The Armour Archive

Greetings,

I am doing some research for a friend of mine on making longbows. Wondering if you folks had any books or online sources that you could recomend.

thanks,
Llywelyn

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Stay open minded, but not so open minded that your brains fall out.

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I am neater with a 5lbs. cross pein than with a ball point pen!

Hi,

"The Traditional Bowyer's Bible" should definitely be in a top position on your list. Its three volumes cover almost any aspect of tradittional bowmaking in great detail. It#s pricey (US§ 16.07 p. volume at amazon.com), but worth every cent. You might also get it at your local public library.

Also check out Primitive Archer magazine. They do have a web presence (http://www.primitivearcher.com/index.shtml) with some articles as well as message boards.

Good luck!


Will

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* Noli fortius me ferire *

Ld. William of Llanwarne
Shire of Two Seas, Drachenwald, SCA

[This message has been edited by william (edited 06-05-2003).]

Could you be a little more specific? Is he looking to make exact copies of the classic English longbow? Or is he looking to make shootable bows in the general style of the ELB? Or is he just wanting to make bows and figured the longbow would be easiest?

Will he have access to the good woods in big billets or staves? Or, like most amateur bowyers, will he be getting bow wood from a lumber yard?

There was a rather interesting article in Primitive Archer magazine a few issues back (been looking for my copy, can't find it) about making longbows from oak boards with linen backing. The only linen I could find locally was hot pink. So, I am ready to tiller a bow made of oak with a hot pink back on it. It took two days to get to this stage and most of that was drying time for the glue that holds the back on. The actual shaping has taken less than 3 hours so far. I just need to tiller it. The guy in the article does the shaping and tillering all in about an hour. Pretty cool.

So, see if any friends get this magazine. Also, do check out the Traditional Bowyer's Bible. Some of the articles are a bit over my head, but others make it all seem too simple. I kept wanting bows to be more complicated than they are.

Arrows, now. Those are going to be the adventure. Another day. I have too many hobbies already.

-Patrick

i have made a couple of bows the best wood for a longbow is a 6'6 english yew log cut into four legthways. leave all the little dents and nocks in the wood or you will have serious problems. when tillering it's always best to wear a pair of safety glasses just in case the wood splits in two and goes flying everywhere(it hurts alot). volume 1 covers the longbow so that is all you need for now. hope i was of help to you.



[This message has been edited by thomas hayman (edited 06-13-2003).]