First Bow

[DanaM]

Duly noted JD, thanks fer the clarification.
Hey aren't you supposed to be in the shop makin a viking warbow

Marius you sure yer wife doesn't speak English?

DanaM

[DanaM]

JD that article was in Volume 4 issue 1 I believe.

DanaM

[Justin Snyder]

JD,  The AMO standard says any bow that when braced the string touches any part of the bow limb except the string grooves is a re-curve. Anything that the string only touches the string grooves only is a longbow.  I think that broadens the definition of a longbow quite a bit.  Justin

[snedeker]

it so hjappens that I'm working on my first White Ash flatbow Bob, after 5 years and a bunch of other woods and styles.  Mine is set up at 69" nock to nock, 7" between fades in the handle area, 1 7/8" wide from fade to mid limb, then stepped tapers at 8" and 4" from tips to 1/2" wide.  I'll tiller it like that and then slim down down tips. I'll probably heat in a little reflex over a stove burner with a little oil rubbed on, stringing it hackwards and tightening gradually.  For a tall dude with 31" draw, I'll go for 60# or so.  Feel free to check in to exhange notes on your progress.  I read three or four key chapter in BB1 and mostly just came on here for advice and learned by watching.  Guys like Pat B. tom Sawyer, George and many others were my teachers.

Dave

[Bob S.]

Sounds good snedeker. I'm going to try to find a copy of TBB 1 this weekend. If I can't find one locally I'll order one.

[Justin Snyder]

Bob, Maybe you can get Dave to do a build along and you can fallow along with him.
I searched high and low and finally had to order TBB. I couldn't even find it on the big book sellers on the internet.  Of course I didn't know about Horsefeathersranch at the time. There is a link to them at the top of the page.  Justin

[Bob S.]

Thank's Justin.

[duffontap]

Thanks Dana for finding that.  I just read that article the other day but I couldn't remember what magazine it was in! 

Justin, you're right about the AMO standards of course.  But because of that broad definition, saying 'longbow' is saying little more than saying 'bow' as 80% of bows will fall under that definition (I just made up the 80%  ).  We have to differentiate one 'longbow' from another by adding additional information which is less general.  For example:

Longbow-->Self-Yew-->English-Style-->Victorian-Era-->Gentalman's.

As I admitted, I was arguing jots and tittles (details) but to say that the American Flatbow (a style of longbow coming out of the golden era of archery in America) is the American Longbow isn't strictly accurate by my understanding.  I apologise for bringing this up on a thread titled 'first bow.'   

              J. D. Duff

[Bob S.]

JD that article was in Volume 4 issue 1 I believe.

DanaM

                                                     Thank's guys.

[Bob S.]

Dave, You mentioned re-flexing the limbs on your latest bow. I've read of others doing this, some by putting the green stave on a form and letting it dry with a little reflex. Do you generally reflex your bows? Is it considered better to do so?

[Dustybaer]

Marius you sure yer wife doesn't speak English?

DanaM

dana, i'm still married 

bob, not sure if you intend to heat treat your belly (heck, i don't even know if it works with ash) but that's when i induced some reflex into my hickory flat-bow.  out of the approx. 5" of reflex it retained 2".  i did that when she was tillered to about 20" of draw and finished the tiller after the heat treatment.

[Bob S.]

Thank's. I was just wondering if you are better off with some reflex or just going straight.

[Dustybaer]

the way i interpret what happened to mine is:  without the induced reflex, she would now have some stringfollow.  i also think she's a Little snappier because of the reflex.

[Bob S.]

Ahhh, I understand. Thank's again.

                                Bob

[Justin Snyder]

By reflexing you are adding more tension to the string early, and it does make the bow a little more snappy.  Heat treating does work with ash.  Justin