BOW PISTOL—Plate 27.

BOW PISTOL—Plate 27.

For target shooting in the house, this is a fine toy. With nicely made arrows and a good bow, it will shoot very well.

Make a good bow of rattan, or other tough wood. An old spoke of a carriage wheel could doubtless be obtained of a blacksmith or wheelwright, and such a hickory spoke would make a good bow. Make the bow much like that shown on Plate 8, except that it should be round at the center to fit the 3/8" hole in the pistol. The bowstring should be a hard cord so that it will slip easily from the notches in the barrel when the trigger is pulled.

Before shaping the pistol, make the groove in the center of one edge of the board. This should be made with a 3/8" round plane. It can be made, however, with the tool shown in Fig. 6, a gouge, and a round file. This tool is much like the one described on page 41 tho a larger nail is used. Make the groove 7/32" deep; gage a line 3/16" from each side of the board; then use the gouge inside these lines and as deep as the groove. When the gouging is well done, smooth the groove with a round file or coarse sandpaper wrapped around a pencil.

Fig. 6

Draw and shape the pistol. Make the lower edge of the barrel half round. Sandpaper it well. Make the trigger of hard wood and screw it on the pistol. The shape of the notch next to the trigger is very important but the shape of the other one is not so. Both notches, however, must be so smooth and well rounded as not to injure the bowstring. They should be not deeper than one-half the depth of the groove.

Arrows are quickly made by sawing long strips of straight-grained wood, 3/16" square, planing the corners, and sandpapering; then cutting them 5" long, splitting the ends (see page 16), inserting a paper 1" × 1/2" and tying the end with thread.

BOW PISTOL — Plate 27

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