English Longbow

It was about time I tackled the project of a period-type English Longbow, and with much inspiration and guidance from alanesq's website (http://www.alanesq.com/bsb.htm), I was able to complete a simplified version of the English longbow. 

The final product is about 6' 4" with a low draw weight of about 25 lbs at 24 inches, perfect for simple target shooting. As you can see, I wasn't going for a battle ready, armor-piercing warbow or anything. It looks nice, took about 5 hours to make, and was under 10$. This is the perfect bow for a nice weekend project.

**DISCLAIMER** This bow is, in fact, a weapon! I take no responsibility for how and in what fashion these instructions are used. A bow is dangerous; don't shoot arrows at anything you don't mind hurting or destroying.

For a video of the bow in action, check the link on the last step!

Step 1 Materials

This is a VERY cheap project...if you already have the necessary tools, that is. Most, if not all, of the tools and materials can be found at a Home Depot or other similar store. 

Tools:
  Angle Grinder (with sanding attachment)
  Sand Paper
  Hand File(s)
  Clamps (optional)
  Wood glue 

Materials:
  6-7 Feet of 2"x1" Red Oak
  6-7 Feet of 2"x1/4" Pine***
  Twine (for the string)

***I made the assumption, not very educatedly, that a pine "belly" on the bow would handle the compression much better than the red oak, seeing as pine is much less dense than red oak. Well in my haste, I got cedar instead of pine, which resulted in a very useless "belly" that did not handle compression very well. In my last couple of steps I included a picture of the...consequences...of a cedar "belly".

Comments

[wodloo]

nice bow im currently carving a bow from some sticks in the bush i see how that works but it will be completely hand crafted so if you dont want to take your time making it i suggest not.

[ninja of suburbia]

Props for making the attempt to make a bow, but you seem to have mixed some things up.

The belly is the part of the bow that rests against your palm. A good longbow is traditionally carved from a single piece of yew. The bow is carved in such a way that the heartwood forms the belly of the bow, and the HARDER wood thus resists the compression and adds a vicious snap to the bow while the sapwood forms the arms and the back of the bow, providing the main launching force. Once again, YOU DO NOT WANT A SOFT WOOD FOR THE BELLY OF THE BOW. But other than that, well done.

[bubblegum12]

how far does it shoot?

[yellerakern]

nice bow.i am a newbie with all this computer stuf.this is my first time on this website i find it great.i also am in the process of makeing a bow.it's not my first,i gave away a fiew to kids in our family and show them the dangers of such.i have 4 pieces of hickory that is ready.i cut a 7 foot hickory log and split it in 4 pieces,they are dry now and i will begin saturday on my project.wamt to use this bow season for deer,will keep in touch.yellerakern.

[smallebee]

the ripples are where the seadar is spliting in the only direction posible. i dont advise doing this often as the damage may add up and fail unplesantly
10$=7£ verry good build.

[anibioman]

when tillering do you just sand the belly?

[bowmaster]

Very nice, I have wanted to make a bow for some time now. If you want to make it more authentic YEW should have used a different wood.

[kstarr]

I have a load of nomal oak do you think it would be suitable?? gr8 instructable :) thanx 64

[mathieulj]

Good job. I made one like this using a hand plane and sandpaper a little while back. One thing I want to add though (forgive me if you mentioned it and I didn't see). Pine is great for starting out since its cheap and easy to work with but I find (as do others) that it is a very poor wood for bows. It works but the end result has more power and lasts longer with other woods. So by all means, start with pine, but keep in mind you'd be better off with another wood once you get the hang of bow making.

[paintboy360]

Does the bow need to be oiled at all?

[whitewolf88]

not necessarily, but it will look nicer and be more weather and stain (ie dirt) resistant. if you use a laminated technique it'll bring out the different grains in the woods.

[paintboy360]

Ok,
thank you!

[splazem]

Very cool. I love archery.

[randomhand]

Aren't English longbows exclusively yew tree wood? Isn't it a standard longbow if its not yew? i have heard lemonwood makes a good longbow

[Caym]

i think the difference between an english and standard is that the english if you look at a cross section is in the shape of a D

[cap n crunch]

they were primarily yew but other woods were used such as elm and ash

[leendertbob]

Find out which wood can be compressed and which wood can be stretched.
It's all on Google and you know what wood to use to get an English longbow.

[Anhan12]

maple is my favorite wood for making bows. i made a maple bow a couple of weeks ago for only 13 dollars, and thats with a 6 dollar string from gander mt, so the bow only cost 7 dollars!

[503sPzAbt]

Is it possible to use poplar, cherry, or white ash inplace of pine? I've heard this a few times but I am not sure this is true.

[Don,t try this at home]

Can i have the dimensions of you bow i need to know the end of it were you string it how thick that is and how wide.

[ineverfinishanyth]

The tips of the bow (where the string is strung) are:

3/4 inches wide
1/2 inch thick

[spenfisher12]

25 lb at 14 inches of draw 1 25 lb is nothing 2 28 inches is where its draw weight should be mesured

[ineverfinishanyth]

As I stated in my instructable:

"The final product is about 6' 4" with a low draw weight of about 25 lbs at 24 inches, perfect for simple target shooting. As you can see, I wasn't going for a battle ready, armor-piercing warbow or anything."

In case this didn't make it obvious, I was not going for an extremely powerful bow. 25 lbs at 24 inches, although a low poundage for an English Longbow, is perfect for "simple target shooting". It was not until recently that I attempted a 28 inch pull, but as I have now discovered, 28 inches results in just about 33 lbs of pull.

The whole point of this project was to make a bow that was affordable. My total bill came to just over 9$. I don't believe I have EVER seen a bow (even one that shoots at 25 lbs) go for that cheap. As the point of Instructables is to create and document homemade projects that yield some benefit over store-bought items, I believe 9$ for a hand-made English longbow would fall under that category.

[LeOSSJ2]

Hi!

I really liked your bow, i'm some kind of bad for the wood working, but, this is my favourite instructable of all of this contest, so..

You have my vote!

Goodbye!

[rimar2000]

Good work! When I was a kid, at Robin Hood age, I was crazy for bows and crossbows. One of these had plenty of power for my little boy's view. The iron headed arrow sinked in an old wooden door, and had to move sideways several times in order to remove it. I used paradise tree wood, because at home had one.