Contrast is good when making bows!
I have to admit that I am an artist first and a bowyer second. Yes, making bows is an opportunity to unleash my inner mad scientist, but it is also a chance to express my artistic ability. Whenever anyone asks…
Low, medium, and high wrist grips for a recurve
In the previous post Grip Size of a Recurve I was asked what are good angles for low, medium, and high wrist grips. Well, I'm sure that this is subjective and arbitrary at best, so I made a simple illustration…
Grip size of a recurve
In the previous post, Grip size of a longbow, I listed some basic sizes for locator style longbow grips. In this post, I'll provide the same information for recurves—the best ways to measure a grip and suggested measurements for small,…
Grip size of a longbow
The grip on a longbow is usually smaller and more refined than the grip on a hunting recurve, a target recurve, or even a compound bow. Obviously, the most comfortable grip size is determined by the size of your bow…
Five common styles of longbow grips
It might seem like there are a million different types of longbow grips/handles, but I think they can easily be classified in five categories of common styles: 1) straight or “Hill”-style, 2) dished, 3) humped, 4) locator, and 5) sculpted/recurve…
How a recurve bow works
What is a recurve? A recurve is simply a curved portion of the tip of the bow limb. Recurves can either be static (rigid) or working (bending). Many sizes and shapes of recurves have been tried throughout archery history, and…
Some folks think I’m crazy for computer modeling bows
Supertiller is a stick bow computer modeling program that lets you build a hypothetical bow and test it on your computer. It was written by Alan Case. I use it to prototype new bow designs.
Grip and shelf location
A question that appears often in many of the internet bow making forums is "Where should I locate the grip and shelf on my bow?" I'm sure there are as many opinions about this as there are bowyers, so I'll…
I can help you build your own bow!
Hello and welcome to my bow building blog! This is my first post in the blog. My name is Jim Thorne and I want to help you learn how to "build your own bow!" Some readers may already know me…