Making an Inexpensive 75 lb Laminated Hickory Bamboo English Longbow

Описание: Final Dimensions for 75 lb @28"
width depth (mm)
Top of handle 29 25
6 in above 28 20
12 above 27 18
18 above 23 17
24 above 21 14
30 above 18 13
This is part of a several experiments I've done at making my own bows just with hand tools. This one is made from hickory and bamboo and laminated with Gflex epoxy resin.

This is not a purist ELB, but a bow you can make from materials readily available in the US.

I did not put horn nocks on this bow. The bow was very stiff in the beginning of the tillering process and I did not think temporary knocks would be a good idea. I wanted to make sure the bow was stable and worked well before trying horn nocks. I made the tip overlays from black walnut.

The original dimensions I used for the bow were too wide and too thick; I had to do a good deal of thinning the bow down to a weight that I can pull the bow without worrying that it will break. When I initially braced the bow I needed help putting on the string even with a stringer . After a lot of thinning and tillering it measured 73 lbs with a paracord string and just over 75lbs with the current string at 28".

I purchased the hickory and bamboo from Ringing Rocks Archery. A few things I learned about making heavy bows is the need for really good string material even when you are tillering. Most of the string material I had would stretch too much. Also with a heavy bow you need to have heavy arrows of the proper stiffness. Pulling a heavy bow on the tiller is a lot of work, if I make more of these I'm going to rig up a pulley system.

I'll post up a video of shooting this bow long distances and at field targets in the next little while .