Materials Required:—

A bow-stick of pliable wood, strong string, a smooth lath of thin wood, a fret saw, an awl, a penknife, a long nail.

This bow is made somewhat more elaborately than in Figure 86, and shoots off pebbles or bullets. The bow itself must be tapered evenly towards either end, and in the middle it must be bevelled flat for about two and a half inches at one side, and a slight groove run right round the stick at either end of the bevelled portion. Next take a thin lath or flat thin piece of wood, a quarter of an inch thick and rather less than the length of the bow. Taper it from two and a half inches wide at one end to one and a half at the other, and lay the broad end across the flattened portion of the bow with about one inch projecting. Mark on the crosspiece the width of the bow-stick and cut into each side of the crosspiece a deep sharp nick, leaving about one inch between each opposite set of nicks. Now draw your bow to the full extent of its curve without running the risk of breaking it, and mark on the crosspiece where the bowstring crosses it when the bow is drawn, and here cut a narrow slot right through the crosspiece. Into this insert a trigger as in Figure 90. The trigger must be of wood and should curve at one or both ends, and should be pinned through into its slot with a long thin nail, in such a position that the curved end will broad end across the flattened portion of full, and will lie well into the slot when the string is released. Now bind the crosspiece on to the side of the bow by strings fitting tightly into the four nicks and running round the grooves round the bow-stick. This will leave the crosspiece free of any bindings which might interfere with the bullet or "quarrel" as it leaves the bow.