Fibreglass laminated longbow - how to build

[jcs0001]

Gerald:

No it's uni directional glass and not very flexible sideways.  I assume the boat building glass you are talking about is the woven cloth or something similar.

There may be other brands out there but most of what is available here is Gordon bow tuff which is strictly meant for bows (as far as I know it doesn't have any other purpose but you never know).

John.

[steamboatmodel]

Thanks John,
I looked at http://www.gordoncomposites.com/index.htm
Doing the limbs is a lot more complicated then I thought.
Regards,
Gerald.

[jcs0001]

Gerald:

The way I have described is equipment intensive however works well and is efficient.  The first few bows I made were made with a bottom mold only and used rubber bands to hold the laminations down to the mold.  We used some pieces of inner tube to make the bands and used a plywood heat box with about 4 - 100 watt bulbs to heat it for a few hours.  There are a lot of simple ways as this is just laminating wood - some use a 2x4 to make a form etc.

If you want to start out small it isn't too complex.

John.

[jcs0001]

Gentlemen:

Just an update as I realize I have not provided photos of the finished product.  My friend (who has the bow) has been working out of town for some months and I haven't had a chance to get photos.  It will likely be worn out by the time he gets back as he does a lot of shooting.

John.

[jcs0001]

I finally got together with my friend and got a few photos.  He had been working away from the area for quite a while and when he came home had about a 2 month "honey do" list.

We actually built two longbows about the same time so I will show a couple of photos of each.  Note that one has snakeskin on the back.











The first bow (1st two photos) was sold this summer by my friend but he has kept the 2nd one (snakeskin backed) and has had several successful hunts with it.

We are in the planning stages for another two or three - I will build a takedown recurve for myself and my friend wants at least one longbow.  Just like tools there are never enough.

John.

[johnbaz]

Hi John


Firstly- What a beautiful Bow 

Second, I think the reason that folk are saying it's a recurve rather than a longbow is the fact the they are on different Continents, the people that are saying it's a recurve are saying so because here in the UK, a longbow is dead straight  with no 'recurve' and were used a few hundred years ago to defend the Realm..

Each male over the age of 14 years was required by the law of the land to practice for (I think) two hours per day in case they were called upon to defend king and country..


I'd love to see more pics of your bows, I only have an ugly Barnett Excocett but will make an effort to acquire something nicer 



Cheers john

[jcs0001]

John:

Thanks for the comments.  To be truthful it seems that "longbows" in North America had gone a long long way from anything very traditional.  Faster, shorter and more recurved seem to be the way they are being taken.  I have an actual wooden English Longbow and there is certainly a huge difference in shooting between that and any of these.  I expect that 2 hours practice per day would certainly give me a terminal case of tennis elbow!

We are planning to build a couple more bows this winter and I may put up a few photos when done.

John.

[johnbaz]

John:

Thanks for the comments.  To be truthful it seems that "longbows" in North America had gone a long long way from anything very traditional.  Faster, shorter and more recurved seem to be the way they are being taken.  I have an actual wooden English Longbow and there is certainly a huge difference in shooting between that and any of these.  I expect that 2 hours practice per day would certainly give me a terminal case of tennis elbow!

We are planning to build a couple more bows this winter and I may put up a few photos when done.

John.

Hi John

Can't wait to see pics of the new bows, I find bowmaking fascinating


Regards, John