first longbow

7/27/2019 First Longbow

1/3

Your First WoodenLongbowPhotos and article by J ason

J elinek

TermsSelfbow Bow made of a singlepiece of wood.Tiller The shape of the limbs asthey are bent.Tillering Working the bow tohave the desired limb profile whendrawn.Back The part of the bow thatfaces the target when drawn.Belly The part of the bow thatfaces the archer when drawn.

Hinge Part of the limb whichbends more than the limb aroundit.Spine The stiffness of an arrow.Every bow has a required spinerange in order to shoot properly.Set Bend left in the limbs afterthe bow is unstrung and the limbshave relaxed.

WoodHardwoods are a popular choicefor making wooden longbows.

Yew, which is a conifer, is one ofthe few exceptions. Yew has beenheralded as the best longbowwood. The best wood to make alongbow is wood that is free. Forthis project, I suggest the followingwood: White Oak, Red Oak, WhiteAsh, Rock Maple, Hickory (Pignut,Shagbark, etc.), Red Elm, andAmerican Elm. One can useOsage Orange or Yew, but I wouldsave them for the next bow. Theyare more expensive to obtain and

require a few more steps inpreparation.

The criteria for tree selection is asfollows:

6-7 straight section of a tree.

Bark is running vertical with nospiraling.

No knots, limbs, or healed overknots as possible.

Once the log is cut from the tree,the ends of the log should becoated with shellac, wax, or paintto prevent checking. The logshould be brought out of theweather otherwise the wood mightrot. The next step would be to splitthe log into staves. Use a splittingmaul and wedges to break the loginto staves. Ive used a circularsaw to kerf a line onto the log priorto splitting and it saves time andthe splits are more controlled.Care must be exercised whendoing this, have both feet on thesame side of the log and makesure no one is behind the saw, thesaw can and most likely will kick

back. After the log is split intostaves, remove the bark. If the logis green, the bark can be pulledoff. If it wants to stick to the stave,a drawknife should be used toremove the bark to the first growthring.

A board is a very efficient bowstave and is easier to get to theroughed-out stage. The key is topick a really good board, with noknots. The grain lines should run

parallel with the length of theboard. There can be a few ringsthat are violated on the board, butit really shouldnt be more than 3-4per limb. Ive found that widerlimbed bows are more susceptibleto violated rings than narrowerbows. Picking a good board is amajor key to success with boardbows. White Oak and Hickory aretough woods and can handle a fewmore grain violations.

ToolsPower tools can bring a bow out ofa stave very quickly, but they canalso turn one into firewood evenfaster. The table saw is a valuabletool for roughing out board bowsand can work well for cutting limbtapers. Band saws, planers,

sanders, and others are tools thatcan also be used.

The most common hand tools forbuilding bows are:

Hatchets

Drawknives Rasps (hoof/farriers, Nichelson

#49 & #50)

Cabinet scrapers Block planes

SpokeshavesOne can make a bow with just ahatchet, but its often easier to useother tools that are suited better fothe specific tasks.

A tillering tree is a valuable tool forchecking the bend of the limbs and

providing a measure of safety forthe beginning bowyer. The tilleringtree is a hook that holds the handleof the bow and a string and pulleysystem to pull the string on thebow from a distance. This allowsthe bowyer to watch the limbsbend from a distance for bothperspective and safety, in case thebow breaks.

A good bow scale will be useful indetermining the draw weight andthe right time to put the string on

the bow.

DesignThe design I chose for the firstlongbow is a simple one that isbased upon the old European andEastern Native American styles.

This design incorporates a circulartiller (equal bend throughout thebow) that bends throughout theentire bow including the handle.

This tiller style is a little harder to

shoot accurately at closerdistances, however its easy tobuild a bow of this style. The warbows of England were of this style.

The design didnt take up muchwood, it was easy to build, and ithad good cast with heavy arrows.


2/3

LayoutThe first step is to bring the staveto dimensions of about 1 & wide, thick, and 6 long. Nexttaper the thickness on the bellyfrom thick in the center to

thick at each tip. The stave shouldbe left the full 1 & width until thelast 12 of the limbs. Taper thelimbs in width the last 12 from 1 & to . Also cut in string nocksabout away from the ends ofthe bow at a 45 degree angle.Chainsaw files work well for thistask.

1 1/4"

Back

1 1/4"

1 1/4"

1/2"

1/2"

Back

1/2"

1/2"

Belly

Belly

3/4"

24"

12"

12

"

36"

36"

72"

24"

This layout should provide a bowof a draw weight of 45-50#at 28of draw length. If you desire a 40#bow use 1 instead of the 1 & width. If you desire a 60#bow usea 1 & limb width. Rememberthat the wider the limbs are theharder it is to use hand tools to cuta good limb taper. Also the wider

the limbs the lower the spine of thearrow to wrap around the widerarrow pass. The 60#bow mayrequire 40#spine arrows becauseof the extra width in the arrowpass.

The tapers can be cut with a tablesaw or bandsaw if a good jig isavailable. A drawknife, blockplane, or spokeshave can also beused for cutting the rough tapersand brought to final taper with arasp.

When the thickness and widthtapers are finished and square,round the corners off of the entirebow using a radius. Ive used arasp with a cabinet scraper to do

this but it can be done quicker witha router.

After the initial rough-out stageremove most rasp or tool markswith sandpaper or a cabinetscraper. Most of the tilleringadjustments from now should bemade with a cabinet scraper orsandpaper. For major adjustmentsa rasp can be used, however thetool marks should be removed witha cabinet scraper or sandpaper. If

you use edged tools leave thesandpaper until last. Thesandpaper leaves the grit in thewood, which can dull and pit theblades.

TilleringAfter the stave has been tapered,check the tiller. Stand in front of amirror and press the tip of the bowagainst the side of your foot. If thelimb bends in a smooth curve, it isare ready for the tillering tree. If

there are stiff spots, use a rasp orcabinet scraper to remove a littlewood from the belly. Makesweeping strokes along the lengthof the limb to prevent dishing. If aspot bends too much, shave thewood on both sides of the hinge.

Place the bow on the tillering treeand put a string about the length ofthe bow on the nocks of the bow.Pull the string down until the limbtips move about 8 down. Use thescale to make sure the weight at 8of limb tip movement is no morethan of the desired draw weight.Check for even bending of thelimbs and make adjustments whennecessary.

Once the limbs tips move about 8from the straight position at about of the intended draw weight,brace the bow at about 5 braceheight. Again make sure the limbshave even bending.

Adjust the brace height to a full 6

or the desired brace height. Pullthe bow to about 14 of draw,making sure the draw weight is notmore than the intended drawweight. If it is more, remove a littlebit of wood from the entire belly. Ifthe tiller looks good, pull it another2, weigh it and check the tiller.Pull it to this new position about30-40 times with about a 5seconds pause in between. If anytiller adjustments need to be madewith the scraper or sandpaper, be

sure to exercise the bow on thetillering tree about 40-50 times tomake sure the wood will show thechange. Continue with thisprocess until the bow is drawn tothe intended draw length. Thebow should look like an arc of acircle when the bow is at full draw.

When the bow has come to fulldraw on the tillering tree about 2dozen times, draw it by hand about2 dozen more times. Use the

weaker limb for the top limb. Theweaker limb will be the limb that isthe farthest from the string whenbraced. The arrow pass should belocated 1 above the center of thebow. Grip the bow right below thearrow pass when shooting.

Remember to unstring the bow inbetween tillering sessions to give


3/3

first longbow

Documents