American Hunting: Starting with Solitary Life in the Wilderness

Chapter 28 Birchwood Beaver Bone Arrow
"The initial shaping of the arrow shaft is complete; the next step is more detailed polishing and subsequent processing."

"Polishing removes small burrs and uneven areas from the arrow shaft, making it smoother to the touch and reducing air resistance during flight to some extent."

"Then comes the making of the nock, which is directly related to whether the arrow can be securely nocked on the bowstring and how smoothly it is released."

"We usually carve a 'V' or 'U' shaped groove."

He first used the tip of his knife to mark a shallow spot in the center of the arrow shaft, then extended a straight line from it to both sides, and gradually deepened and widened the two lines.

He would stop from time to time to measure the bowstring, ensuring that the final "V" shaped arrowhead had a perfect match for the angle and depth of his bowstring.

After processing all the arrow shafts, Lin Yu'an took out the beaver leg bones he had previously saved and selected the femur with the hardest bone wall.

"Now, let's make arrows. Beaver bones are very hard, making them a good choice for making practice arrows."

"Of course, its strength and sharpness are certainly not comparable to metal arrowheads, but it is sufficient for shooting grass targets or dealing with some small prey."

He placed his femur on a thick, flat stone slab, held it firmly with his left hand, and picked up the wood-chopping axe with his right.

"Crack!"

With a crisp cracking sound, the femur split into several relatively neat, elongated bone fragments.

Select several bone pieces of suitable length and thickness without obvious cracks to prepare for making arrowheads.

He placed a piece of bone flat on a small anvil and used a multi-tool as a scraper.

By constantly changing the pressure and peeling points and angles, excess bone is scraped and peeled away little by little from the edge of the bone fragment, gradually shaping it into the shape of an arrow.

"Puff puff puff..." Tiny white bone fragments flew out like snowflakes.

After repeated scraping and refining, the first prototype of a bone arrowhead, roughly in the shape of a willow leaf, was born in his hands!
It already has the general outline of an arrow, but the edges are still rough and the tip is not sharp enough.

"The basic shape is out; the next step is fine-tuning it."

He picked up the rudimentary bone arrowhead and began to patiently polish it on a sandstone whetstone dipped in water.

"When sharpening the tip of the arrow, we should make it as sharp as possible to ensure a certain degree of penetration. We should also try to make it as smooth as possible to reduce air resistance."

After making the first bone arrowhead, he followed the same method and successively ground out four more, striving for symmetry and sharpness in each one.

The arrow fletchings were made from the primary wing feathers of the grouse that had been captured earlier.

"The grouse's feathers are light and strong, making them excellent natural arrow fletchings."

"When selecting feathers, it is important to ensure that the feathers on the same arrow come from the same side of the bird's wing, as this will ensure the stability of the arrow's flight."

He carefully split the shaft of a feather lengthwise from the middle, taking only the half with the intact vane, and then used a knife to thin the shaft to make it easier to glue and bind.

These processed half-feathers are carefully trimmed to a uniform length and shaped into a smooth spindle, slightly pointed at both ends and slightly wider in the middle, in order to achieve the best aerodynamic effect.

Lin Yu'an scraped solidified resin blocks off the pine tree trunk.

"Pine resin is a natural, high-quality adhesive; it becomes very sticky after being heated and melted."

Place these resin blocks into a small earthenware bowl, add a little water to prevent them from burning when heated, and then carefully place the bowl next to the embers of the fire to allow the residual heat to slowly melt them.

The resin quickly melted into a viscous, amber-colored liquid, emitting a strong pine scent.

Lin Yu'an took a birch arrow shaft that had already been processed, dipped a small stick into a small amount of melted pine resin, and evenly applied a layer to the end.

Then quickly pick up three trimmed feathers and, at 120-degree intervals between them, accurately attach them one by one to the resin-coated arrow shaft.

This adhesive technique creates a stable spin angle in the arrow during flight, commonly known as feather deflection. Before the resin has completely hardened, remove the pre-prepared nylon core that has been pulled from the paracord.

Starting from the base of the feathers near the nock, hold one end of the nylon thread firmly with your fingers and begin to wrap it upwards.

Each loop tightly overlaps the previous one, with a wrapping length of about two to three centimeters, which is enough to ensure the feathers are secure.

"We've reached the final step; once the arrowhead is connected to the shaft, it'll be complete!"

He carefully split a groove at the tip of each birch arrow shaft, the depth of which was equal to the length of the bone arrowhead foot.

"The depth and width of this groove must be well controlled. It should be enough to allow the arrow shaft to be fully embedded, but it should not be cut too deep or too wide, which would reduce the strength of the arrow shaft."

He carefully applied the melted resin to the shaft and the inside of the grooves in the bone arrowhead.

Then align the shaft of the bone arrowhead with the notch and forcefully insert it into the shaft, ensuring a tight fit without any wobble.

Then, using fine nylon thread soaked in pine resin, starting from the junction of the arrowhead and the shaft, they tightly and powerfully bound the arrow in a cross-linking binding method known as the "sinner's knot" or similar.

This binding method maximizes the use of rope tension to lock the arrowhead and shaft together.

After two full days of meticulous work, all five brand-new birch beaver bone arrows were finally completed!
Lin Yu'an picked up a new arrow, weighed it in his hand, and felt its just-right weight and good balance.

Although it bears obvious signs of being handmade, it is full of primitive and practical beauty.

He went to the grass target next to the camp, nocked an arrow, adjusted his breathing, locked his eyes on the bullseye, and then calmly released it.

"Whoosh—Pfft!"

The bone arrow flew off the bowstring with a light, whistling sound, and landed firmly in the center of the straw target!
Although the weight of the bone arrowhead was slightly different from that of the metal arrowhead, the landing point was slightly lower than he had expected.

But its flight attitude is very stable, and its penetrating power is also quite good! It can be used for daily practice, and even for hunting some small animals!
"very good!"

Lin Yu'an's face showed a genuine smile of satisfaction. Although the handmade process was tedious, he now had practice arrows, which were more than enough for his practice!

A familiar, approaching roar of propellers once again shattered the tranquility of the mountain forest.

Looking up at the sky, the small Bell helicopter was flying in from the distant valley, circling over his camp once before slowly landing on the riverbank that had been agreed upon earlier.

"Counting the days, it's been thirty-five days. This is the second time the production team has come to collect footage."

After the helicopter came to a stop, the cabin door opened, and two staff members wearing windbreakers with the "Living Alone in the Wilderness" logo stepped out.

Only one technical staff member came this time. After a brief greeting, he skillfully began checking the equipment's operation and replacing the memory card and battery.

After completing the operation, he gave Lin Yu'an an "OK" sign, indicating that the equipment was working properly.

The staff quickly completed all the work without any further delay, and the helicopter roared off again, disappearing into the distant horizon.

Lin Yu'an stood on the riverbank, watching the helicopter disappear into the distance.

This brief contact with the civilized world only highlighted his loneliness. Wilderness survival is not only a physical torment, but more so a mental one. He needs to regulate his emotions well in order to persevere for longer.

This is the second update for today; there will be one more update tonight.

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(End of this chapter)