Osage Longbow

[king3933]

I'm wanting to make an Osage Longbow that will finish out to be 64 inches long and 70@28. Does anyone have the layout dimensions for a bow like this? My Osage bow is 72 inches long and 2 inches wide and 1 and one eight thick. I want to have a flat back to add bamboo too and the belly I want to be D shaped.

I'm still working on making white oak board bows, however the boards are not as thick and I cannot get the shape or poundage I'm looking for. I can get around 45 to 50 pounds but again the bow is more of a flat bow and not a D shaped belly that I want to make.The white oak boards are 62 inches long and 2 inches wide and 3/4 thick.

Any advice or help will be greatly appreciated as I don't want to ruin my Osage. I have about $100 tied up in two boards. It is hard to find any hard wood board here in my area of Ohio. A lot of lumber yards have closed down and Lowe's has white oak some times and mostly red oak. Anyone know of a good supply store for hickory, cherry, Osage, yew, black locust, and others I would appreciate the information.

Going for back surgery next week so I have time to read and explore new ideas. I do have all the Boyer's Bibles and from Billets to Bow by Glenn St. Charles and I'm trying to learn from them as much as I can remember, but wood sometimes has its own memory and does not want to come out as I plan it to come out. Also any tools to help tillering would be nice to look at and compare to what I use.

[tom sawyer]

Thats pretty short for such a stout longbow.

Osage isn't necessarily the best choice for the English/American longbow style.  I've seen them but they haven't been the best performers.  Osage lends itself better to a flatbow style, the nice thing about it is the limbs can be skinnier so you don't look like you have a boat paddle when youre' finished.  One of those would be 1.5" to midlimb, tapering to 1/2" nocks.  4" handle, 2" fades.  That ought to give you upwards of 70lb if you're careful.

Sorry, I can't help with dims on a longbow.  I'd guess 1.25" wide to mid-limb.  It might not have quite the high arched belly of a yew bow, but it should hold up.

The high-arched English-style longbow isn't known as a super performer anyway.

[Pat B]

I built an osage ELB a few years ago and it won BOM for Feb 2006(I believe). You can get the specs from there. I don't remember off hand what they were.  You could also check out the "war bow" thread here on PA and ask there.   Pat

[Justin Snyder]

For an boo backed osage, I don't think you are asking to much. But I have to agree with Lennie on the flat belly on that length. I have a holmegard that is 66" and pulls 70# at 29 1/2".  It is 1 1/2" wide handle and fades tapering to 3/4" @ 6" from the end. It immediately tapers to 3/8" before 4 1/2" from the end and is 3/8 at tips.  It has at least 12" of rigid handle. Way to much for any bow.  But it is durable and has taken no set. It does have a flat belly though.  Justin

[Trapper]

I make osage longbows allthe time and ive never had any complaints about how they perform, But I dont make ELBs I make ALBs and the flat belly allows you to go pretty narrow,     Trapper

[Justin Snyder]

Anyone know of a good supply store for hickory, cherry, Osage, yew, black locust, and others I would appreciate the information.

Try Pine Hollow  http://www.pinehollowlongbows.com/

[330bull]

I just built a 65# @ 26", 64"...osage longbow.  I'll post the dimensions tomorrow if you like.

[MattE]

I made an elb from a piece of Osage that was surprisingly quick and smooth. I didn't put horn nocks on it. It was 67 1/2" nock to nock 1 1/4" wide with  mild d-section limbs ,tillered to 28" draw......Two inch wide limbs is much even for a Osage bow with a flat belly.   

[king3933]

I really enjoy trying to make a bow and really want to get good at it. I have seen some pictures of your bows that some of you have made and I just can not believe how beautiful they look. I would give anything to be able to make bows like some of you do. I go for back surgery Wednesday the 20th of June. Having top plate cut off L2 through L5 as I have severe spinal stenosis and it is affecting my legs and mid back with a lot of pain. I pray God will let this be a success as sleeping is very hard and it effects my shooting which I LOVE. Archery is a God given sport and anyone who really shoots archery and makes bow knows what joy can be found in a stick and a string. Next to his son Jesus and the gift of salvation I think it is the next best thing. Of course my family is right up there also with my Grandchildren, but there are days I want to get away from my family but never archery.

God Bless All and thanks for the help:
Gary

[sagitarius boemoru]

If its remotelly close to dense mullberry, which I like very much for english style of bow (as its quite light and does not kicks in hand) you need only 68´´ for 28´´ of draw. That will work excellently but tips 1/2´´ are too thick for osage, you would probably need to go sub 3/8´´ where wood meets the horn of nock, or even slightly less.

English longbow is so well suited to target shooting because it offers very good view of the scene being so narrow - as opposed to some of flat limbed bows.
(That said I m by no means target archer.)

Jaro

[tom sawyer]

Osage is a lot more dense than mulberry.  I could see mulberry being good for a longbow, as it is relatively light.  An osage target bow is going to be pretty skinny, but it'll still probably be rather heavy.