There are several good videos out on making bows. Probably the hardest thing about it is deciding what kind of bow you want. You can get the vids and everything else you need from Bingham. I' d recommend starting out with a plain jane r/d longbow for the first effort because the learning curve on the first one is awful steep. Recurves throw a few more wrinkles at you than longbows do and, even though it' s not likely, there' s always a chance that the first bow will be a screw-up. Once you get the feel for it, then lay your ears back and go for the fancy woods, stripes, overlays...

I did accent stripes and overlays on my first longbow, but I had a little supervision from a guy who' d already made about 25 bows. I did all the work myself, but his guidance made it a lot easier than it would have been, just mucking my way along by myself. The videos explain the steps very well but, obviously, it' s not quite the same as getting in there and doing it. It ain' t rocket science though. Well, maybe a little. Shaping the riser and limb tips is where the artistry is. Everything else is pretty much a by-the-numbers process.

The real heart of the whole thing is glue-up, lay-up and getting it all in the form without having the lams slide out of position. Just be sure everything is clean, that you don' t leave a single spot on the gluing surfaces dry, and pucker up your shorts when you put the top on the form and clamp it down.

Here' s the whole process, from what everything' s called to putting the final finish on the bow:

http://www.stickbow.com/FEATURES/BOW...G/glossary.CFM