What gave me the idea for this project was a house mate making a Redneck recurve bow but you have to find a white fiberglass tree in the middle of no where to make one or in his case the local fodder store. I was thinking about doing the version using tent poles but wanted to make a more bushcrafty version but there weren’t many materials around here to use , so have ended up using 3 Oztrail replacement pole kits for an improvised bow.

I read Hatchet by Gary Paulsen many years ago and the main character Brian made a bow in the wilderness by carving it with an axe out of one piece of material. Using three or more pieces of thinner material seems much easier to do in a survival situation. I have made a one piece bow and it took all day and required backing to make it strong enough. Atlatls or bundle bows are much more expedient to improvise in a survival situation.

Ill be endeavoring to make a single tip bow. The difference between the single, double and raft methods are below in the second clip link. The double has less chance of snapping the tip than on a single and is far easier to attach a bow string without carving or having to build up a notch.

Bundle Bow Making

Bundle Bow Designs. Single Tip, Double Tip, Raft

Tent Pole bow

Bowyers Knot

Reverse Twist Bow String

6.9mm Pole kit

https://www.snowys.com.au/duraplus-pole-kit#!