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 debris. 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).
Read more about this topic: Bowyer
Famous quotes containing the words making a, making and/or bow:
“When a lady of wealth, is seen roaming about in search of cheaper articles, or trying to beat down a shopkeeper, or making a close bargain with those she employs, the impropriety is glaring to all minds. A person of wealth has no occasion to spend time in looking for extra cheap articles; her time could be more profitably employed in distributing to the wants of others. And the practice of beating down tradespeople, is vulgar and degrading, in any one.”
—Catherine E. Beecher (1800–1878)
“Making a book is a craft, like making a clock; it needs more than native wit to be an author.”
—Jean De La Bruyère (1645–1696)
“The bow is bent and drawn; make from the shaft.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)