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Looking for a book: Crafting Laminated Longbows by Mike Basher
Kirkll:
I read the book many years ago from cover to cover after I had been building bows professionally a few years, and there were too many discrepancies and a lot of flat out bogus statements to take the book seriously. He spent a lot of time testing and invested a huge amount of time doing it. But the findings were skewed with his personal beliefs and opinions rather than based on facts and actual experience.
I’m not going to go into specifics, or do an exhumation or an autopsy. Because it just isn’t worth it ,and …..I buried that $50 book in the back pasture with a dead cow rather than pass it along.
I was associated with a group of seasoned bowyers at the time I read it, that DID go into great detail about all the bogus crap in that book, and dubbed it “ More unnecessary Balderdash “. They had a lot of fun roasting the guy….
I’ll leave it at that….
I have been gathering a lot of material, and considered writing a book myself for years now. But putting together a book for publication is an expensive undertaking. I’ve looked into it seriously too….. But a book like this has a very small crowd that would be interested, and successfully marketing it would be tough. There certainly wouldn’t be any monetary incentive, but rather a labor of love to help keep the bowyers trade going.
I found an editor that was an experienced archer that I sent a portion of my material too a few years ago, and it was really tough going using abstract terminology and correct grammatical formatting …. I even have a title name picked out…. Maybe some day I’ll take the plunge again. Kirk
jsweka:
--- Quote from: Kirkll on November 18, 2023, 09:44:44 PM ---
--- Quote from: jsweka on November 17, 2023, 07:36:52 PM ---If you can’t find the info you want here, “Traditional Bowyer, More Unnecessary Fun” by Jack Harrison is a good book.
--- End quote ---
There will always be things one bowyer will disagree with another on. I don’t follow Harrison’s methods exactly the way he presents them, but still found it a good read.
Harrison must have know what he was doing given how sought after his bows are and how much they fetch on the used market (when they come up).
--- End quote ---
Mark R:
Yes, there's more than one way to skin a cat. As one of my mentors that I worked with as an apprentice carpenter would say there's a right way and a wrong way and I know the right way, now go get the wood putty. :laughing:
Kirkll:
--- Quote from: jsweka on November 19, 2023, 04:44:23 PM ---
--- Quote from: Kirkll on November 18, 2023, 09:44:44 PM ---
--- Quote from: jsweka on November 17, 2023, 07:36:52 PM ---If you can’t find the info you want here, “Traditional Bowyer, More Unnecessary Fun” by Jack Harrison is a good book.
--- End quote ---
There will always be things one bowyer will disagree with another on. I don’t follow Harrison’s methods exactly the way he presents them, but still found it a good read.
Harrison must have know what he was doing given how sought after his bows are and how much they fetch on the used market (when they come up).
--- End quote ---
Absolutely..... There are a lot of bowyers building basic long bows that don't have a clue about limb design and how these things really work.... All bows are not created equally.
But ya gotta love all the philosophy both good and bad..... Some of it can be kind of entertaining if nothing else...... A lot of Harrisons book needs to be taken with a grain of salt IMO...
--- End quote ---
Roy from Pa:
I edited out a few things here guys.
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