Wood for English Longbow

[rick7938]

My son has presented me with a new challenge. He was a pretty accomplished archer with a recurve bow 20-30 years ago, but he wants to get back into archery using a traditional English Longbow. I believe that I will have to laminate a couple of different woods to achieve a suitable combination of characteristics that is present in the traditional Yew wood.

Has anyone tried to make an English Longbow, and what woods did you use? Did you find tHe wood available locally?

Thanks for any advice.

 

[Roy G]

I have read that osage orange is a good wood for long bows. The French name for it is bois d'arc, or bow wood.

Roy G

 

[StephenK]

I have read that osage orange is a good wood for long bows. The French name for it is bois d'arc, or bow wood.

Roy G

I second the osage orange. I knew a guy that made bows, and he used hedge apple (osage orange).

 

[Bill Clemmons]

Ditto the Osage Orange. Native Americans use that for their bows. I suspect you would want it "split" rather than sawed. :dontknow:

 

[Len]

The 170 longbows found on the 'Mary Rose' (sank in 1545) when it was raised were mostly made of yew, with some of ash or elm. The 3,000+ arrows found were mostly made of poplar, with a scattering of beech, ash, and hazel.

Old records show the split staves were seasoned 1 - 2 years before shaping. The sapwood side of the stave, with the bark removed, was used as the "back' or outside of the bow. The heartwood side of the stave became the "belly" or inside of the bow.

Draw weights ranged between 100 - 185 pounds. Which, having used a 65 pound draw weight bow for many years in my youth, leaves me impressed.

My understanding is, unlike modern bows where the string is drawn back, the trick was to hold the string in place by the corner of the jaw and use the left arm and body to push the stave out towards the tip of the arrow.

Len

 

[Bill Clemmons]

For more on how the long bow was made and used, you might be interested in a novel by Bernard Cornwell: The Archer's Tale. It's about an English Archer in the 14th century, and goes into some detail about what it took to become a long bow archer, how the bow was made and treated, and how it was used.

Just FYI