How to make a wood bow.

 A wood bow is not made with a sense of art. It's not made with a pre conception of an end point or look to achive in X hourse of continuous work. In other words, I dont build bows. 

The bushman of yesterday, the few of today and - I would argue - many of the English yew men and many others of yor, started with a stick that would hold a string, bend, and send arrows into the air with aduquate velocity. 

For the yew men, the need was for the speed of a serviceable tool just as it was for all the others of the past. 

I am an archer first and a bow maker as a result.

People in the past needed bows quickly, they probably didn't have many metal tools on hand, they didn't have power tools, they needed archers, not bow builders, they needed speed of service not 50 finished bows, they needed one or two bows, and they didn't have unlimited energy to make all the bows they felt they needed or to finish a "beautiful" bow (though of course there are some exceptions).

If the limb was found not to be bending perfectly, they tillered that day (for the record however, an unfinished tillered bow limb should not be subject to too much bending). If the limbs became a little weak with use, they heat treated, added some sinew, or recuved the tips that day. If the back started to peel, they added some glued hide, or a hide sleeve. 

The purpose of a bow, is to shoot arrows. I would argue that many of the bows you see in the old works catalogs, are not the byproduct of a weekend of hard work with a mettal rasp, but many months, or years of shooting and working with stone tools or a simple knife when the bow demanded the care.

In other words, these tool were theirs for their trade; they maintained them, loved them, lived by them; that is how they developed character; that is how they developed spirit; through service and a day to day care.

You make a bow by picking a stick of good, straight, wood and stringing it, but most importantly with loyalty to that stick, the labour of shooting, and knowledge of maintenance,.