17
Nov
Making an arrow through a block of wood
I think it was second or third grade when we made these 
at the Jewish Community Center.
We all started out with blocks of wood and a smaller sheet of wood to cut the arrow out of. I recall the group leaders drilling all the holes but they were perfectly fine with us handling the saws and files to get our arrow shapes. I guess without the power tools we weren’t going to be severing our limbs, just cutting ourselves and maybe needing stiches (I don’t recall any stitches).
Anyway, I drew out my arrow shape so the head and tail were bigger then the hole and then attempted to keep it symmetrical and arrow shaped with the tools we had. After I was satisfied I couldn’t go anymore without messing it up I took it to the grown-ups for the magical step of getting the arrow through the hole.
First they dumped it into a put of boiling water for a few minutes. Then they pulled it out and squeezed the arrow head with pliers to make it narrow and then forced it through. Once on the other side the arrow head expanded to be very close to its original shape.
After that we stained it so it wasn’t just some boring looking wood. Ta-da, arrow through a block of wood!
Both pictures I have of it can be seen here.
Neat! I like it. I couldn’t figure out what the trick was until I read your explanation.
November 17th, 2006 at 4:16 pm