old Longbow

[Oz]

Hi,

I was given an old longbow/selfbow the other week. It is 40lb, 65in tip to tip and has no shelf. The wood will need a new coat of something so I was thinking linseed oil. The back of the bow is flat and belly round. i was thinking of doing a linen backing to help prevent the limbs splintering.

The question i have is, will any linen do and what glues can I use?

Cheers

[kevinsmith5]

Not sure what you mean by "any linen", of you're asking "any old bed linen" then no. Go to a fabric store and ask for "light to medium weight linen" they'll have several colors (I stick with dark colors).

As for glue, I use Tite Bond III pretty much exclusively.

[Pat B]

Will you post pics of the bow? Was it commercially made or home made? When was it made? Have you thought about re-educating the wood if you plan on shooting the bow?

[spyder1958]

welcome OZ. you should introduce yourself, let us get to know you.
+1 to what kevin said. There are some neat pattern & colors to some linen if that's your thing. The rendezvous have some good linen choices. What makes you think it needs a backing? Do you know what wood the bow is? most here use Tru-oil gun finish. I use a little of everthing, try'em all is my motto. tung, teak and BLO, several stains, and shellac, lacq, and poly all work.

[bushboy]

greetings and welcome oz! i would post some pics to try to get some feed back before attempting any restoration on this mystery bow! in many cases unique and valued item have lost much of their credit due to over zealous fixer uppers,this may not be the case with the bow in question,but you never know?personally,i would shy away from messing with someone elses work,but that's just me!

[Oz]

Hello All.

Thanks for the replys. I will get some photos in this post tomorrow of the longbow and maybe I can get some replies if I really need to back it.

I have failed to Introduce myself so here it goes. I am 30 years old and currently live in Zimbabwe with my wife and children. I am Australian but my wife is a Zimbabwean, we decided to move from Australia to Zimbabwe about 2 years ago.

It has been a fantastic change in lifestyle and I think we will live here for a while. One of my main ambitions of moving was the large variation of game species for hunting. I have done a few small hunts here so far but this year I hope to get stuck into it.

In terms of bows I shoot compound and traditional recurve. This year I have played around with friends longbows so I think I will try a bit of that this year. I have always been interested in primitive stuff and the making of bows. I had a few goes a couple of years ago but no success.

I have done some research here and there is a timber place that sells a lot of boards. Such types they supply are saligna/blue gum, beech, oaks,
teak and maple. If anyone could give me some ideas on the good woods from this bunch that would be great.

There is no archery shop in Zimbabwe and getting stuff from South Africa is difficult as there is import duty and theft. I was talking to a club member last weekend and we want to make our own wood shafts. We have plans for the jig and a spine tester. Does any one know if my selection of woods available will be good wood for shafts?

Mentioned the club, a group of us have started a field archery club in Harare, Zimbabwe. We have a group of 10 or so and mostly compound/target people. I shoot some trad stuff and another guy shoots a 60lb Howard Hill Longbow. The amount of interest in trad gear has been fantastic and the compound people want to get into it which is good for archery in Zimbabwe.

I mentioned that there is no archery shop in Zimbabwe so as a club we struggle in the tabs, armgards area for supply. I have found a leather supplier in Harare and I plan to start making the gear with some practice. I will have a search on Primitive archer for some design info.

Cheers guys and I plan to get more info on the longbow tomorrow.

[Squirrelslayer]

hey and welcome to PA here is a video of some finnger tabs i made from some squirrel rawhide hope it helps.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mscTcBK_50Q

SS

[toomanyknots]

Not sure what you mean by "any linen", of you're asking "any old bed linen" then no. Go to a fabric store and ask for "light to medium weight linen" they'll have several colors (I stick with dark colors).

As for glue, I use Tite Bond III pretty much exclusively.

After having negative experiences with the light weight linen, I would go for most heavy duty linen they have.

[Hrothgar]

Welcome to P.A.
We may not have all agree on everything here, but collectively we have all the answers
I might add that with a linen backing it doesn't necessarily have to be 100%. If you find a medium weight clothe that is a mixture of linen and poly or nylon or something else its been proven to be as strong.
If the blue gum that you mentioned is the same specie as grows in Austrialia it is supposed to make a pretty good longbow, and hard maple is also great.
Eric

[autologus]

The blue gum is Eucalyptus and should make a good bow, Maple is great and the Beech would probably work as well.

Grady

[BowEd]

Oz....Welcome to PA first off.I've done a few linen backed bows and what I did was use 12 ply linen glued on the back next to each other in rows on the back.I found out it increased my poundage by 3.5 strands per pound.I can't say about the other plys like 7 & 5 etc.Linen string will take a set but linen unspun fiber won't so as much.I've never tried linen fabric but I'm sure that will take a set also but would protect the back pretty good.You can use hide glue or epoxy.But like Pat B said earlier you better break that bow in slowly if it has'nt been shot in years.
You are in a diverse wonderland to hunt in and good luck with your archery group.

[Oz]

Hi All

I have some pics on thic longbow I was talking about.

The handle has delaminated so some tip on repair would be great.

To back or not to back?

Will linseed oil do for sealing?

Brace heights for this old thing? It's 5'6"

Any one know what make it is?

Any tips on a tuck in shelf when I put the handle wrap back on?

Cheers guys

[dwardo]

She looks old and tired the poor thing. My vote would be to clean her up and use her as a wall hanger.
Then go get some wood and make one from scratch. You can use her as a rough template when making a new bow.

[mullet]

Back it, oil it and shoot her is my vote. If it breaks you're not out of nothing but a piece of wood. It looks like an old hickory bow from the late 40's early 50's. I have several that shoot well.

[k-hat]

I'm with mullet.  I would think the beech would make nice arrows, but also oak.  you'll need to get it down to 5/16" diameter to keep spine in the correct range, but they'll fly well from what i understand.

And welcome to PA