Diy longbow kits

[selfbow]

Hi all i make longbows and are thinking of making DIY kits to sell
How much would you pay? if you were in the maket for one and what would you expect to get in the kit

Please feel free to PM me for more info if you wish

 

[max whitlock]

I would be very interested in one depending on price but have no idea what you would charge

heres a link to another seller for reference

http://www.survival-outdoors.co.uk/adult_longbow_kit.html

regards
Max

 

[Dave Budd]

maybe the best thing would be to look around at places that already sell longbow kits that way you can see what people pay and what they expect fro their money. Afterall, are you talking a laminated billet, single plank of ash, nice piece of yew with heart and sapwood, the laminations but not put together as a billet; do you plan to have strings, nocks and other bits or just the wood?

Basically, how long is a piece of string?


Personally I wouldn't as I have a chainsaw and several acres of good bow wood

 

[mountainm]

I think there's a couple of different options here - an unfinished "kit" which anyone can put together and finish without too many tools or skill - or something a bit more "project" based where more skill and craft is required. I think I'd rather pay more and not risk bodging it, then, once a little more experienced pay less for the more skilled option. How much? I've no idea.

 

[cletus]

Look on ebay there are a couple on there mate ..Do you do staves for flatbow????????

 

[Xunil]

I've noticed that the kits available over here are often very different from America.

Often the American kits will be glued up and floor tillered, so that the would-be bowyer is more or less guaranteed to get a shootable bow from their efforts. Usually there is some handle wrap material and a Flemish (or similar) string that can be adjusted or, if the bow is a pre-loaded reflex/deflex, it would ship with a standard double ended string of appropriate length. This goes for anything from selfbows to Howard Hill bows (which can be bought floor tillered for you to finish out yourself) and for a whole raft of various laminates from different craftspeople.

Over here many longbow kit sellers seem to offer a laminated sandwich and stop there. Or a stave...

Unless the kit is mostly formed I see no benefit at all to the end user, who would be better served sourcing a few straight grained Ash boards from a local hardwood supplier and make some selfbows for a fraction of the cost.

Basically if the buyer isn't much of a bowyer they need most of the work already done or they're going to screw up an expensive kit just the same as they would screw up a simple board or harvested stave.

If the buyer is a decent bowyer they will only want a kit if it offers them something they are not equipped to produce - reflex or combined reflex/deflex for example, bamboo backed, mixed exotic timber cores et al, all of which can be difficult to produce unless you are tooled up for it.

I have never understood longbow kits - although I have never bought one I mostly view them as very cost prohibitive to the buyer and, with most of the work done, all you really get from it is an exercise in final tillering - but that doesn't stop a lot of folks from buying them and building from them with varying degrees of success

You can find examples online from many UK bowyers, and on eBay, but to compete with those already established you will have to undercut prices or offer more for the same amount.

I recently bought enough Ipe and bamboo for 6 bows for the price of some kits out there. I will get six bows out of the material as well, and they'll be fast

Don't forget to read the rules and regs for selling on the Makers Market part of this forum, and good luck

 

[Grooveski]

I've noticed that the kits available over here are often very different from America.

Often the American kits will be glued up and floor tillered, so that the would-be bowyer is more or less guaranteed to get a shootable bow from their efforts. Usually there is some handle wrap material and a Flemish (or similar) string that can be adjusted or, if the bow is a pre-loaded reflex/deflex, it would ship with a standard double ended string of appropriate length. This goes for anything from selfbows to Howard Hill bows (which can be bought floor tillered for you to finish out yourself) and for a whole raft of various laminates from different craftspeople.

Over here many longbow kit sellers seem to offer a laminated sandwich and stop there. Or a stave...

Border Bows do the kind of kits you're talking about. They're not on the website but are on the price list if you ask for one.
There's three or four models (Thor is the only one I remember the name of - the one I fancied) and most are laminated r/d longbows which are tillered and the nocks glued(but not shaped if I remember right). Finishing is only really sanding and oiling or varnishing to taste.

They make them to order rather than keep a stock.
Were about £120 last time I had a price list, that was a couple of years ago.
No connection, just a satisfied customer who's thought of trying one of their kits myself.

 

[selfbow]

Hi all thank you for all your feed back its a big help. I think the price will be (edited by Forum Moderator) and like you say try and give more for the money i will look at making them so there is a grater chance of success of a working bow at the end . Also look at flatbows
and hopefully get them on sale soon

 

[dwardo]

I am sure a kit would suit some but is part of it not about sourcing the materials your self?
With this you have to learn about different species of trees, their uses, identification, growing conditions, grain and about wood working in general.
If you skip the origins of the material i think you loose out on a good chunk of the hobby..