The Crossbow and Bow book

‘THE CROSSBOW AND THE BOW. An Ancient and Modern Craft. A Do-It-Yourself Guide”

(original title : “KUSZA I ŁUK. RZEMIOSŁO DAWNE I WSPÓŁCZESNE”)

The book is a result of 28 years of my activity as a craftsman. It is a compendium on the construction, design, and use of string weapons – both bows and crossbows – historical and modern.

In 2002 my first book was published (“Drewniany łuk średniowieczy” – “Medieval Wooden Bow”). This was the first book on bow-making in Polish language – sold in about 10 thousand copies. In 2008 I published first edition of here presented book on crossbow and bow – making. Preparation for the second edition of the book took additional more than one thousand hours of work (making new items, description on how to make them, technical drawings and photos). Between the first and the second edition I gained formal craftsman’s education – in profession of gunsmith (both the first step and master’s diploma) and entitlements of firearms combat shooting instructor so you can also find typical gunsmith’s knowledge in the text – where it’s necessary. The second edition was published in 2021. The book has been sold up till now (in both editions) in about 9 thousand copies. The here presented English language version was published this year – in October.

The book has got 330 pages of B5 format with colour inset for those photos that wouldn’t look good black and white. The English text has been thoroughly revised and corrected by British English native speaker – physicist by training, and author of published novels, so the quality of English language is very good, I believe, accessible as well so that it content can also be understood by readers with little or no technical background. Those who had read the original language version, have found the book an interesting and vast and very useful compendium on string weapons construction. If I am not wrong, there is no other such a compendium – both on crossbow and bow-making (excluding very old publications).