Bowyer
Encyclopedia
A bowyer is someone who makes or sells bows
. Bows are used for hunting
and for archery
. The development of gunpowder and muskets slowly led to the replacement of bows as weapons of war which decreased the importance of bowyers. Someone who makes arrows is a fletcher
.
s (bows made entirely from one piece of wood) bows would sometimes be crafted by the individual user; however, even with fairly simple bow designs it was often easier to rely upon a few skilled bowyers within the group. By working in groups more could be accomplished. In medieval England, for example, professional bowyers produced thousands of bows required for that country’s military. These bowyers could reportedly make an English longbow
in as little as two hours. Wooden selfbows normally take from 5–15 hours of work depending on the skill of the bowyer and the challenges set by the piece of wood. Modern amateurs find it satisfying to make functional self bows with beginner's skills and few tools.
s (bows made of several materials, often horn
, wood
, and sinew) had to rely on skilled craftsmen. Composite bows could be made relatively short, heavily recurved, and highly effective but the constituent materials had to be put under enormous stress and the bow’s limbs needed to be perfectly aligned. These demands required experienced bowyers who were willing to spend a great deal of time crafting their weapons. Cultures such as the Mongols
made effective military use of powerful composite bows for millennia; the limited records indicate that only a minority of men in these cultures ever made bows. The early modern Turkish bowyers are widely thought to have been the most skilled. Because the glue used to apply each lamination was allowed to dry for months, Turkish flight bows took up to a year to produce. The short, very recurved, sinew-horn
-wood
composite bows were exquisitely crafted and pushed the natural materials to their limits. In the 16th century one such Turkish flight bow set the record for the longest shot, 846 metres (925 yards), a record that stood until the 20th century and the application of modern material science.
. If a bow is being made from wood
or a combination of natural materials (often called a primitive or traditional bow) careful attention must be paid to the selected materials. There are often natural twists, knots, bends or other variations that must be taken into account and worked with to ensure that the bow will not fracture at any point along its length. Serious injury can result from bow failure or if the bow string breaks. Due to this, traditional bows must be made individually.
Wood bow staves are often made from trees such as Osage Orange Maclura pomifera, English Yew Taxus baccata
and Siberian Elm Ulmus pumila.
s, bows consisting of wood sandwiched by fibreglass layers, can create somewhat more standardized bows as fibreglass, not the wood, is the load-bearing component and keeps the bow from breaking. The wood in a fibreglass bow serves the purposes of separating the fibreglass laminates, and of resisting shear. Most of the stress of a bent spring occurs in the surface layers, and the further apart they are, the greater the stress on them. A solid fibreglass bow tends to be heavy, and heavy bow limbs shoot more slowly, other things being equal, than light ones. The limbs of a laminated bow can be lightened by the use of lighter materials such as wood. This wood must, however, be sufficiently strong to withstand the intense stress of shear, caused by the backing strip (that nearest the target) being under tension and the belly strip (that nearest the archer) being under compression. American rock maple has been extensively used for center laminations, strips being machined for the purpose so that the thickness and therefore the strength of the resulting limb can be predicted with reasonable accuracy.
The wood must provide a perfect gluing surface and needs to be completely free of grease for most synthetic glues. Amateur bowyers clean the wood with acetone prior to gluing. Amateurs often use epoxy
resins; those manufactured specifically to resist shear are best for the purpose although it is essential to follow the exact proportions given by the manufacturers, by measuring quantities with a chemical balance if necessary.
Failures of fibreglass bows commercially produced are not unknown, and careful inspection of the broken limbs usually indicates that the bow has failed in shear. The greatest care must be taken to feather any wooden inserts, especially at the handle riser (the thickened part in the middle of the bow) and less importantly at the nocks (and axle mounts, in wheeled compound bows) as the shear stress seems to need a weak point to start a split. Feathering of the wood in between the fibreglass laminates must be accompanied by perfectly even pressure over the whole width of the limb, lest the centre part pucker up under clamping pressure and form either a void or a weakness filled only with glue.
Common practice is to bind a bow in many strips of rubber cut from car or bicycle inner tubes to apply great and even pressure, and leave the glue to cure for several days before unwrapping. Binding in this way tends to put greatest pressure on the edges of the laminates, encouraging puckering, and weak thickening, of the middle strip of the bow limb. This is avoided by putting strips of soft, flexible material such as thin hardboard, above the top laminate before the rubber binding is applied. The strips are made about 12mm narrower than the bow limb, and, concentrating the pressure down the middle of the limb, greatly assist in obtaining a flat section during the glue curing time. These strips are discarded after the bow is released from the bow form.
Assuming a bow will not fail during shooting, other factors such as efficiency, aesthetics, and noise during shooting can all be important. How these factors affect the bows' design and construction depends on the purpose of the bow and preferences of the user.
and Maurice Thompson
may have made some of their own bows, but many American bowyers were inspired by Art Young, Dr. Saxton Pope, and Will Compton. These included Chester Stevenson, Glenn St. Charles, Howard Hill, Ben Pearson
and Fred Bear
. Following the publication of The Traditional Bowyer's Bibles in the 1990s, there has been a resurgence of traditional bow making in the United States and other English-speaking countries. Modern leaders in the field include among others Jay St. Charles, the late Jay Massey, Tim Baker, Paul Comstock, John Strunk and Jim Hamm.
Bow (weapon)
The bow and arrow is a projectile weapon system that predates recorded history and is common to most cultures.-Description:A bow is a flexible arc that shoots aerodynamic projectiles by means of elastic energy. Essentially, the bow is a form of spring powered by a string or cord...
. Bows are used for hunting
Bowhunting
Bowhunting is the practice of killing game animals by archery. It has been a normal use of archery in every culture that had bows.- Technique :...
and for archery
Archery
Archery is the art, practice, or skill of propelling arrows with the use of a bow, from Latin arcus. Archery has historically been used for hunting and combat; in modern times, however, its main use is that of a recreational activity...
. The development of gunpowder and muskets slowly led to the replacement of bows as weapons of war which decreased the importance of bowyers. Someone who makes arrows is a fletcher
Fletching
Fletching is the aerodynamic stabilization of arrows or darts with materials such as feathers, each piece of which is referred to as a fletch. The word is related to the French word flèche, meaning "arrow," via Old French; the ultimate root is Frankish fliukka...
.
History
Historically, a huge variety of bows have been produced for food gathering, warfare, and recreation. Who created these bows depended mainly on the type of bow being produced, but also on the quantity required. The skills required tend to divide traditional bowyers into two groups:Self bowyers
In clans or social groups that used wooden self bowSelf bow
A self bow is a bow made from a single piece of wood. Extra material such as horn nocks on the ends, or built-up handles, would normally be accepted as part of a self bow...
s (bows made entirely from one piece of wood) bows would sometimes be crafted by the individual user; however, even with fairly simple bow designs it was often easier to rely upon a few skilled bowyers within the group. By working in groups more could be accomplished. In medieval England, for example, professional bowyers produced thousands of bows required for that country’s military. These bowyers could reportedly make an English longbow
English longbow
The English longbow, also called the Welsh longbow, is a powerful type of medieval longbow about 6 ft long used by the English and Welsh for hunting and as a weapon in medieval warfare...
in as little as two hours. Wooden selfbows normally take from 5–15 hours of work depending on the skill of the bowyer and the challenges set by the piece of wood. Modern amateurs find it satisfying to make functional self bows with beginner's skills and few tools.
Composite bowyers
Cultures that used composite bowComposite bow
A composite bow is a bow made from horn, wood, and sinew laminated together. The horn is on the belly, facing the archer, and sinew on the back of a wooden core. Sinew and horn will store more energy than wood for the same length of bow...
s (bows made of several materials, often horn
Horn (anatomy)
A horn is a pointed projection of the skin on the head of various animals, consisting of a covering of horn surrounding a core of living bone. True horns are found mainly among the ruminant artiodactyls, in the families Antilocapridae and Bovidae...
, wood
Wood
Wood is a hard, fibrous tissue found in many trees. It has been used for hundreds of thousands of years for both fuel and as a construction material. It is an organic material, a natural composite of cellulose fibers embedded in a matrix of lignin which resists compression...
, and sinew) had to rely on skilled craftsmen. Composite bows could be made relatively short, heavily recurved, and highly effective but the constituent materials had to be put under enormous stress and the bow’s limbs needed to be perfectly aligned. These demands required experienced bowyers who were willing to spend a great deal of time crafting their weapons. Cultures such as the Mongols
Mongols
Mongols ) are a Central-East Asian ethnic group that lives mainly in the countries of Mongolia, China, and Russia. In China, ethnic Mongols can be found mainly in the central north region of China such as Inner Mongolia...
made effective military use of powerful composite bows for millennia; the limited records indicate that only a minority of men in these cultures ever made bows. The early modern Turkish bowyers are widely thought to have been the most skilled. Because the glue used to apply each lamination was allowed to dry for months, Turkish flight bows took up to a year to produce. The short, very recurved, sinew-horn
Horn (anatomy)
A horn is a pointed projection of the skin on the head of various animals, consisting of a covering of horn surrounding a core of living bone. True horns are found mainly among the ruminant artiodactyls, in the families Antilocapridae and Bovidae...
-wood
Wood
Wood is a hard, fibrous tissue found in many trees. It has been used for hundreds of thousands of years for both fuel and as a construction material. It is an organic material, a natural composite of cellulose fibers embedded in a matrix of lignin which resists compression...
composite bows were exquisitely crafted and pushed the natural materials to their limits. In the 16th century one such Turkish flight bow set the record for the longest shot, 846 metres (925 yards), a record that stood until the 20th century and the application of modern material science.
Making a bow
The most important part of crafting a bow is ensuring that the materials used are not strained beyond their breaking point. Due to the large amount of energy stored in a drawn bow, failures are often spectacular — often described as explosions because of the loud crack and flying debrisDebris
Debris is rubble, wreckage, ruins, litter and discarded garbage/refuse/trash, scattered remains of something destroyed, or, in geology, large rock fragments left by a melting glacier etc. The singular form of debris is debris...
. If a bow is being made from wood
Wood
Wood is a hard, fibrous tissue found in many trees. It has been used for hundreds of thousands of years for both fuel and as a construction material. It is an organic material, a natural composite of cellulose fibers embedded in a matrix of lignin which resists compression...
or a combination of natural materials (often called a primitive or traditional bow) careful attention must be paid to the selected materials. There are often natural twists, knots, bends or other variations that must be taken into account and worked with to ensure that the bow will not fracture at any point along its length. Serious injury can result from bow failure or if the bow string breaks. Due to this, traditional bows must be made individually.
Wood bow staves are often made from trees such as Osage Orange Maclura pomifera, English Yew Taxus baccata
Taxus baccata
Taxus baccata is a conifer native to western, central and southern Europe, northwest Africa, northern Iran and southwest Asia. It is the tree originally known as yew, though with other related trees becoming known, it may be now known as the English yew, or European yew.-Description:It is a small-...
and Siberian Elm Ulmus pumila.
Ancient European Bowyers
Medieval bowyers often lived in large groups, near castles as to supply bows to the military quickly, as opposed to traveling distances to supply bows and arrows. They often worked in groups in an attempt to make bows faster, as to supply the military with more bows in less time.Fibreglass bows
Glass bowyers who create fibreglass laminated bowLaminated bow
A laminated bow is an archery bow in which different materials are laminated together to form the bow stave itself. Traditional composite bows are normally not included, although their construction with horn, wood, and sinew might bring them within the above definition. This term usually refers to...
s, bows consisting of wood sandwiched by fibreglass layers, can create somewhat more standardized bows as fibreglass, not the wood, is the load-bearing component and keeps the bow from breaking. The wood in a fibreglass bow serves the purposes of separating the fibreglass laminates, and of resisting shear. Most of the stress of a bent spring occurs in the surface layers, and the further apart they are, the greater the stress on them. A solid fibreglass bow tends to be heavy, and heavy bow limbs shoot more slowly, other things being equal, than light ones. The limbs of a laminated bow can be lightened by the use of lighter materials such as wood. This wood must, however, be sufficiently strong to withstand the intense stress of shear, caused by the backing strip (that nearest the target) being under tension and the belly strip (that nearest the archer) being under compression. American rock maple has been extensively used for center laminations, strips being machined for the purpose so that the thickness and therefore the strength of the resulting limb can be predicted with reasonable accuracy.
The wood must provide a perfect gluing surface and needs to be completely free of grease for most synthetic glues. Amateur bowyers clean the wood with acetone prior to gluing. Amateurs often use epoxy
Epoxy
Epoxy, also known as polyepoxide, is a thermosetting polymer formed from reaction of an epoxide "resin" with polyamine "hardener". Epoxy has a wide range of applications, including fiber-reinforced plastic materials and general purpose adhesives....
resins; those manufactured specifically to resist shear are best for the purpose although it is essential to follow the exact proportions given by the manufacturers, by measuring quantities with a chemical balance if necessary.
Failures of fibreglass bows commercially produced are not unknown, and careful inspection of the broken limbs usually indicates that the bow has failed in shear. The greatest care must be taken to feather any wooden inserts, especially at the handle riser (the thickened part in the middle of the bow) and less importantly at the nocks (and axle mounts, in wheeled compound bows) as the shear stress seems to need a weak point to start a split. Feathering of the wood in between the fibreglass laminates must be accompanied by perfectly even pressure over the whole width of the limb, lest the centre part pucker up under clamping pressure and form either a void or a weakness filled only with glue.
Common practice is to bind a bow in many strips of rubber cut from car or bicycle inner tubes to apply great and even pressure, and leave the glue to cure for several days before unwrapping. Binding in this way tends to put greatest pressure on the edges of the laminates, encouraging puckering, and weak thickening, of the middle strip of the bow limb. This is avoided by putting strips of soft, flexible material such as thin hardboard, above the top laminate before the rubber binding is applied. The strips are made about 12mm narrower than the bow limb, and, concentrating the pressure down the middle of the limb, greatly assist in obtaining a flat section during the glue curing time. These strips are discarded after the bow is released from the bow form.
Assuming a bow will not fail during shooting, other factors such as efficiency, aesthetics, and noise during shooting can all be important. How these factors affect the bows' design and construction depends on the purpose of the bow and preferences of the user.
Bowyers in the United States
In the United States, WillWill Lamartine Thompson
William Lamartine Thompson was a noted American composer, best known for his hymns, born on November 7, 1847 in East Liverpool, Ohio, died New York City on September 20, 1909.-Well-known works:...
and Maurice Thompson
Maurice Thompson
James Maurice Thompson was an American novelist.-Biography:Raised on a Georgia plantation, Thompson first pursued a career as a lawyer. In 1871 he opened a law practice with his brother, William Henry Thompson...
may have made some of their own bows, but many American bowyers were inspired by Art Young, Dr. Saxton Pope, and Will Compton. These included Chester Stevenson, Glenn St. Charles, Howard Hill, Ben Pearson
Ben Pearson (bowyer)
Ben Pearson was an archer, bowyer, and fletcher from Pine Bluff, Arkansas. He is most notable for starting the first company in the United states to mass-produce archery sets and equipment. In 1972, he was among the first inducted into the Archery Hall of Fame.-History:Ben Pearson made his first...
and Fred Bear
Fred Bear
Fred Bear was an American bow hunter, bow manufacturer, author, and television host.He was born in the town of Waynesboro, Pennsylvania. Although he did not start bow hunting until he was 29 and did not master the skill for many years, he is widely regarded as a pioneer in the bow-hunting community...
. Following the publication of The Traditional Bowyer's Bibles in the 1990s, there has been a resurgence of traditional bow making in the United States and other English-speaking countries. Modern leaders in the field include among others Jay St. Charles, the late Jay Massey, Tim Baker, Paul Comstock, John Strunk and Jim Hamm.
Sources and recommended reading
- Adam Karpowicz ”TURKISH BOW TESTS” Retrieved July 31, 2005
- (1992) The Traditional Bowyer's Bible Volume 1. The Lyons Press. ISBN 1-58574-085-3
- (1992) The Traditional Bowyer's Bible Volume 2. The Lyons Press. ISBN 1-58574-086-1
- (1994) The Traditional Bowyer's Bible Volume 3. The Lyons Press. ISBN 1-58574-087-X
- (2008) The Traditional Bowyer's Bible Volume 4. The Lyons Press. ISBN 1-59921-453-9
- General Bow Construction FAQ
- http://www.osageorange.com/
- http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/188318/English-yew
- http://dendro.cnre.vt.edu/dendrology/syllabus/factsheet.cfm?ID=134