Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 909
EAN: 9781585740857
ISBN: 1585740853
Label: The Lyons Press
Manufacturer: The Lyons Press
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 320
Publication Date: 2000-03
Publisher: The Lyons Press
Studio: The Lyons Press

Related Items
The Traditional Bowyer's Bible, Volume 2 The Traditional Bowyer's Bible, Volume 3 The Traditional Bowyer's Bible, Volume 4 (Traditional Bowyer's Bible) Making Indian Bows and Arrows, The Old Way Primitive Technology

Editorial Reviews:
The Traditional Bowyer's Bible series includes three essential volumes filled with history, humor, and practical advice. Invaluable information for anyone interested in the age-old lure of archery.

Spotlight customer reviews:

Customer Rating:

Summary: Great Book
Comment: The book not only tells you the best types of bows to design, based on the wood you are using but also gives suggestions at alternative methods for achieving the same result. The authors do not assume that their way is the only way and include tips and ideas from others that they have obtained over the years. This book will certainly get you busy quickly, in your workshop. They also dispell many of the 'sacred cows' in traditional bow making such as the types of wood that are 'the best' and the "best designs". This is a brave move considering that many of these myths have been around for decades but given their experience and years of bow building, there is no doubt that they are speaking with authority and telling you what you should know instead of what they want you to know.

Great book at a great price. You won't regret it and you'll want the next book as you will read through this one in record time.

Customer Rating:

Summary: NOT for novices. I repeat--NOT FOR NOVICES. also...who edited this thing?
Comment: OK, so I'm itching to get into building my own bows. Step 1, head down to the local bookstore and get this book--I mean, do any kind of search on the subject, and it's the first thing you always find. And now, I've read it. And you know what? I'm even more confused than i was when i started.

Where should i even begin to complain about this $23 I will never get back? Well, let's start at jump street...The first and most glaring problem is, this is NOT an instructional book for the aspiring traditional bowyer, as I thought it might be--and as the back cover led me to believe. Rather, it is more of a sourcebook for those who already have a pretty strong working understanding of how to build bows. This is the book you ought to buy if you've already got a handful of bows under your belt; bows of different types and styles. I could imagine some bearded old Jim Bridger type sitting in his den, reading and re-reading it, with a hundred different bookmarks in it, and about 10 sentences highlighted on every page.

But if you are trying to learn how to build your own bow, and you don't know too much about it--by all means, DO YOURSELF A FAVOR AND LOOK SOMEWHERE ELSE. This book uses shop talk about every other sentence, and from page 1, nobody ever bothers to actually define what all this shop-talk actually means. You kind of have to just try and infer from the context very crucial central concepts--like which side of the bow is the back, and which is the belly...or what string follow is, or about a million other things. Case in point, there is a section in the chapter on bow construction (chapter 1) where the author describes a "standard wood bending test." He explains how to put a standardized staff of wood in this little device to test its flexibility characteristics--they even show a picture of the little device (which you are to build yourself for this purpose)--but he NEVER ACTUALLY EXPLAINS HOW to build the device. G

All I'm left with, after reading this junk, is the hope that someday, after i read a few better books on the subject, and build a dozen or so bows of my own--well someday this book may be handy. As for now, if the power goes out and i need something to burn for heat, this is it. I just sit and scratch my head as i leaf through the pages, thinking, Oh that might make sense, if i knew what this word meant. Or, wow, I know what tillering is. I wish this damn piece of crap called THE BOWYER'S BIBLE actually detailed the process, such that i might actually be able to follow some step by step instructions on how to do so!

I just wonder who edited this book? How does a professional editor not realize that this book creates more questions than it provides answers?

Yikes.

Anyway, not to keep Amazon from getting any new business--if you know how to build a bow, and you want to see some interesting pictures of like 50 different kinds of Northwest Indian patterns you can paint onto your work--or if you feel like looking at pictures of bows some guy made out of junk wood, or reeds, or broken arrows, well this is the book for you!

As for me, the search continues.

Customer Rating:

Summary: Bowyers must!
Comment: Actually this is the third set of these books I have bought... I keep giving mine to others who are interested in bow making. This volume in particular is excellent for someone starting out.

Customer Rating:

Summary: Basic Bow Making
Comment: A great intro to making wooden bows. Covers all the basics, wood, design, cutting, tillering. I found the section on bow design particularly interesting. Intuition is totally wrong about what gives the most arrow speed. A great book.

Customer Rating:

Summary: That's all what i need.
Comment: This volume is very explicative and not lost any details of his points. All the volumes makes a great help, and even a single powerfull source of information, to anyone who want to make the finest traditional bows, i recomend !

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