The Backyard Bowyer: The Beginner's Guide to Building Bows

With over 300 step-by-step pictures, the Backyard Bowyer is geared for the beginning bowyer, backyard hobbyist, and anyone who has ever pondered building a wooden bow. Easy to read and follow steps go down to even the smallest detail in the design and construction of basic archery bows. Learn to craft fine wooden bows without huge investment in equipment and materials, and without being bound by location and limited workspace. Learn to construct: A classic target flat bow, an English Longbow suitable for hunting, and even your own strings and arrows for traditional and primitive archery.

Nicholas Tomihama was born in Honolulu, where he lived until graduating high school. From there he went to Hilo on the island of Hawaii (the Big Island) to study business management at the University of Hawaii at Hilo.
 Even before going to college, he had a knack for making things and working with his hands, perhaps coming from his father who was a jeweler and general jack-of-all-trades. In highschool, Nicholas made hand-turned wooden pens, collected coins, fossils, and toyed around with his father's hunting bow.
 In Hilo, Nicholas was exposed to the party life and turned away from it, instead passing his time exploring the island and getting to his Hawaiian heritage. He began researching and studying native hawaiian crafts, carving bone hooks, crafting woven slings, and other hawaiian arts.
 After becoming more interested with craft than education, Nicholas returned to Oahu without a degree and married his highschool sweetheart, who had kept up with him in a long-distance relationship for the duration of his stay in Hilo.
 Nicholas now lives on Oahu with his wife and young son, Levi. He is an artist who makes hand-crafted bows and arrows and enjoys the sport of archery. He is also an avid reader and prolific writer, who recently published his first book, The Backyard Bowyer, which teaches how to build simple wooden bows for the complete novice.