The Art of Making Selfbows

Book excerpt: This book is meant to be understandable and fun to use. The topics range from the beginnings to the end -- cutting and curing wood through building a selfbow of almost any type and finishing it. Selfbows are wooden bows with no laminations in the limbs. Both beginners and advanced bowyers should find the book usable and worthwhile. There are extensive descriptions and directions throughout, supported by over 200 individual color illustrations. Besides the how-to directions, there are sections on heat-bending, splicing billets, shaping handles, and treating problems like knots, cracks, etc. Several other useful topics are addressed, such as suggestions on how to make a bow with only a few measurements, reduce handshock, eliminate stack, stabilize arrow flight, shoot where you look, and increase arrow speed.