A Low Cost (US$10.?) PVC PIPE BOW.

Hawaiian Bowmaker Nicholas Tomihama has written books and made videos about his archery sport - and I first found this one on the 'Off-Grid'  (life unplugged) website. He shows how to build a fully working and effective five foot Bow (40 pound draw weight) using standard 3/4 inch bore PVC electrical conduit pipe, 'paracord', 5/16" glass-fibre rods, and a few strips of duct-tape!

                                MY BOW MAKING KIT - It cost more in New Zealand
                                            but still makes a very LOW COST BOW.

Considering that here in New Zealand you have to pay around NZ$300. to NZ$2,000. for a decent bow and $10 plus each for arrows.  - Tomihama's "10 dollar bow" got me all of a quiver.

I even went shopping on-line and bought a copy of his book 'THE IMPOSSIBLE BOW'  for my Kindle. This book shows how to make a range of other PVC Bows and Quivers using the same sort of readily found materials and they look OK and certainly seem to work well.

This Simple Five Foot Bow uses four 5/16" fibre-glass rods as laminations to stiffen the middle 'Handle' area and taper-off the stiffness of the bow toward the 'Nocks' that are cut one inch in from both ends.- I found some reject tent rods in a Christchurch shop and used them as they were cheap.



                  This 5 foot Bow uses Fibre-glass 5/16" Rods 12", 18", 30" and 36" long.
                     These are bundled together (top) by lightly wrapping with duct-tape.

My bundle of  four rods was very tight to push down and centre in the grey PVC pipe - maybe our kiwi metric conduit is smaller/tighter than the American stuff - but please note it was hard work hammering-in my bundle of  'laminations' - but once it's in there and the nocks are cut - You've got a BOW that feels very strong and weighty.

 - I made two initial versions #1 was a grey 5 foot PVC bow with 'cut nocks'.
 - #2 was orange PVC - 5 foot 4 inches overall length  having flattened ends and "pin nocks". -  #2 was much easier to insert the fibre-glass bundled laminations (before flattening the ends with a heat gun) - and has a lighter pull weight.

- Using 'para-cord' to string these simple bows seems to be satisfactory (so far) and I'm currently thinking that the 'pin-nock'(orange) bow looks better but may prove to be more exposed to damage from rough handling than the protected string 'cut' nock on the grey bow.

                                                              VIDEO CLIP

                                             Nicholas Tomihamas Video - It WORKS

Practicing archery in the back-yard is nearly silent, and non-threatening to passers-by. - It's also a fun way to get some fresh air and sunshine - but be careful not to leave your bows exposed to the suns UV rays, as it will over time cause deterioration of the PVC polymers ( Well, you wouldn't leave a Glock or an M&P outside either!).

HOME-MADE TARGET @ 20 foot.



Now , I'm definately a better shot with a handgun - but that candy-striped "Target" was suprisingly heavy to carry - being stuffed with winter clothes ejected from a ward-robe - and the strain may have caused my arm to shake - maybe practice will help improve my skills!

Now that you've had a look at making a simple Bow - as gun-enthusiasts you owe it to yourself to check-out The Backyard Bowyer's videos on 'THE 100 POUND CROSSBOW'  (in 12 parts) using flattened PVC Pipe for the bow prod.- I'll have to build one of those next - as this stuff works!

Marty K
After researching & writing 1,036 blogs I've got something NEW to try .. I've signed-up to Patreon. - In over five years I've not made one cent from this .. NOW you can send me a wee support $ - starting from $1. to get all this stuff from New Zealand - over a year that's nearly the price of one Shooting magazine. - Am I worth it?

https://www.patreon.com/user?u=16618870