Live Tree to PRIMITIVE BOW in 24hrs - All Natural Materials

For this week's survival skills video I'm going back to my roots! I'll show you how to build a primitive bow and arrows from a living tree in just 24 hours! For this survival bow I'm using serviceberry and force drying it over a fire to dry the wood enough to make a good selfbow. As the bow dries, I lower it down near the coals to fire harden the bow's belly. Some tree species will develop drying cracks if force dried but serviceberry handles it very well. The primitive arrows are made from ocean spray and force dried over the fire in the same way. I used stinging nettle to bushcraft a natural cordage bow string but didn't make it quite stout enough. It broke four times before I moved on to making a string of elk sinew. A sinew bow string is much stronger for the diameter. I'll have to give the nettle another try in the near future. The arrows were fletched with turkey feathers. I only used only natural materials and a hatchet and knife for the entire build.

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[clayhayeshunter]

Hey folks, couple notes on this vid. First, when the nettle string broke the first time, it looks like I may have cut it while tillering the limbs. But it actually broke about 18 inches from the nock and well away from the knife.

Second, the knife is from northmountainknives.com

Enjoy, ch

[robertacanderson]

That's pretty impressive. I'm glad you showed the string breaking, we need to understand that things happen but we keep on moving.

[BoredLyron]

In regards to the nettle string: while you can get serviceable survival rope out of using nettle "bark" as is by braiding it, for purposes where it needs to take a lot of strain, like a bowstring or sewing thread, you need to get rid of the green gunk surrounding the nettle fibers. A fairly easy way is to use a dull table knife, press the strips of nettle fiber/bark lightly against it using your thumb and drawing the fibers so that the knife scrapes some of the plant matter off them without cutting them. Fairly soon you should start seeing the pale whitish fibers starting to separate. The cleaner you get them, the stronger the end product will be, but at some point you just start losing fiber for no real gain. You can also just clean the worst of the gunk off, let the fibers dry and then roll them between your hands vigorously for 5-10n minutes per bundle and that should get majority of the remaining dried plant matter to flake off. (I tend to scrape my fibers as clean as I can get them rather than using the rolling method, but in this regard I'm too much of a perfectionist for my own good.)

The nettle fibers are really strong, but the stuff surrounding them decidedly isn't so the cleaner the fibers, the lighter your string will be and strength in relation to string diameter and weight will shoot up dramatically. Things like when the nettles are harvested and the exact species of nettle also affect things, but nowhere near as much as separating the fibers. (In regards to harvesting, unsurprisingly the later you harvest, the longer the stems will be, which means longer fibers, which directly correlates to a stronger end product.) Processing the nettles like this will probably take enough time that a 24 hour setup isn't really feasible, but a luxury archery set, where you take leisurely two days to complete it should be doable. 😄

I started testing out nettles as a string material a few years ago, as I wanted a natural, "primitive" material to use on my bows, but didn't have a reliable supply of sinew. Of course things eventually got out of hand and now I'm hoping to harvest enough nettles this year to make a set of shibari ropes from start to finish. The amount of work is frankly stupid, but well, I'm just not that smart, and the the rope you get as an end product from properly cleaned nettles feels amazingly smooth and soft.

[Rsoul]

In the years, I've been watching videos about traditional and primitive archery. This one is truly a proper representation of making a bow on the fly and surviving.

[North_Florida_Knapping]

I love that you put the sequence of string breaks in the video. It really helps show all of us that aren't as talented as you that everyone makes mistakes and it's how you move past them that matters. Thanks for the great content by far the best channel out there

[LanieB]

Your channel is one of the very best YouTube has to offer. So much value here. High quality techniques and learnable skills. Thank you, Clay Hayes!!

[darmawanhabibi]

your book will be a great treasure for the future generation when thw world goes back to the ancient way of life.

[ty]

Hey Clay, just wanted to drop in after finishing Season 8 of alone and just say how touched me and my wife were with how genuine and enthusiastic you were about nature, life, your family, everything really. You seem like a really good person and keep on shining. Much love from Salt Lake City.

[jasonmarquez]

No annoying narration. Just survival plane and simple. I love it. You earned a new sub sir.

[donnacraneduncan]

I watch and learn from all bushcraft/primitive skills/survival videos, but I love watching yours the most. Thank you for sharing your knowledge.

[georgehaydukeiii]

This has got to be my all-time favorite bow building videos! Thanks so much Clay.

[edwards]

Loved the way you stuck the hatchet in the stump to plane and shape your bow!!! Next level stuff!

[chrisunruh]

That video turned out awesome. I didn’t like not having any narration at first but ended up loving it!

[noelshane]

I could sit and watch this all day long. Like the no talking, just listening to the nature in the ground back.

[kujibuji]

I love the videos that have No talking and just existing in the element of nature & the sound of tools creating a beautiful object. Quite serene

[JaySav]

That was super cool. Have you ever considered doing an up close video on identifying these arrow and bow woods? Sometimes its easy for beginners to overlook them, or misidentify. Thanks!

[kevinpritchard]

That is pretty cool. I agree that a video on finding and properly identifying the materials that can be used would be fun and educational as well. Thanks

[mmiller]

Clay you are a bushcrafting legend! You are the perfect blend of outdoorsman and craftsman and I really appreciate you sharing your talents and skills with the rest of us.

[whistlingbadger]

Wow, Clay. The struggles I go through to get a good-shooting bow built on my work bench, and here you are getting it done with a hatchet and a tree stump! 😆 Well done, sir!

[andybuman]

That’s literally how I spent my entire childhood. With a hatchet trying to make a good bow from a tree. Never got very great at it till age 38 but I never got tired of it either.