A demountable bow, or carriage bow, is a bow that is made to come apart. The two limbs are joined under the handle in a stee! tube, which acts as a ferrule, so that the top limb may be pulled out. The advantage of a bow of this kind is its convenience in packing and carrying. A 6'0" bow reduces itself to a package a little over three feet long.

The handle consists of three pieces of seamless steel tubing—one piece 4" long and two smaller pieces 2" long. The two shorter pieces are fitted to the ends of your limbs; and care must be taken to see that the billets of lemonwood, yew or osage, whichever wood you are using, fit snugly and perfectly into these 2" pieces. A hole 3/32" in diameter is drilled through steel and wood and a long thin nail driven through and filed off even with the tubing. This is to hold the tubing securely in place. Then the two limbs with their steel ends are inserted into the longer tube and lined up; another long nail is pinned right through the large 4" tube and the lower section, which is held permanently in place. A socket and post is made from a nail 3/32" in diameter for the top limb so that it lines up easily each time you assemble the bow. See Plate 4.

It is essential that when the two 2" pieces of tubing are fitted to the bow ends that you do not cut shoulders of any kind. The wood of the limbs must fit inside the tubes, so that there is no chance of a break starting at a shoulder.