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Author Topic: Warbow of white wood?  (Read 6575 times)

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Offline Thesquirrelslinger

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Warbow of white wood?
« on: March 23, 2013, 10:37:41 pm »
I want to make a big, long, 60 -70 pound white wood longbow. up to 70 inches long or so.. i want it to be pretty narrow. I can make it 75 inches long if needed. Hoping for low set. It  can be a max of 1 1/2 inch wide. Otherwise it will be very crowned.
It needs to shoot reasonably well.
Thanks for the advice.
I want to get into longbows.
-Squirrel
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Offline AH

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Re: Warbow of white wood?
« Reply #1 on: March 24, 2013, 01:33:04 am »
I'm not that experienced, but I would go with elm or hickory. I think maybe it would help with heat treating if you really want it to be narrow, but I would't go thinner than what would be considered normal.  By the way, I don't really think 70 inches is a "war bow", but what the heck, it's some kinda longbow. There was a nice hickory war bow posted earlier on this forum, you may want to check that out. Good Luck ;)
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Offline ionicmuffin

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Re: Warbow of white wood?
« Reply #2 on: March 24, 2013, 01:36:24 am »
ive heard elm really does make a nice warbow, and if you search it it will have some that are in the high lbs.
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Offline AH

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Re: Warbow of white wood?
« Reply #3 on: March 24, 2013, 01:36:55 am »
Oops, now that I re-read your post, I can say that you don't need to go real thin, most heavy war bows are around 1.5 inches in the handle, and since you are trying for around 60-70 pounds, I think you can go even thinner. I wouldn't give it a real deep "D" section, more of like a shallow mary-rose bow kind of section, but that's just me. I've had pretty bad fretting on white-wood D section longbows. I think your crowned back will help.
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Offline Thesquirrelslinger

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Re: Warbow of white wood?
« Reply #4 on: March 24, 2013, 01:45:20 pm »
Quote from: Livefortheoutdoors on March 24, 2013, 01:36:55 am
Oops, now that I re-read your post, I can say that you don't need to go real thin, most heavy war bows are around 1.5 inches in the handle, and since you are trying for around 60-70 pounds, I think you can go even thinner. I wouldn't give it a real deep "D" section, more of like a shallow mary-rose bow kind of section, but that's just me. I've had pretty bad fretting on white-wood D section longbows. I think your crowned back will help.
Yea, flat bellied was a plan. I have read some stuff online.
I will see how it goes.
Oh by the way, I only have BL and ash. I cannot get hickoy or elm. 
How wide do I need o make limbs?
« Last Edit: March 24, 2013, 01:50:37 pm by Thesquirrelslinger »
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Offline ionicmuffin

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Re: Warbow of white wood?
« Reply #5 on: March 24, 2013, 02:11:43 pm »
heat treating the black locust would probably help, then you could back that piece with ash. width i have no idea because ive never done a war bow, but ive seen many ash warbows so it probably works pretty well. black locust is a nice wood, but if the tiller isnt perfect it will crystal. i have no idea if heat treating would stop that, but in most cases heat treating will increase the strength of the wood in compression.
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Offline AH

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Re: Warbow of white wood?
« Reply #6 on: March 24, 2013, 03:42:35 pm »
Ash can make fine war bows, especially if heat treated. My first war bow was an ash bow.
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Offline Thesquirrelslinger

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Re: Warbow of white wood?
« Reply #7 on: March 24, 2013, 04:57:32 pm »
Quote from: Livefortheoutdoors on March 24, 2013, 03:42:35 pm
Ash can make fine war bows, especially if heat treated. My first war bow was an ash bow.
Thanks for advice. Dimensions? I want to try it soon.
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Offline AH

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Re: Warbow of white wood?
« Reply #8 on: March 24, 2013, 05:57:58 pm »
You should read this:
http://www.alanesq.com/longbow/bsb/The-Back-Street-Bowyer-264a.pdf
This is what I relied on to make my ash bow. I think it's got dimensions of his bows in the pdf.
I went for a smudge under 1 1/2 inches wide and around 1 1/6 deep in the handle in mine and got around 80 pounds hot off the tiller, then I took it down to 70 because I was having a hard time pulling that  :(
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Offline DarkSoul

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Re: Warbow of white wood?
« Reply #9 on: March 25, 2013, 07:48:55 am »
What draw length are you looking for? That will determine the overall bow length.
That drawweight is not really considered 'warbow' weight. Regardless, many whitewoods will make a longbow of that weight. Black locust and also ash will easily make a fine 100# warbow. Both woods will then benefit from a crowned back and a flat belly, made from a stave (not board). So pick the wood you want :)
If you want to make a true ELB that meets the 5/8 rule, you'll need to make it narrower. I'm thinking 1 ¼" wide at the handle should do it. Nothing wrong with 1½" wide, but that will probably result in a bow thinner than 5/8 of the width.
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Offline ionicmuffin

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Re: Warbow of white wood?
« Reply #10 on: March 25, 2013, 12:35:16 pm »
just a thought, couldnt you trap the back and effectively make it "crowned"
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Offline DarkSoul

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Re: Warbow of white wood?
« Reply #11 on: March 25, 2013, 02:54:54 pm »
Yes you can!
If the stave is from a small tree, it has a natural crown and trapping won't be necessary.
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Offline Thesquirrelslinger

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Re: Warbow of white wood?
« Reply #12 on: March 25, 2013, 04:33:24 pm »
it is from a small tree. i have never seen a black locust board. i have never seen an ash board. plenty of trees....
thanks a ton for advice, etc. i am currently splitting the wood and roughing out.
-squirrel
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Offline JW_Halverson

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Re: Warbow of white wood?
« Reply #13 on: March 25, 2013, 09:50:17 pm »
It is inevitable, a veritable law of nature...every lad that finds his way in here before he can shave HAS to ask how to make a warbow! 

Nice to know you are a normal bow with normal boy interests and normal motivations.   ;)
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Offline Thesquirrelslinger

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Re: Warbow of white wood?
« Reply #14 on: March 25, 2013, 10:26:05 pm »
Quote from: JW_Halverson on March 25, 2013, 09:50:17 pm
It is inevitable, a veritable law of nature...every lad that finds his way in here before he can shave HAS to ask how to make a warbow! 

Nice to know you are a normal bow with normal boy interests and normal motivations.   ;)
Um... I do not play video games, I dont spend my life texting(I dont even have a cell phone) and I enjoy being in nature...
I also enjoy primitive arts. You think I am normal by most people's definition?
-Squirrel
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