need two bows for at risk youth

[tsa yo ga]

hey ya'll,
I work at a domestic violence shelter in wnc and part of my job is to work with boys who have witnessed family violence.  We attempt to get them involved in character building activities.  I have two brothers who have expressed interest in primitive archery. I have shared what little I know, but now they have asked for recurve bows.  I don't build them yet.  Anybody out there willing to take this on?  I think it's great that these two young men are into primitive archery when so many of our youth are absorbed with the wrong parts of modern culture.  Please consider this request.  Ski, Tsa yo ga

[mullet]

   This sounds like a good project for you and the two boys to start together. For a very small amount of money you could build three board bows and turn this into a positive and bonding relationship and learning experience for all involved. There is plenty of advice on this site as well as Georges' site on selecting boards and building board bows.
    After that, we can walk you through building arrows. Once you build your own equipment it will mean more to you and I'm sure the young men also.

 

[tsa yo ga]

That's a very good idea, but I only see them once a week for a total of one hour. We have group of 15 boys and our activities are limited due to liability concerns.  i will direct them to the various websites, maybe their dad will get involved in the project. 

[Aries]

I started building bows when i was 14, Im 17 now and it really sets you appart from the crowd, it builds a character that no one can take away from you and gives you problem solving skills that helps you out tremendously in the real world. It is a great idea to try to get these guys involved.   Ty

[Shooter_G22]

im kinda doing the same thing over here...   i coach a teen youth group type paintball / extrem sports team here in north texas that call themselves the DirtyDawgz...  the team started as a moutin bike race team and paintball team that me and my kid niephew started up with two of his cousins and then they went off recruiting other teen friends of theres that might have been getting into trouble and having trouble with school... since then i have devoloped the team to a youth group type team with a few other people helping out and a church giving us a hand here and there...

anyways we do all kinds of stuff and the kids parents really support the cause, because since we started a couple of yrs ago i had a few of the boys that had gotting kicked out of school for all kinds of stuff and they got put into alternative schools... well needles to say i devoloped the team into a extrem sports team and run it like a bootcamp style practice...  being from a military background ( 8yrs Unitd States Marine Corps)  we turned those kids around and now they are completly better all around kids...  making A and B's and drug free...  but its alot of work and these kids come from tuff neiborhods and they arent the type of kids that would be invovled in a church group or scouts...

   but i come from the same nieborhood and soo i can relate too there problems and i keep it interesting by keeping it hard and the sports we do are challanging and theyhave to be tuff to be a Dawg...  and i incorporate the values of the Marine Corps into there training like Honor, Courage Commitment,integrety and disipline...  and i through in a little scripture here and there and i have issued them all bibles and told them to read it!

but im not a pasture or father or counsler or anything like that...   but i do as much as i can...

and the boys have taking an intrerest to archery...  well,  we are allways in the woods hiking and or mountin biking and some of the boys asked me if i could train or teach them survival classes and nateraly the subject of achery and or hunting came up and i told them that they would get some training later...  of coarse i have some training in the art of survival but i used to make stick bows when i was a kid just for fun...
anyways i'm here trying to learn how to make a good strong bow for hunting for myself and my older cousins that are my age.. and i thought that this would also be a good project for the youth team...  of coarse the bows im trying to make now are gonna be differant than the bows im gonna teach the boys to make...

for the boys im gonna teach them to make a survival type bow out of stave or branch and arrows from natural material... stone points or bone ...  hell they could even use just heated wood tips for that purpose... more on the primitave side...  i have never kapped stone so its gonna be a journey for me as well..  but i have burned and scrapped arrows to a sharp hard point when i was younger... works well for hunitng rabbit and squirl...

anyways sorry i wrote a book here but i commend you for your efforts with those two brothers..
its a good thing that you are helping them out... and voluntier your time for them... i know they appreciate it...   i know my boys do...

Good Luck...