Bamboo Scorpion Bow

I find it interesting to sometimes watch YouTube videos of people who made their own bows and look for design faults.

The screenshot on the right is an example of a scorpion bow design, but made of bamboo and using slingshot rubber instead of springs.

However if you are at all familiar with proper bow design you will notice a large number of design faults the bow shown on the right.

1. The arrow rest is on the wrong side for a right-eye dominant shooter. It should be on the left side of the bow. (The only exception to this would be someone shooting Asiatic horsebow style, in which case they would be shooting off their thumb and not using an arrow rest at all.)
2. The bow is really small and short and cannot store much power, but also will be unforgiving in terms of accuracy. The general rule for bows (and compound bows) is that longer bows are more forgiving when it comes to accuracy. The shorter and smaller a bow is the more unforgiving the bow is. This is easily rectified however by making the riser significantly longer, and also possibly making the limbs longer.
3. When watching the video it is pretty clear that this bow isn't very powerful, and the creators of the video don't bother to cite the poundage. So it is probably pretty weak. If they are using slingshot rubber to store power it would be nice to know what kind of slingshot rubber being used, and how much poundage the bow actually has. Otherwise anyone attempting to make this bow may be very disappointed*.

* Also if they're going to use slingshot rubber for the source of power, why not just make a harpoon gun or a spear gun instead?

There are other issues going on if you watch the video:

• The arrow has no fletching.
• The person is gripping the arrow's nock the way a child does, using a weak pinch grip. This is another clue that it is a very weak bow.
• They're holding the arrow on the arrow rest using a finger, displaying that they don't know how to make a proper arrow rest.
• The arrow rest is just a L shape cut out of the bamboo, no fur, felt, metal or other material on it.
• The bow is surprisingly loud and would startle any prey before it can even be shot.
• The tips of the limbs are just holes for the bow string, not proper tips.
• The arrow rest and hand placement is too low.
• The handle is not a comfortable design. Something more like a Howard Hill handle or a pistol grip handle would be better. 
• There really isn't any benefit to using bamboo to make this bow when wood would be better, bend less and break less easily. Making the bow out of bamboo instead of wood is a poor decision as the vibrations going through the bamboo will eventually break it.
• In the video the person deliberately dry fires the scorpion bow, something that a normal archer would never do.
  

I wouldn't be surprised if this bamboo scorpion bow breaks after less than 50 shots.

In short, it may look interesting, but it is a bad bow design.

And sadly this is often the case with scorpion bow designs.

Regardless of whether the bow is made out of wood, metal, plastic, fiberglass or bamboo, scorpion bows tend to be poorly designed.

Yes, they look interesting, but they're not the pinnacle of bow design.

I suspect this is because nobody with any true engineering skills has ever made a serious attempt to make a really good scorpion bow design.

Including Joerg Sprave (from the Sling Shot Channel), who is more of a German mad scientist than an engineer.

Blackthorn Jam Recipe

Blackthorn berries (also known as sloe berries) are very easy to forage for in Autumn, but you want to wait until after the first frost if your plan is to make blackthorn jam (also known as sloe jam).

As jam recipes go, this is very easy to make.

After the first frost all of the blackthorn berries should now be ripe. If you pick them too early in the season it is tricky to spot which berries are ripe and which are not ripe.

YOU WILL NEED

• Juice and zest from 1 lemon.
• Pick 1 lb worth of berries.
• 1/2 lb of jam sugar.

If you are making a larger batch of jam just use a 2 to 1 ratio of berries to sugar. The ingredient amounts here will make approx. 4 small jars of jam.

Remember the wash the jars you intend to use in HOT water.

DIRECTIONS

1. Using a bowl clean, rinse and drain the blackthorn berries. Remove all of the leaves/seeds/etc.
2. Lay out the berries on a flat surface to dry. To speed up the process pat them dry with a paper towel.
3. Grate some lemon zest into a pot and squeeze the juice from the lemon into the pot.
4. Add the blackthorn berries and jam sugar to the pot, mix together evenly.
5. Boil the jam puree.
6. Any stones from the blackthorn berries should float to the top of the jam, which should look roughly yellow. Scoop them out with a spoon.
7. Continue to cook the jam puree for about 4 minutes, stirring regularly occasionally.
8. Pour the jam into hot jars to the brim, close tightly and leave to cool.

DONE! ENJOY!

I've also been looking for recipes for Blackthorn Berry Pie, so if you know of a recipe please leave a comment below.