UK bowyers

[sleek]

Who all are our long bow guys across the pond?

[PatM]

Pip Bickerstaffe subdued them all.

 

[stuckinthemud]

I've built a few longbows and I live over by here not over by there, does that count?

[WhistlingBadger]

Pip Bickerstaffe subdued them all.

ha ha ha ha ha   

[willie]

Pip Bickerstaffe subdued them all.

The Englishman that disses local wood and uses American hickory reminds me of those other Englishmen that wanted to keep the American oak and shipbuilding to themselves in 1776.

[sleek]

I dont understand,  what happened? Whats being talked about, im completely  lost

[Tommy D]

Does the English fellow in question at least make a nice bow with that American Hickory?

[PatM]

Not a self bow.

[bownarra]

Bickerstaffe no longer makes bows for sale....he has a couple of guys working for him.
The quality of the bows is somewhat lacking now....if you fellas saw what they are selling as a pyramid flatbow you may well be amused! 70+ long and about 2" wide at the fades....hickory backed osage....more hand shock than you could shake a stick at.....
The longbows are also a joke to be brutally honest. Massively overbuilt. A lot of people I know are bitching about the more recent bows, his reputation has taken a swallow dive off a cliff.
the pressures of having to make money eh!

Why do you ask Sleek?

[sleek]

Well I was asking because I was contacted by some UK folks looking to have some bows made, and I'm trying to find some reputable bowyers to send them to.

[Marc St Louis]

You could steer them towards Dell

[Del the cat]

There are quite a lot of good amateurs and smaller scale professional bowyers.
One of the problems is that there is a proliferation of misinformation, nonsense , monetized Youtube idiots, LARP and suchlike diluting the good info out there.
That's tended to make the "old guard" keep themselves to themselves.

... I've let sleek know that if he gives me a few more details, I'll spread the word amongst those who are know what they are doing.
Del

[Selfbowman]

 WOW!well said. From what if seen most all the American flat bows, English longbows that hit the salt flats being shot by European shooters come from California.😁😁😁😁 that doesn’t mean there are not some good ones over there though. Simon and others. Arvin

[Hamish]

There are plenty of really good UK Bowyers, on here like Dell, WillS.
I have personally bought a couple of Aidy Hayes elb. They are well made, shoot well, and are reasonably priced, though the price has increased since I bought them, but they are still reasonable. The longbow Shop usually has a good range, but is pretty bare now, I guess due to Covid related issues.

There was another really good English bowyer, Mike Roberts, of Eclipse longbows. I'm not sure if he's making them anymore as his website is down. He went down the fibreglass path, made some sweet bows of that type, but before that he was an all wood bowyer of great talent.
He had a real flair for using combinations of exotic wood.

[PatM]

There was another really good English bowyer, Mike Roberts, of Eclipse longbows. I'm not sure if he's making them anymore as his website is down. He went down the fibreglass path, made some sweet bows of that type, but before that he was an all wood bowyer of great talent.
He had a real flair for using combinations of exotic wood.

  You might be surprised how close he still is.