Historical information: This verse contains several fascinating items which deserve comment. The first of which is that while it appears that his brothers were hunting with him, it appears that it is only the loss of Nephi's bow that is such a great tragedy. Why? Verse 21 indicates that there were other bows in the company, but that they had "lost their spring." This appears to indicate that while others had bows, Nephi's was the last remaining bow with any power, and therefore any ability to kill at a longer distance, which might be required wary game.
A second point of interest is the bow itself. Why would a bow be made of steel? Were such things part of the cultural inventory of the ancient world? Nibley indicates that the common bow in Palestine was a composite bow with a handle of ivory or wood, with a reverse curve in the bow itself. There were metal parts, with either bronze or steel (Hugh Nibley, Teachings of the Book of Mormon, Semester 1, p.217). It might appear then, that the bow was not entirely of metal, but was rather composed of different materials, metal ir "steel" being one of them.
The third point is the mention of steel. The use of the word "steel" in the Book of Mormon has long been a cause for derision on the part of those who assume the word to be an anachronism. What might we understand about steel in the Book of Mormon? As with many such issues, there are many possible answers.
One of the problems is the terminology itself. As John Sorenson notes: "the King James translators were unclear on the point; several places where they put "steel" now would be translated "bronze." even experts have a problem, as suggested by a recent technical article entitled "Steel in Antiquity : A Problem in Terminology." (Sorenson, John. An Ancient American Setting for the Book of Mormon. FARMS 1985, p. 286).
Reynolds and Sjodahl elaborate: "It is true enough that in most, if not in all, of the passages in the Old Testament where the English version has "steel" the original has a word that means "copper." But in Jeremiah 15:12, where the Prophet asks: "Shall iron break the northern iron and the steel?" scholars have suggested that "the northern iron" may mean steel, while the "steel" mentioned is copper. In Nahum 2:4, where the prophet speaks of raging chariots that seem like "torches," the word translated "torches" (paldab) should be rendered "steel." (Reynolds and Sjodahl, Commentary on the Book of Mormon, Vol. 1., p.38)
Nibley suggests that the picture is complicated even more by the presence of real steel in antiquity: "Just in recent years it has been discovered that steel is as early known as anything at all--for obvious reasons. Steel is a mixture of iron and carbon. If you are using coal or wood or anything else and you have to get an awfully high temperature, you are going to get carbon mixed in with it. It won't make inferior iron; sometimes it will make good steel. But anyway, we know they had it. We have those [p.218] pictures of King Tut's beautiful steel dagger from seven hundred years before (Hugh Nibley, Teachings of the Book of Mormon, Semester 1, p.217).
Reynolds and Sjodahl concur: "And weapons of "steel" are said to be found in ancient tombs in Egypt, which statement can well be credited, for steel is not a new invention or discovery. Only the modern way of making it is new. Ancient ironmasters, we are told, obtained iron and steel by simply a hearth or fireplace in which the ore and the charcoal were mixed and a blast applied to obtain the necessary high temperature (Reynolds and Sjodahl, Commentary on the Book of Mormon, Vol. 1., p.38).