Advice on narrow, rounded belly bow...

[Badger]

  I don't think any of us are really disagreeing, I think we all had a slightly different perception of what he was looking for. I was thinkng of something fast and easy thinking he had to do a stack of bows quickly. For some reason I also thought it had to be an english longbow. The english style was very popular in that era, it is important to use a steeper taper in the limb and keep the center of the bow almost stiff with the outer limbs bending more.

[Wooden Spring]

Is a hard backed bow "period specific "?

Yup. I've got several pictures of mid 19th century archers with backed english longbows. You can't tell the species of wood, but the bows are obviously backed.

[Wooden Spring]

  I don't think any of us are really disagreeing, I think we all had a slightly different perception of what he was looking for. I was thinkng of something fast and easy thinking he had to do a stack of bows quickly. For some reason I also thought it had to be an english longbow. The english style was very popular in that era, it is important to use a steeper taper in the limb and keep the center of the bow almost stiff with the outer limbs bending more.

My apologies for not being more specific... I guess my problem is that I've spent so much time playing with flat bows that I never even considered an english style bow. And I really need to make just one or two. When we teach the school kids, it's in the form of a demonstration with one or two volunteers from the group.

Thanks to everyone, I've got a great starting point now for what I need.