Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: autologus on March 05, 2014, 01:21:26 pm
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Forgive me for posting this in this forum and the Warbow forum, I thought it might get more traffic here after I had already posted over there, if this is a no no please delete one of the threads and let me know I will not be a repeat offender.
I am going to attempt an English Longbow, so far I have a 72" 1.5"x.75" white oak plank with a 3/16" Ash backing glued up. What I would like is to have it be about 50# at 28". What do you all think the dimensions for the bow should be to be in the ball park? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Grady
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Well, I would cut it down to 1" or so wide by 7/8" thick and give that a try for starting dimensions. It might still be a bit too heavy though, but it gives you a bit of leeway. When I want a 50 at 28 elb though, I will go 74" tip to tip (which will end up about 72 1/2" to 73" nock to nock), 1" wide at center for 3 1/2" each side of center ( so 7" continuous width in the center), 3/4" thickness in center for 7" again, than taper both thickness and width to 1/2". Different woods will give different weights, but I use this for ipe and hickory mostly with no problems. If you tiller good with no major hinge corrections or whatnot it will typically come out right around 50 at 28".
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Del's top tip is leave the tips wide ( say 20mm) until she's back to brace height. ELB can have a tendency to bend sideways on you if you make 'em too narrow too soon.
I normally rough out to about 30mm square at the grip, straight for about 8" and the taper to 20mm square at the tips. That leave a load to take off the belly but the extra width adds stability during early tiller.
Toomany's dimensions are prob nearer the mark.
Del
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Del's top tip is leave the tips wide ( say 20mm) until she's back to brace height. ELB can have a tendency to bend sideways on you if you make 'em too narrow too soon.
That is a very good point though. My dimensions above I use for lumber bows mostly, using a template that I know is straight, so possible twist is at a minimum compared to working with a stave, where alignment can be a rough guess sometimes. So something to keep in mind.
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Awesome, guys thanks for the help. It looks to be pretty when I get done, with the light backing and golden belly, plus the White Oak is rift sawn and is pretty in its self.
Grady