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Cromm

Full Member
Mar 15, 2009
1,312
5
46
Debenham,Suffolk.
Nonsuch in the 100 years war the bows and arrows were all supplied by the military so when your bow broke or you ran out of arrows you would yell for a new one and a bow or bag of arrows were handed to you.
I have read that after battles they would send out the kids to pick up the arrows, they have smaller hands so it was easier for them to get the big broadheads out of the horses....

If you put the time in you can get very good with any bow really, the thing is you get some people who get one bow thinking they will be the next great thing, then are not so buy a new style of bow and still put no time into it. But see's someone else doing great with a 3rd bow so buys one of those and so on and so on....
I love my Howard Hill bow, but the bow that is in my soul is the English Longbow.
But like G.S. said you should look at one style of bow and work hard on the form for that bow and just try and enjoy the thing.
 

Cromm

Full Member
Mar 15, 2009
1,312
5
46
Debenham,Suffolk.
OK here are some of the bows I own;
English Longbows.
10thnov2009398.jpg

Osage shortbow
10thnov2009400.jpg

Recurve Bows;
26feb2010023.jpg

Big ELB's
26feb2010025.jpg

Holmegaard Bow and Son's flatbow
26feb2010028.jpg

My love, Yew Longbow;
26feb2010030.jpg

Second Love Howard Hill ALB;
26feb2010036.jpg

Thanks for looking.
 

Chainsaw

Native
Jul 23, 2007
1,377
144
56
Central Scotland
Longbows are every bit as accurate as modern recurves in the right hands.

I've definitely got the wrong hands then!! :D I take my recurve and longbow to our club and happily shoot a good score with my recurve then whip out the longbow and hit the wall! :rolleyes: Groups are getting better but it takes a while to get into the groove of longbow shooting.

Cheers,

Alan
 

Nonsuch

Life Member
Sep 19, 2008
1,862
1
Scotland, looking at mountains
I find my home-made ash self bow surprisingly accurate. It helps having arrows with the correct spine. It shoots off to the left because of the thickness of the handle, but you can adjust for that, and the groupings are very consistent

NS
 

Grooveski

Native
Aug 9, 2005
1,707
10
53
Glasgow
If you put the time in you can get very good with any bow really, the thing is you get some people who get one bow thinking they will be the next great thing, then are not so buy a new style of bow and still put no time into it. But see's someone else doing great with a 3rd bow so buys one of those and so on and so on.....

You also get some people who are just curious. :)
 

Tricia

Member
Apr 30, 2010
27
0
Highlands
Last edited:

Xunil

Settler
Jan 21, 2006
671
3
55
North East UK
www.bladesmith.co.uk
Bamboo backed Ipe reflex/deflex longbow made by me for a lady archer friend .

62" tip to tip, 35 lb @ 28", built to be fast and flat shooting and it easily clears 180 yard clout targets.

Macasar Ebony tip overlays, soft goat's leather grip wrap, 12 strand Dacron B50 string.

At full draw with arrows that are too long, to show its arc and tiller:

Louise2.jpg


Back of the bow, showing its straight taper from 15/16" wide down to 3/8" tips.

back.jpg


Grip section:

back_grip.jpg


Back profile alongside 6 28" arrows:

back_profile.jpg


Side of limb, showing the bamboo to Ipe laminations:

belly_to_back.jpg


The bow braced:

braced.jpg


braced_upright.jpg


Grip:

grip.jpg


Detail of the bamboo backing showing one of the nodes:

mid_limb.jpg


Tip showing Ebony overlay:

tip.jpg


Unbraced, showing the reflex/deflex profile:

unbraced.jpg


The back of the bow was coloured with 2 coats of medium brown Feiblings leather dye and then cut back with super-fine wire wool, to give the broken effect, which was a deliberate attempt to mimic the bark-like appearance of mammoth ivory.

I'm a confirmed longbow archer and have been for years, but despite enjoying the more primitive longbows I have a real soft spot for these super-fast pocket-rocket reflex/deflex bamboo backed longbows. They shoot about as fast as a good recurve bow, and their diminutive dimensions always raise the eyebrows of archers who have never seen or shot one before.

I'll post some more pictures of standard longbows and other backed bows (natural materials only) at a later date :)
 

dwardo

Bushcrafter through and through
Aug 30, 2006
6,451
475
46
Nr Chester
Thats a lovely looking boo lam bow, very nice...

Please post pictures of you rother bows when you get a chance ;)
 

Nonsuch

Life Member
Sep 19, 2008
1,862
1
Scotland, looking at mountains
In a very good impersonation of Grooveski's bow-buying habit, I also recently got myself a Viper DLX flatbow which I am absolutely delighted with, and have placed an order for a Dave Folwell Bowtec Thunderbolt (yew under glass) which has got me dribbling with expectation.

Meanwhile 13 y.o. son has received a Darton Ranger II compound for his Birthday and outshot me on the club's 3D Field course yesterday.....

This brings to total household bow-count to 9.....I expect I will be off-loading a few of the original bought bows to make space.

Pics to follow when the new bow arrives

NS
 

Xunil

Settler
Jan 21, 2006
671
3
55
North East UK
www.bladesmith.co.uk
Another of mine, as requested.

I made this one back in August '09; bamboo backed Osage Orange with Macasar Ebony tip overlays.

72" long D tiller and D cross section English longbow, but with self nocks (I'm not a fan of horn nocks unless the bow is very heavy and absolutely requires them).

86lb @ 31", with absolutely zero set.

Braced on the tillering stick:

boo_backed_osage_braced.jpg


Checking tiller at 20":

boo_backed_osage_drawn_20.jpg


Checking tiller at 30":

boo_backed_osage_drawn_30.jpg


Unbraced after a shooting session, holding under 1" of set which recovers to zero after an hour of resting:

boo_backed_osage_unbraced.jpg


Roughed out Ebony tip overlay next to ModBod 11/32" point for scale:

boo_backed_osage_tip_overlay.jpg


Finished and oiled (the Ebony overlay had two tiny pinprick voids which I decided against filling):

boo_backed_osage_finished_nock.jpg


I built the grip up with leather on the back of the bow, bound it in ray skin and then handle braid left over from the last Katana I made:

boo_backed_osage_finished.jpg


Lying on my quiver:

boo_backed_osage_finished_on_quiver.jpg


Yours truly, holding about 90lb at 32" draw.

boo_backed_osage_finished_full_draw.jpg


This one isn't nearly as fast as the reflex/deflex longbows, but I wasn't chasing out-and-out speed. It is still very fast by longbow standards but what I wanted was a bow that would throw really heavy arrows for hard hitting bowhunting. It works well with heavy arrows of Ash or Hickory, but it only shoots Spruce shafts well if they are footed with very dense hardwoods, and it has been successfully used on several (overseas) bowhunts for geese and deer.

Hope you like it :)
 
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Xunil

Settler
Jan 21, 2006
671
3
55
North East UK
www.bladesmith.co.uk
And ...


... a 73" unbacked Lemonwood self D section English Longbow, drawing 92lb @ 31", only 1 and 1/8" wide at the grip and 1" thick:

31_inches.jpg


Less than an inch of set after a long shooting session:

unbraced.jpg


Narrow tips (before shaping and finishing):

nock.jpg


========================================================

... and ...

a 72" Ash Elnglish self longbow I made last year. 1 and 1/16" wide at the grip down to 3/8" tips, at 31":

full_draw.jpg


And straight after a shooting sessions, showing under an inch of set which recovers when the bow is rested:

unbraced.jpg


This one was roughed out pretty quickly and left in a coarse finish as a 'beater', and it ended up at 83lb @ 30", but was tillered to go out to 32"

=============================================================
... and

...

a Hickory backed, Maple core, Lemonwood belly Victorian style English longbow I made in October 2008, with the typical stiff handle section and tiller of that style.

Shown here braced (with the bowstring on upside down ;) ):

tiller_overbraced.jpg


At 28" (final tiller was 55lb @ 31"):

tiller_28_drawn.jpg


Right after shooting, showing about 1 and 1/2" of set, which recovers to about 1/2" after resting:

tiller_unbraced.jpg


Like I said, I'm very fond of longbows...

:)
 

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