Did anybody make english longbow?

[rapsod]

Did anybody make english longbow with hand tools? What tools did you used?

 

[woodbloke]

Many years ago a student of mine made a long bow as a GCSE project :shock: . I think the timber she used was lemon wood for the front and degame (?) for the back tho' can't be sure. She used the normal selection of hand tools to shape the bow, mainly spokeshaves after the initial machining to size had been done. I'm sure that if you did a bit of Googling you'll find loads of stuff on making bows, might even be an archery forum somewhere. I also believe that Robert Hardy, the actor is somewhat of an authority on the longbow and has published a number of books - Rob

 

[George_N]

Have a look at this site for some good information on how to get started. It is one of those tuit things...just never got a round one.

 

[bugbear]

Did anybody make english longbow with hand tools? What tools did you used?

No, but I can answer.

The tools are minimal, and related in the early stage to green woodworking.

Axe, froe, drawknife, spokeshave, some kind of saw.

Then scrapers.

You'll need some kind of tillering rig.

The tool requirments are rather minimal - but there's much skill and technique required.

If using non-premium woods via lamination you'd need a good stock prep, jointing and glueing setup.

http://www.stickbow.com/
http://primitivearcher.com/pages/community.html

The best books are "The traditional bowyers bible", vols I-III and "The bent stick".

BugBear

 

[Alf]

I can't add much to that, but I did take a pic of a bow maker at Yandles a couple of years ago. 'Tis here. Lots of scrapers it seems, some of them "cunningly disguised" as bits of broken glass...

Cheers, Alf

 

[PowerTool]

Traditionally made from English yew,combining the flexibility of the sapwood with the strength of the heartwood.Here's a link to the archery club near me - my son is going to start college where they meet,and we both fancy getting into it (having previously tried longbows at a "have-a-go" archery event at a local Priory open day)

Andrew

 

[rapsod]

Thank you all for replies. What you think is better to use flat sole spokeshave or concave sole spokeshave?

 

[woodbloke]

Power Tool wrote:

Traditionally made from English yew

Did a bit of Googling on this topic yesterday and found out that English yew is apparently too 'course' (because of our wet climate) to make a good self bow. In the Middle Ages the best bow staves were imported from Spain, some sort of tax was imposed on wine imports to pay for them :shock: Today the best yew for bows comes from Oregon in the USA but is getting very hard to source - Rob