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Author Topic: Wood for english style warbow  (Read 2118 times)

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Offline Will Carothers

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Wood for english style warbow
« on: May 13, 2012, 04:42:48 am »
hey guys, ive been building bows for ~2 years now, and i want to make my first true warbow. im only 15, so my funds are very... very limited, so what wood/ or wood combinations do you think would work on this design, and on my type of budget. ive done hickory, cherry, etc; but i know those probably arent the best for this design.

I would preferably get wood as lumber, in board for, and not a stave, because it would be much cheaper and faster.
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Offline DarkSoul

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Re: Wood for english style warbow
« Reply #1 on: May 13, 2012, 08:15:21 am »
What do you consider "English style warbow"? What drawweight? The term 'warbow' is very loosly defined as any bow you could take to a war.

Drawweights above 80 pounds or so are hard to achieve with an unbacked boardbow. A stave is generally stronger, since the grain is always followed. A stave you've split from a log, is also cheaper than a board bought in a lumberyard. If you cut the tree yourself, you probably don't have to pay anything. If you insist on using boards (since those are dry already), you're best bet is to laminate some woods together. For selfbows, a split stave of hickory, ash, elm, osage or yew will work.

By the way, have you seen this forum? It's dedicated to warbows, and you might get more replies over there.
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Offline Pat B

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Re: Wood for english style warbow
« Reply #2 on: May 13, 2012, 09:46:51 am »
I believe traditionally war bows were made from yew, ash and elm and like DarkSoul said were made from 80# and up.
  If you have only made a few bows you might want to start of with an ELB(English long bow), deep narrow bows are different in tillering than flat bows.
« Last Edit: May 13, 2012, 11:48:15 am by Pat B »
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Offline Ifrit617

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Re: Wood for english style warbow
« Reply #3 on: May 13, 2012, 10:33:17 am »
Ipe backed with hickory will make a great heavy weight bow... You could probably buy both for under $40. I understand you funds issue because I am only 16 as well, so if you can't afford this, check out the Trading post on this site. I'm sure someone would be willing to trade you some ipe and hickory if you have something to trade in return.

Jon
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Offline bushboy

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Re: Wood for english style warbow
« Reply #4 on: May 14, 2012, 06:33:57 pm »
Bamboo backed elm is affordable,!
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Offline toomanyknots

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Re: Wood for english style warbow
« Reply #5 on: May 14, 2012, 06:43:40 pm »
Cheapest is to go find yourself a good sapling of some compression strong good species of bow wood. Elm I hear makes great warbows.
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"The way of heaven is like the bending of a bow-
 the upper part is pressed down,
 the lower part is raised up,
 the part that has too much is reduced,
 the part that has too little is increased."

- Tao Te Ching, 77, A new translation by Victor H. Mair

Offline Dauntless

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Re: Wood for english style warbow
« Reply #6 on: May 14, 2012, 07:13:41 pm »
Too many knots is right, saplings are cheap and the right species can make a monster.  I'd be more worried about your body taking all that draw weight though.
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Offline Weylin

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Re: Wood for english style warbow
« Reply #7 on: May 14, 2012, 09:41:56 pm »
Take a look though Druid's bows. He's made a bunch of high draw weight sapling bows from various woods.
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