The Essential Bowyer

Bowshafts!.. Bowshafts are the answer, If you are looking to make your own bows you must learn the art of shaping bowshafts for these are the basis upon every long and shortbow design. A bowshaft is fashioned from that portion of the wood where the sapwood meets the heartwood.. The heartwood being stronger than the sapwood gives the bow its strength while the sapwood its flexibility. In the same vein, Crossbow shelves are required for the manufacture of crossbows.... though there are no bowshafts used in the manufacture of crossbows.

Bowstrings are obviously a very important part of any bow, there is the classic silk based bowstring, but there are also bowstrings of metal, looking much like thread.

Composite bows...are made up of a number of materials bound together to create a more powerful bow than you could make with a single wood. Quite often using a modified bowshaft as its core..over which laminated are other stiffer woods, bone or other hard core material.. glued together and bound with string or something similar. By the creative use of laminated materials, or soaking of the componants in various unguents and mixtures, bows with unique properties can be fashioned.