rolls of “caps” , scrunched them up and made bolt bombs. The bolt bomb used two bolts screwed into either side of a single nut, with the wedge of caps sandwiched in the middle. They were thrown in the air, preferably above a concrete surface and made a satisfyingly loud bang when they hit. The whiff of danger came from wondering if one of the bolts would be blown out and possibly strike one of the other kids. Not recommended.

[Nebulous]

Against all the odds I actually managed to find an old photo in amongst all the clutter in this house... Taken well over half a century ago, while the world was still in black and white, it shows the very equipment I spoke of. A shop-bought bow and target

The young lad in the middle was riding mechanical tin horse, which would doubtless be a collectible item if he still had it. He abandoned his dreams of becoming a cowboy and ended flying Boeing 747s. Not sure if that was a step down or up...

[xelasnave]

You can make the item you spoke of using match heads.
There were three kids in my little town who lost fingers tightening them up...
Our bows were pretty good.
Store bought didn't happen in my day.
We made catapults that were at full stretch when your arms were outreached...
I used to distill alcohol when in high school using a retort from my rather flash chemistry set.

It would burn.

I thought of getting a still recently, $200 outta Victoria but I don't really drink that much and not motivated enough.

I encourage you to get well into the astronomy and continue your interesting posts.

And if you find any old photos I hope you can share them here.
Alex

[Renato1]

Compound bows and the more normal Recurve and long bows are deadly, especially when you use arrows with vicious hunting heads screwed into them. Though plain target arrows could kill you easily enough if they hit something vital or one didn't get to hospital quickly enough. No licence required.

The cheap Chinese bows sold on Ebay (around $160 for a compound bow, $80 for recurve/long bow style) are treated with disdain by serious archers because they aren't as accurate as the more expensive bows costing ten times that amount. But they are just as deadly.

Regards,
Renato

[xelasnave]

I was very much into archery years ago and got the magazines like you do.
In USA you could use poison arrows, don't know current situation, ....so an accident, a youth was hit by a hunting poison arrow, these things are three razor sharp blades coming to a point, and the arrow rotates to maintain stability...well he died of blood loss before the poison took effect...I think he was hit at the top of his leg.

Alex