Historically, a huge variety of bows have been produced for food gathering, warfare, and recreation. Who created these bows depended mainly on the type of bow being produced, but also on the quantity required. The skills required tend to divide traditional bowyers into two groups:

Self bowyers

In clans or social groups that used wooden self bows (bows made entirely from one piece of wood) bows would sometimes be crafted by the individual user; however, even with fairly simple bow designs it was often easier to rely upon a few skilled bowyers within the group. By working in groups more could be accomplished. Wooden self bows normally take from 5-15 hours of work depending on the skill of the bowyer and the challenges set by the piece of wood.

Composite bowyers

Cultures that used composite bows (bows made of several materials, often horn, wood, and sinew) had to rely on skilled craftsmen. Composite bows could be made relatively short, heavily recurved, and highly effective but the constituent materials had to be put under enormous stress and the bow’s limbs needed to be perfectly aligned. These demands required experienced bowyers who were willing to spend a great deal of time crafting their weapons. For any one horn bow Raziel makes, he has a standard core for all of them and the differences are all in the limbs for the draw weight and the final design touches.  Custom horn bows will take Raziel a full week to make, depending on detail.  Cultures such as the Mongols (Tuchuk society and culture are based off the Mongols) made effective military use of powerful composite bows for millennia; the limited records indicate that only a minority of men in these cultures ever made bows. The short, very recurved, horn - wood - sinew composite bows were exquisitely crafted and pushed the natural materials to their limits. In the 1500’s one such Turkish flight bow set the record for the longest shot, 846 meters (925 yards), a record that stood until the 20th century and the application of modern material science.

Advantages

The main advantage of composite bows over self bows (made from a single piece of wood) is their combination of smaller size with high power. They are therefore much more suitable for use from horseback. Almost all composite bows are also recurve bows as the shape curves back away from the archer; this design gives higher draw-weight in the early stages of the archer's draw, so storing somewhat more total energy for a given final draw-weight. It would be possible to make a bow of wood that has the same shape, length and draw-weight as a traditional composite bow, but it could not store the energy and would break at full draw.

Disadvantages

Constructing composite bows requires much more time and a greater variety of materials than self bows, and the animal glue traditionally used can lose strength in humid conditions and be quickly ruined by submersion.

 

Materials

Bosk horn is very suitable, as is horn of several antelope type species of game, such as tabuk. Goat and sheep horn can also be used. Most forms of cow horn are not suitable, as they soon break up in use.

The wooden core is not normally under severe mechanical stress, and a wide variety of lighter woods should be suitable. The wood needs to accept glue well. Temwood is the traditional choice of wood in the Wagon camps.

The sinew is normally obtained from the lower legs and back of wild Tabuk or domestic ungulates. Traditionally, Bosk tendons are considered inferior to wild-game sinews since they have a higher fat content, leading to spoilage.

Hide glue or gelatin made from fish gas bladders is used to attach layers of sinew to the back of the bow. Traditionally it is also used to attach the horn belly to the wooden core.

Other less-satisfactory materials than horn have been used for the belly of the bow (the part facing the archer when shooting), including bone, antler, or compression resistant woods such as Temwood and Yew. Materials that are strong under tension, such as silk, or tough wood, have been used on the back of the bow (the part facing away from the archer when shooting).