The Ultimate Primitive SURVIVAL BOW? Cable Backed Bow Build

I saw an old 1960--1970's documentary where one of the tribes in very northern Alaska a person made a bow exclusively from Caribou antler and part of the skull for the handle/riser part. The tribe was so far north they did not have any wood to make a bow with. The summer homes in another video were made of stiff rawhide (untreated hide) that was pressed into a dome shape after it was stiff, sometimes using two caribou/moose hides. In winter they actually lived in Igloos.

I wish I knew that when I was 8

Love how this man humble himself to not edit out mistakes he's made, leaving the mistakes to show that he's not perfect and also how to overcome them

Saw this guy win on alone. Best season of that show.

Yeah buddy, we want to see more of this uncommon “emergency-survival” bow concepts bring back to life by your expert craftmanship 👏🏻

Seeing this made me remember things I used to do when I was a kid. With limited options and a lot of creativity. I remember making a collapsible bow with a piece of PVC pipe and bamboo. Fast forward to now my wife is wondering why I was watching a guy making a bow for half an hour instead of mowing the lawn.

That definitely opens up a lot more wood options.

This is a first time i saw a cable backed bow. It looks wonderful and it's much easier from any other backing techniques i know of. But i loved a bit different part of this clip. Showing how to handle a hatchet. When i was a kid, my grandpa tought me how to split firewood and how to use a hatchet. Later when i got into bushcraft, i learned a bit more on how to use this very versatile tool. And i have to say, you handle this tool very well Sir! Thank you for sharing and spreading good ways of handling one of the most basic tools humans have designed🥰 [edit] Oh, just one tip (you might know about this one). I picked it up on TA Outdoors channel. If you stick your knife into a small wood piece, you will get a nice handle for a makeshift drawknife. It makes a bit easier work with debarking :)

I am always so impressed with your ability and knowledge. I hope your boys realize how lucky they are to have a dad so knowledgeable about so many things. Hopefully they are soaking it all in like sponges. All of it seems so second nature and muscle memory to you. 👍

Your a badass Clay. I always feel a little more manlier when I get to wow these average Joe's emulating your teachings . Thankyou brother.

This is honestly wonderful and such a coincidence as I began getting a stave ready for steam bending to get the classic cable backed inuit bow design and shape to make one for myself but I wasn't sure on how to do the cable backing. I was getting ready to make it just a self bow as the reading I did I couldn't come up with a good alternative or way to make a decent cable backing. And then this video drops and saves the whole thing! Thank you again for the awesome content and for covering such a cool and unique way to back a bow

you could give him a toothpick and dental floss and he'd come back in an hour with a 50lb bow

It's amazing that there was zero technology transfer from neighbouring New Guinea, where the natives had bows, a wide range of tools, maintained gardens and farm animals. Although the humans interacted traded, and travelled, no such weapons made their way into Australian culture

Great video Clay! Years ago I made one using artificial sinew . It stretches too. I kept the cable close to the back of the bow and had to tie it on in several spots. I would love to see a pine bow build. I was helping a kid build one but it never got finished. Keep up the great videos!👍👍🏹🏹

Loving these primitive bow builds! This is the first time I've seen a cordage backed bow built and shot. just curious, but have you ever looked into making horn bows like ones from the Sheepeater tribe or like the ones from Asia? A bit of a different beast from this build but I bet it would be cool nonetheless.

Can you do a Bhutanese split bamboo bow? Its quite simple design, would be great survival tool.

Super cool. I have a maple bow I am working on ( learning on ) and you have shown me two things that blow through my two major issues. I love the draw stump! I can remember it from the books and survival manuals now that I saw you doing it. I will combine it with my sanding stump( bone glue/sand) and leave just enough room to drop my double bit on the edge of the sanding surface. Flipping game changer😊 . The second nugget was confirming that I can bake the wood dry under tension. Saved me two weeks at worst or another broken bow in the pile. I am going to pull the tips towards the back of the bow with 550 and then tiller the back while she is green. Once even(ish) I will dry with fire. After the set has taken place from baking I will back the bow with drywall tape and bone glue ( works well). When that has dried I will begin floor tillering . My setup is near identical to what you have here and it was awesome watching you do it. I have another dwarf maple that I will start a cable build on. Tyvm

Looks like something out of far cry primal! Super cool

Mourning dove cooing nearby. Beautiful!

Great video brother thanks for sharing.