This is the first of the series, The Traditional Bowyer's Bible, written by a group of dedicated bow makers and published in 1992. It is written for the person who wants to know the history of modern traditional bow making, makes bows or who wants to make bows. (It was not written for people like me who read it because they want to write about people who make bows but it serves its purpose admirably. And it is so fascinating a process that I may end up making a bow or two if I ever finish my current projects.)
It has chapters on the rationale for making traditional wood longbows (*see my comment below), traditional Indian bows, the art of choosing, cutting and seasoning wood, Bow design considerations, the woods including Yew, Osage Orange, common North American hardwoods, glue, splicing, backings, setting up and tillering, finishing and considerations for arrows. (Tillering is the art of removing wood in places where the bow is stiff and not taking it off where the bow is supple so that you end up with a smoot equal and even curve.)
The reading is easy for my purpose of familiarization; I read it through the first time in an afternoon when I was too tired and sleepy to go out and finish some tractor mechanic work I'd been delaying. For the person studying it to learn bowmaking I'd say that rereading each chapter in depth would take an afternoon of study and marking down points, another couple of hours to read and let the material come together. The needed information is so compact and so logical that the book flows well and so in depth that it makes sense without the reader ever having done the work before.
They explain such picky technical subjects as knots, weakness of spring wood, splits and breaks, and why a bow does or doesn't follow its string in such detail that the rank amateur (me) was able to not just recognize the words but understand the concepts behind them. They distill the art of drying down to its basics and then give specific info how to do it. Same with all the parts of the process.
I was fascinated by their discussion of the whys, wherefores and hows of backings, glues and why relatively natural fish glue, hide glue and other home made varieties do as well or better in many uses than the sort of chemical glues that will make you sick to use. (Anyone who has ever used Resorcinol, Weldwood, fiberglass resins, other nasty things already knows this but it is good to see the subject in print. ) They even show the design of a home made glue tester which can give a pretty a good estimate of which glues will do what sort of work. Eight of the home made glues on their list and two of the factory made glues are stronger than the wood. I was surprised how many of the name brands weren't.
I was also impressed by their detailed stepwise instructions on making sinew backing. This is a process which dates back to the last ice age and is mostly lost to the modern materials generation. Even those of us who knew pre-WWII people who could make such things probably don't have the detailed knowledge this book provides.
Every chapter is like these scant examples, full of helpful hints, wisdom and a deep understanding of the processes and the end results.
(* They are a lot more erudite and polite in their reasons to make and shoot traditional bows than I am. My own comment is simply that modern recurved fiberglass bows don't have the right 'feel' and the 'feel' of compound bows frankly sucks. I'd challenge anyone to practice with their compound bow well enough to shoot bullseyes at any distance from 25 to 50 yards...then take off the sights, shoot a practice shot at each distance then close their eyes and do it again. Then try the same thing with the traditional bow. )
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Phil McGladdery
The Ultimate Resource for Bow Making
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 3, 2014