Life Size, Working Minecraft Bow

The minecraft contest approaching, struggles to clean up and build at the same time = this whole process.

OK, lets give you a proper intro to the build:

"Its late at night, running through the blocky forest hearing the occasional SSSSSS of creepers and moans of zombies. CRAP! What was that sound? All of a sudden a skeleton pops out of nowhere and starts dealing you damage! Quick, whip out your bow! and return fire. you see the skeleton fall dead and drop an enchanted bow.(There is a very low chance of that happening.) Again, you have survived the night.

LET'S BUILD!

You will need:

-Thin wood

-Many paint sampler cards

-Dowels

-Stretchy ''shockcord"

You will need the following:

-A pencil

-A jigsaw or scroll-saw

-A drill and 1/32 drill bit

-A sander

-Various paints

-A "square''

-Many types of glue (wood, super, stick)

-A rasp and sandpaper

-Some way of cutting paper

-Your hands

-Spray paint

-Painters tape

-Clamp(s)

-Paint

The basis should be a 3'' wide piece of wood.

FIRST PART OF ARM- Mark a rectangle 2" and 5.5" long.

SECOND PART OF ARM- At the end of the 5.5" go up an inch and lose an inch on the bottom. So its still 2".

Then, 2'' wide and 7.5 long. and put a 1" box on the end in the middle.

Put holes with a drill where 2 pieces ofd wood join up to another

With a jigsaw cut out the outline.

The handle is very simple.

Put your bow arms out at a 90' angle and make a handle on paper.

Trace paper onto wood.

Add holes.

Cut out the handle going very slow.

Try to get rid of any bad bits or overhanging bits with a rasp.

Lay out the bow and place your dowles on top to see where they need to be.

Drill from one piece to another to see if they fit. If not, that sucks, If they do, nice!

Glue the pieces together. Clamp it down. Wait for some time.

(twiddle your thumbs)

Sand the whole body down. Make it look "acceptable as a bow"

Paint the arms with a base of brown. Its ok if its messy.

NEEDED-

-Rope

-Tarp

-Sticks

Put the rope trough the first grommets on the tarp and attach it to the fence.

pin the tarp down at a 90' angle with sticks through the grommets.

Mask everything EXEPT the front 1/3 of the 2"

Spray with lighter brown spray paint than base.

Remove the masking paint and then admire.

Mask everything EXEPT for the handle and spray with grey paint.

Remove masking tape and admire.

Go rob Home Depot of half of their brown paint sampler slips.

Divide the arm into 3 parts.

Make the squares that size. REPEAT 100,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000

Glue the little slips in a line alternating various colours

Because this bow won't flex. You need to add "shock-cord" or elastic easily obtained at MEC or home depot

Drill holes on each of the 1' squares on the end of the bow

Tie a length of cord to it, and make it tight. Tie on other side too.

Spray a clear coat on the whole thing and let dry.

Now that it is done, end this build with a very nice pull back of the bowstring. Now go kill some skeletons.

cheers,

mwonton