HUN Chapter 27: Choosing Arrow Shafts

Lin Yu'an carefully stored the tanned beaver pelts. Looking at his relatively abundant food supplies, his confidence soared!

This also gave him more time and energy to invest in improving his archery skills, preparing for exploration and hunting in more distant places.

During his previous archery practice, Lin Yu'an had keenly sensed that his rebirth's spatial golden finger was not just simple storage, but seemed to have enhanced his physical qualities to some degree.

After this period of adaptation and deliberate experience, he could confirm that his body had indeed become stronger!

His physical recovery speed was faster, his endurance more lasting, and his vision had become more acute, especially in low-light environments where his ability to capture subtle movements far exceeded before.

His perception of distance had also become increasingly precise, allowing him to hit wherever he aimed within twenty meters with his bow.

Even in certain critical moments, an indescribable "sixth sense" had repeatedly helped him accurately judge the location of fish schools!

These physical changes required extensive practice to adapt to and master.

Archery was the perfect way to test and improve this comprehensive perception and coordination ability.

He spent some time bundling thatch into a thick grass target, setting it up in an open area near the camp.

At least two hours of daily archery practice became his unwavering required course.

From his ten original arrows, he selected three specifically for daily shooting training.

That afternoon, while Lin Yu'an was conducting long-distance shooting practice at about forty meters, his angle was slightly off. The arrow grazed the edge of the grass target and struck hard into a sturdy dead tree behind it!

"Crack!" A heart-wrenching slight crisp sound came from the arrow shaft.

Lin Yu'an walked forward and forcefully pulled out the arrow. He saw a clearly visible crack in the shaft near where it connected to the arrowhead. With a gentle bend of his hand, the shaft broke with a snap.

"Sigh, of the three arrows I prepared for practice consumption, one is already broken. This is much faster than expected."

"I must put making a batch of practice arrows on the schedule."

On a clear day, Lin Yu'an took his felling axe and multi-tool and walked into the birch forest near his shelter.

He decided to use the bones left from his previous beaver capture to make arrowheads, while choosing the most common local birch wood for the shafts.

"Birch wood is light and elastic, making it one of the excellent materials for arrow shafts. But selecting suitable birch branches also requires consideration," Lin Yu'an explained to the camera while moving through the forest, his gaze sweeping over the tall birch trees.

"We're looking for branches or main trunk tips that grow in open environments, are about one to two centimeters in diameter, and are as straight as possible."

"Such wood usually has more evenly distributed fiber and is easier to process."

After finding a suitable target, he first used his multi-tool blade to cut a groove about half a centimeter deep around the selected branch.

"This breaks the bark's phloem, making subsequent cutting easier and reducing wood splitting."

Then he used the felling axe to aim below the groove and cleanly chop it off.

Back at camp, he began processing these fresh birch poles.

"The first step is debarking. Fresh birch bark is relatively easy to peel off. I need to completely strip off the smooth white bark, exposing the pale yellow wood underneath."

Using his multi-tool blade, he started from one end of the birch pole, carefully and evenly shaving off the bark.

"These protruding knots and uneven areas are flaws that need to be smoothed down to make the whole shaft as round and straight as possible. This affects the arrow's flight stability."

Lin Yu'an built a small fire. After the flames stabilized, he picked up a preliminarily processed birch pole.

He held it about ten centimeters above the flames, grasping both ends with his hands and slowly, evenly rotating it over the heat.

"Fire straightening uses heat to soften the wood fibers, then applies external force to deform and set them."

"When heating, you must be careful not to stay at any one point too long, or you'll easily scorch or crack the shaft."

Gradually, he could clearly smell the distinctive woody fragrance released by the wood under heat.

When he felt the shaft becoming slightly hot and its internal fibers becoming relatively soft, he quickly removed it from the flames.

"The golden time for straightening is very brief. Once the wood cools, it quickly regains its hardness, so movement must be fast."

Lin Yu'an immediately gripped the heated birch shaft tightly in both hands.

His thumb usually pressed on the most obvious protruding part of the bend, while his other four fingers hooked on the concave opposite side, forming a reverse lever arm.

His eyes, like the most precise instrument, carefully examined the shaft's bent form and direction.

Then he applied force with both arms, exerting pressure with a "kneading" motion in the opposite direction of the bend.

"Creak... creak..."

The fibers inside the shaft made subtle, clear sounds under the force of his arms, proof that the fiber structure was being rearranged and stretched.

"When straightening arrow shafts, you can't use brute force to bend them, as that easily damages the wood's fiber structure or even breaks it directly."

"What's needed is skillful force, using a combination of kneading, pressing, and rubbing to guide the wood fibers to extend and set in the direction we want."

For particularly fine adjustments, he would bring the shaft close to his eyes and squint one eye.

Like a gunner aiming at a target through sights, he would carefully observe along the shaft's longitudinal axis, then press and adjust.

Lin Yu'an patiently repeated the process: heating, applying pressure, observing, reheating, applying pressure again... constantly holding the shaft before his eyes, rotating it to examine from various angles until it presented a nearly perfect straight line.

After an arrow shaft was preliminarily straightened, he placed it aside in a cool, ventilated area to slowly cool.

"The cooling and setting process is also important. The wood fibers must cool down naturally and stably."

He rotated between processing those several birch poles. When the last shaft had also been repeatedly straightened and was quietly cooling and setting aside, Lin Yu'an finally relaxed slightly, his face showing satisfaction.

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