HUN Chapter 28: Birch and Beaver Bone Arrows

"The preliminary shaping of the arrow shafts is complete. Next comes the more detailed polishing and subsequent processing."

"Polishing removes fine burrs and uneven spots from the shaft surface, making them feel smoother and reducing air resistance during arrow flight to some degree."

"Then comes making the nock, which directly affects whether the arrow can sit securely on the bowstring and how smoothly it releases."

"Usually we carve a 'V' or 'U' shaped groove."

He first used the knife tip to mark a shallow point at the exact center of the shaft's tail end, then extended straight line cuts from this point to both sides, slowly deepening and widening these two cuts.

He periodically stopped to test it against the bowstring, ensuring the final 'V' shaped nock's angle and depth would perfectly match his bowstring.

After processing all the shafts, Lin Yu'an took out the previously preserved beaver leg bones and selected a femur with the hardest bone wall quality.

"Now we'll make arrowheads. Beaver bones are very hard, making them a good choice for practice arrowheads."

"Of course, their strength and sharpness can't compare to metal arrowheads, but they're sufficient for shooting grass targets or dealing with some small prey."

He placed the femur on a thick, flat stone slab, steadying it with his left hand while gripping the felling axe with his right.

"Crack!"

With a crisp splitting sound, the femur broke relatively evenly into several long, strip-shaped bone pieces.

He selected several pieces of moderate length and thickness without obvious cracks, preparing to make arrowheads.

He laid a bone piece flat on a small anvil stone, holding his multi-tool as a scraping tool.

Constantly changing the pressure point and angle, he gradually scraped and chipped away excess bone material from the edges, step by step shaping the arrowhead form.

"Puff, puff, puff..." Fine white bone shavings scattered like snowflakes.

Through repeated scraping and shaping, the first roughly willow-leaf-shaped bone arrowhead prototype was born in his hands!

It already had the basic outline of an arrowhead, but the edges were still rough and the tip wasn't sharp enough.

"The prototype is done. Next comes fine polishing."

He picked up the bone arrowhead prototype and began patiently grinding it on a water-dampened sandstone.

"When polishing the arrowhead tip, make it as sharp as possible to ensure penetrating power. We also want to grind it as smooth as possible to reduce flight resistance."

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

For fletching materials, he used the primary wing feathers from the previously caught grouse.

"Grouse feathers are light and resilient, naturally excellent for fletching."

"When selecting feathers, it's best if all feathers on the same arrow come from the same side of the bird's wing to ensure stable arrow flight."

He carefully split a feather shaft lengthwise down the middle, taking only the half with intact vanes, then thinned the shaft with his knife to make it easier to attach and bind.

He carefully trimmed these processed half-feathers to uniform length, shaping them into streamlined spindle forms - slightly pointed at both ends and wider in the middle - to achieve optimal aerodynamic effects.

Lin Yu'an scraped hardened resin chunks from pine trunks.

"Pine resin is a natural quality adhesive with strong bonding when heated and melted."

He placed these resin chunks in a small clay bowl, adding a tiny bit of water to prevent burning during heating, then carefully positioned the bowl beside the fire's embers, using residual heat to slowly melt it.

Soon the resin melted into a viscous, amber-colored liquid emitting a rich pine fragrance.

Lin Yu'an took a processed birch arrow shaft, dipped a small stick into the melted pine resin, and evenly applied a layer to the tail end.

He then quickly picked up three trimmed feathers and accurately attached them to the resin-coated shaft at 120-degree intervals from each other.

This attachment method allows the arrow to generate stable spin inclination during flight, commonly called helical offset.

Before the resin completely hardened, he took out the nylon core previously extracted from paracord.

Starting from the feather roots near the nock, he pressed one end of the nylon thread firmly with his finger and began wrapping upward.

Each turn pressed tightly against the previous one, with wrapping length of about two to three centimeters, sufficient to secure the feathers.

"Now for the final step - connecting the arrowhead to the shaft and we're done!"

He carefully split a slot at the front end of each birch shaft, with depth matching the bone arrowhead's tang length.

"The slot's depth and width must be controlled well - deep enough for the arrowhead tang to fully insert, but not so deep or wide as to weaken the shaft."

He carefully applied melted pine resin to both the bone arrowhead tang and inside the shaft slot.

Then he aligned the bone arrowhead tang with the slot and forcefully inserted it into the shaft, ensuring tight fit without wobbling.

Next, he again used fine nylon thread soaked in pine resin, starting from where the arrowhead base met the shaft, using an extremely tight and forceful cross-reinforced binding method called a "constrictor knot" or similar.

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

After two full days of meticulous work, five brand-new birch and beaver bone arrows were finally complete!

Lin Yu'an picked up a new arrow, weighing it in his hand and feeling its perfect weight and good balance.

Though bearing obvious handmade marks, it was filled with primitive yet practical beauty.

He came to the grass target beside camp, nocked the arrow, adjusted his breathing, locked his gaze on the bullseye, then calmly released.

"Whoosh—thud!"

The bone arrow left the string with a light whistling sound and struck steadily in the target's center area!

Though the bone arrowhead's weight differed slightly from metal arrowheads, causing the impact point to be slightly lower than expected, the flight attitude was very stable with quite good penetrating power! It was perfectly usable for daily practice and even hunting small animals!

"Excellent!"

Lin Yu'an's face showed genuine satisfaction. Though the handmade process was tedious, he now had practice arrows that would be completely sufficient for training consumption!

A familiar rotor roar from far to near once again broke the mountain forest's tranquility.

Looking up at the sky, that small Bell helicopter was flying from a distant valley, circled once above his camp, then slowly landed on the previously agreed riverbank.

"Counting the days, it's been thirty-five days. The production team's second visit to collect footage."

After the helicopter landed, the cabin door opened and two crew members in jackets bearing the "Alone" logo emerged.

This time only one technical person came. After simple greetings, he began skillfully checking equipment operation, replacing memory cards and batteries.

After completing operations, he gave Lin Yu'an an "OK" gesture, indicating all equipment was functioning normally.

The crew quickly finished all work without unnecessary delay. The helicopter roared back to life and disappeared into the distant horizon.

Lin Yu'an stood on the riverbank, watching the helicopter depart.

This brief contact with the civilized world actually highlighted his loneliness more. Wilderness survival wasn't just physical torture, but more mental torture. He needed to regulate his emotions well to persist further.

[NEXT CHAPTER]