American longbows better than English Longbows?

[Badger]

Tiller, I have been working a yew flatbow the last couple of weeks that has me wondering why anybody uses it for elbs. I just can't believe how this thing is shooting, I still have 4" to go.  But if I were making a 120# 32" draw bow I would go for the elb in a heartbeat. Steve

[George Tsoukalas]

Let's see if we can agree on a definition of each of the 2 because I detect some confusion as to what an ALB is. To me it is relatively long say 69 inches nock to nock for  a 27-28 inch draw. it is somewhat narrow say around 1.25 inches. Good luck paddling your canoe with this design. It's rectangular in cross section and has a deep core. It's thick so extra length is needed. An ELB is long and relatively narrow with a rounded belly and deep cross section. There are no corners, everything is rounded. The English Longbow Society (if you don't like the ELB designation take it up with them) has rather strict requirements for an ELB's cross section. I forget what they are.  I'm not a fan of either. I like my bows 62-66 in. long  for my 26 in draw and around 1.75 in wide. I like to hunt with my bows and spend time in the woods stump shooting and shooting 3d in the off season so short is good. I don't own a canoe so being able to paddle a canoe with my bow is not really a requirement. Jawge

[Badger]

      Jawge, I agree with you that definitions should be better defined. I get a lot of my definitions from flight shooting rules which leave a lot to be desired in my opinion. I think with all the present interest in wood bows going on setting up some kind of international board nomintaed and elected by folks from several various wood bow forums to decide what should be called what. I think r/d bows should be called something besides longbows. I guess establish classes with set definitions that could be looked up somewhere. Steve

[George Tsoukalas]

I agree that definitions are important, Badger. As far as allowing for a reflex in the definition of ALB I think yes but don't have  a poodle in that fight. Jawge

[D. Tiller]

Your definition sounds good for me Jawge. Thas what I was thinking of. I still think if you made bows the same width in both ALB and ELB design the ALB would out perform the ELB. That rounded belly seems to concentrate stresses down the center of the belly and cause the wood cells to collapse and end up as dead weight. Though if only using for a short time it might cast well for a while. The bows I make though are in the 50-65# range so I dont know how they would work at the higher weights.

[Hillbilly]

Jawge, that's the same thing I think of when I hear ALB. Seems like any thing that doesn't have pronounced recurves is called a "longbow" nowadays.

[Justin Snyder]

Seems to me that a ALB ought to be a lot like an ELB except for cross section. Real long and quite narrow. I don't know why it can't have a little reflex in it. I do tend to agree with Steve though. A R/D is just that. A recurve is just that.  Why anyone would want to make a recurve or R/D long enough to be called a longbow is beside me. It just doesn't seem like a real efficient design at that length. 

George, I think it would be better suited for polling around in a dugout than trying to paddle a canoe anyway.