He Can Build Cupid A Bow From Scratch

For many North Idaho sportsmen, the rugged outdoors beckons.

Coeur d’Alene’s Doug Park is no different.

But when he tromps through the country around Rathdrum, or along the banks of the Spokane River at Post Falls, he’s seeking the very best in workable materials. Park, 28, is an accomplished bow maker, or to be more precise, a bowyer.

Making a bow from one’s environment is not a new accomplishment - and actually not one appreciably bettered over the years.

“You start with the right sapling,” Park said, and go from there to create a workable weapon.

Somewhat surprising are the number of steps in between.

Park said he got interested in bow making about four years ago during a visit to the Museum of Natural History in Denver.

Park said he was inspired by the many displays of Indian artifacts, especially bows and arrows, weapons used a century ago to hunt or to use in ceremonies.

“I tried feverishly - no luck,” he said. “Used common sense, pictures. Finally, I learned of a sporting goods outlet in Spokane that carried do-it-yourself bow-making literature.”

Park remembers how he first went looking for 4- to 5-year-old saplings, settling on locally cultivated locust. Next, the wood must be dried uniformly in a small fire, then placed on a small mound and given a permanent curve.

Then comes time-consuming tillering, Park said, adding that he used a Bowie knife, not the animal bones used by Indians.

One of the final processes - and perhaps the most important - is applying elk tendon in two-inch widths some four inches apart over the length of the bow.

This, he explains, gives the finished bow strength.

He figures each of the 24 bows he has made is good for about 200,000 shots.

Hide glue is used to adhere the tendon to the bow. The odorous concoction of animal hooves, sinew and hides, all boiled together “would render a home uninhabitable to say the least. I buy my hide glue.”

Park admitted his luck with making bowstrings “has not been the best, but I’m trying.” For the time being, he goes to a Spokane retailer for his bowstrings.

Now, with bow in hand, Park scouts riverside bushes for the straightest shoots for his arrows. Any slight bends can be heated, then made straight, he said.

One turkey supplies sufficient feathers for a lifetime of arrow making, he added.

As for the tip, Park said he uses scraps of elk antlers, which he carefully shapes, again with his pocket knife.

Tips are fastened with hide glue and wrapped with elk tendon for strength.

Park, unlike some arrow-makers, adds a few rounds of tendon at the leading edge of the three feathers, “so as the arrow leaves the bow, it doesn’t take some of your shooting hand with it.”

He boasts his bows have a pull-strength of 55 to 62 pounds, sufficient to bring down an elk.

The young hunter, a custom home drywall installer, figures a bow he’s crafted and a few arrows are worth between $200 and $300. He makes the bows for fun, but has sold a few to friends.

Park considers himself “somewhat of a black sheep” among the 200-member Coeur d’Alene Bowmen.

“I’m the only guy I know of around here that builds tendon-backed bows. Everyone’s into the more exotic bows,” he said. “But I’m happy. I really enjoy doing what I do.”

, DataTimes MEMO: Tom Burnett is a free-lance writer and former journalist from Rathdrum. Panhandle Pieces appears every Saturday. The column is shared among several North Idaho writers.