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Contents 1 Definition and characteristics 2 History 3 See also 4 Bow construction techniques 5 Bow forms 6 References

Laminated bow describes bows in which different materials are laminated together to form the bow stave itself. Traditional composite bows are normally not included, although their construction with horn, wood, and sinew might bring them within the above definition. This article describes bows made of wood, fiberglass, or other modern materials. Such bows may have any side-view profile; the modern recurve bow is one example, commonly made mainly of fiberglass, and many modern longbows and recurves are made by laminating wood.

The technique has many advantages as compared to making a self bow. It enables the bowyer to use materials on the back of the bow that are particularly strong in tension, and materials strong in compression on the belly; it is also easier to apply powered machinery to the manufacturing process so as to save time. For the amateur, lamination may make it possible to apply a strong backing to wood that would not otherwise make a good bow. A laminated backing may also save a great deal of time that would be spent following the grain in order to make a self bow.

Laminated bows were rare in most of the world before modern waterproof glues became widely available, almost unknown before about 1900CE, and outside Japan and Northern Asia they have never formed a significant proportion of traditional bows. The modern Japanese yumi however is a laminated bow, as is the Korekawa bow from the late Jomon period in Japan, and the Saami and their neighbours across Northern Asia also made laminated bows for centuries.

• Bow(weapon)
• Crossbow
• Yumi
• Longbow
• Flatbow
• Archery
• Horse archer

• Self bow
• Cable-backed bow
• Compound bow
• Composite bow

• Recurve bow
• Decurve bow
• Deflex bow
• Reflex bow

• (1992) The Traditional Bowyers Bible Volume 1. The Lyons Press. ISBN 1-58574-085-3
• (1992) The Traditional Bowyers Bible Volume 2. The Lyons Press. ISBN 1-58574-086-1
• (1994) The Traditional Bowyers Bible Volume 3. The Lyons Press. ISBN 1-58574-087-X

Ragnar Insulander. The Two-Wood Bow. Acta Borealia 2002; 19: 49-73

The Korekawa bow at Nara National Museum

The Neolithic Age in Eastern Siberia. Henry N. Michael. Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, New Ser., Vol. 48, No. 2 (1958), pp. 1-108. doi:10.2307/1005699