Primitive Bows and Civil War Reenacting

[Wooden Spring]

I know, weird topic... My wife and I have been Civil War Reenactors for over 15 years, and we've just started taking the sport of archery to the hobby. It was a very popular passtime here in the eastern US in the 19th century, and we're showing a bit of that.

Take a look at our website - we've got some pictures from our last event in our blog section, and I've also posted a few documents on how I build bows. I'm still new to all of this, but it's taking off like WILDFIRE in the reenacting community, and I'm hoping that pretty soon, we can be hosting tournaments within the hobby.

Pretty cool, huh? 

http://civilianarcherssociety.webs.com/

[bow101]

Looks like fun times.  You say Civil War Reenacting.!  Is it larping.. or the real mckoy bows at full draw weight..?

[Wooden Spring]

Looks like fun times.  You say Civil War Reenacting.!  Is it larping.. or the real mckoy bows at full draw weight..?

Well, from my research, the flat bows were not nearly as popular as English Long Bows were, but since they WERE used at the time, (and I like them better than ELB anyway), that's what we shoot.

I've made a 70# red oak, a 60# hickory backed jatoba, and a few 30-35# red oak bows for the ladies.
I've also got (from various other sources) a 40# red oak, a 55# bamboo backed hickory, and a 25# hickory.

These are all the real deal, no farb here. We strive to make everything as authentic as possible! Our shooting distances are not nearly as far as true tournaments would have been (50 and 100 yards) but we were limited on space (and skill).
 
I don't have any ELB in my inventory right now, but maybe after this season when I can get back in my shop to make some sawdust, perhaps one will emerge.