Little help for a new Bowyer?

[Harrifer]

Hi, I'm new to this forum so consider this to be an introductory thread.

I finished My first bow recently, it's a 5'5 Flatbow from Maple, and it shoots quite well. I made arrows too, with goose fletchings and steel broadheads (a la eBay).

But I want to go further. I currently Live in Surrey, in the South-East of England, and In short, I want to make better bows.

I want to make a Yew Longow, and/or a composite bow. What woods are good for the various layers of a composite bow? what sort of adhesive should I use? What sort of stave do I need for a Longbow?

I have spent the past few months tryign to get answers to these questions, but it seems ironically that all the bowyers I come across live in America, and I'll be damned if hickory, purpleheart or osage will grow in this country.

[markinengland]

Harrifer,
I live in Kent, so not too far from you.
I use Timberline in Tonbridge, Kent. They are a god source of supply but not the only one.
Good backing materials available in the UK are hickory (can get it from Timberline but sort through the stack for a good bit) or bamboo (try doing a search for Bamboom, they are not too far from you.
Belly materials are many. Ipe is good. You can get this from decking suppliers, or hardwood suppliers like Morgan's in Rochester, Kent. You can also buy Massuranduba from them which is almost as good but be wary of checks within the wood. Timberline sell a number of woods such as lemonwood, pau amarello, purpleheart etc. I don't think prpleheart is really up to a heavy longbow though. Pau Amarello seems quite good.
there are many glues you can use. I like resorcinol, sold as Extraphen here (try Axminster power tools). Many bowyers have had good results with titebond3, but I haven't really experiemented with it myself.
Why not pop over to my club near Rochester (Bridgewoods Field Archery Club) for a shoot and a chat? We are NFAS and quite friendly. My friend Peter and I both make bows and would answer any questions you have.
Email me at markdesignhill@aol.com if you want to chat further.
Mark in England

[bobnewboy]

...Or of course, you could pop down to your local NFAS club - The Company of Sixty, at Oxshot in Surrey 

I've had good results with Ipe/bamboo, and with ash and elm as self bows.  If you want a thin warbow, I'd say use Ipe with hickory or bamboo backing, and with another hard wood as a core laminate.

[Justin Snyder]

Harrifer, almost any hard wood without a lot of grain runout will be great.  If you find a good hardwood supplier they usually sell most of the exotics like purpleheart, Ipe and you could probably find some Osage.  If you back it with hickory or bamboo, you don't need to be quite as picky about the grain. But get real picky anyway when you go through the stack, like you are building a selfbow. You can never have too good of grain.  The funny thing is, Ipe and Purple heart are both from both imported exotics here in the USA also, so we really are in the same boat as far as that goes.  Justin

[Rod]

You might even meet Chris Boyton at the Company of Sixty.
Rod.

[bobnewboy]

You might even meet Chris Boyton at the Company of Sixty.
Rod.

Indeed 

Justin, you fellas on that side of the pond are pretty lucky with bow woods.  Over here materials such as Osage, Mulberry or juniper are pretty hard to come by, or at the least rather expensive....  Hence a predeliction for ash, elm etc, and certainly in my first few bows.  Ipe is actually pretty cheap, because of people wanting it for hardwood decking - that's the only reason I would suggest it