Best 2 wood choices for a double laminate ELB?

[Longbow_Gold]

Are you sure that you wouldn't like me to test it out and take some of that work off your hands? lol, ok, so it may take me a fortnight to draw the bow back for the first time, but I'd eventually get used to it in about 10 years lol

Ack well, I guess that I can always look forward to getting sorted with a new bow sometime soon anyways

Willie

[Longbow_Gold]

Originally Posted by englishwarbow

If I were you I'd get hold of old Ron Palmer, he'll make you a cracking target ELB at a price that won't require a small mortage. My good mate George, who we he can be bothered to turn up, regualry out shoots everyone else (much to there anger because no one really knows who he is) he only ever shoots Ron Palmer bows ( and believe me he is a very fine target archer). Forget the bow wood choice, get a good bowyer to make you a good bow out of the wood he has, trust him and not hear say. Some wood combinations are better than others but the quality is variable, trust a good bowyer to choose what is best out of what is available and you won't go far wrong.

Hey Nick, how are you buddy?

I'm sorry that I haven't replieds to this sooner, as I only saw your reply just now. (Yes, I know that I should've cleaned my glasses lol)

Thanks Nick, I'll check out Ron Palmer also and see how it goes

Ideally, I'm looking for a good bow that I can shoot clout and flight with, but at the same time,I appreciate that I'll probably struggle to reach any great distances with only a 45lb draw weight, but it would give me the oppertunity to get the most out of the bow instead of just having the longbow for target shooting

I hear what you're saying about the wood choices and I'll see what Ron recommends and what price he offer,s, etc

Thank you once again Nick, I really appreciate the help and info alot

Willie

[steve58]

One thing I've just remembered. I was shooting with someone who had a bamboo backed bow a few weeks ago (he won the shoot at Welbeck on 25 May, results here Welbeck Archers). Quite a light poundage if I remember and he was doing very nicely on a nasty windy day. What he did say was that the bamboo backing seemed to give a harsher shot, don't know whether this was specific to that bow or is more general? Never shot a bamboo backed bow myself so no idea.

[Longbow_Gold]

Hey Steve, thank you for the input buddy, it's really appreciated

I have been also looking at possibly Ironwood belly with either AHM or Hickory backing, but I'm waiting to find out what the cost and life expectancy would be for an ELB with these wood choices.

I am still open to other options as regards wood choices for a laminate bow

I had been also considering a 2 different bows, a custom elb and a classic korean bow for target/field shooting, but I'm still very open minded about that bow since there aren't any archery centres/ranges within 50 miles of me, and so there's not any oppertunity to try any of those bows out, which really sucks.

Oh well, I'll be able to get sorted out with something...... I hope lol

Willie

[stevesjem]

Hi Willie
i thought i might put my 2pence worth in, To reach those distances with a light weight bow, e.g 45lb, you need a bow made from woods that are strong as well as physically light, i recently made a bow for a lady flight shooter, the bow was 50lb draw weight and the physical weight was about 1.2lb, the woods i used were Hickory back, Red Cedar taper core and greenheart belly, however the ammount of greenheart needed was very little. She shot 251 yards with a 5/16 pine arrow, so making the clout distance would be no problem at all. Be aware that Osage albeit a great bow wood is very heavy, for your bow i would suggest Hickory or Bamboo, Red Cedar, English Yew, you will end up with a very light in physical weight bow with a good amount of draw weight.

Any way i hope this helps.

Steve

[steve58]

Originally Posted by stevesjem

Hi Willie
i thought i might put my 2pence worth in, To reach those distances with a light weight bow, e.g 45lb, you need a bow made from woods that are strong as well as physically light, i recently made a bow for a lady flight shooter, the bow was 50lb draw weight and the physical weight was about 1.2lb, the woods i used were Hickory back, Red Cedar taper core and greenheart belly, however the ammount of greenheart needed was very little. She shot 251 yards with a 5/16 pine arrow, so making the clout distance would be no problem at all. Be aware that Osage albeit a great bow wood is very heavy, for your bow i would suggest Hickory or Bamboo, Red Cedar, English Yew, you will end up with a very light in physical weight bow with a good amount of draw weight.

That's a really interesting idea. Have I understood right that the lightness of the limbs will allow the bow to be faster? I guess because the energy stored in the bow has less limb mass to overcome, and therefore it wil be faster and more energy is available to throw the arrow, rather than just moving the linbs back to the starting position, giving really good cast for the draw weight?

[BorderBows]

My 2pence worth is think of the sustainability of the wood your looking at too.

Bamboo, forrested, and in short a carbon sink. It grows very fast and is light and elastic.

on a more opposit note, look at Yew. Not farmed on a sustainable way. Takes years and years to grow, and granted, makes a nice light elastic bow.
We use bamboo with a Hickory back on both our Raven and our ELB mainly for these reasons.

[BorderBows]

Originally Posted by stevesjem

Hi Willie
i thought i might put my 2pence worth in, To reach those distances with a light weight bow, e.g 45lb, you need a bow made from woods that are strong as well as physically light, i recently made a bow for a lady flight shooter, the bow was 50lb draw weight and the physical weight was about 1.2lb, the woods i used were Hickory back, Red Cedar taper core and greenheart belly, however the ammount of greenheart needed was very little. She shot 251 yards with a 5/16 pine arrow, so making the clout distance would be no problem at all. Be aware that Osage albeit a great bow wood is very heavy, for your bow i would suggest Hickory or Bamboo, Red Cedar, English Yew, you will end up with a very light in physical weight bow with a good amount of draw weight.

Any way i hope this helps.

Steve

I would also like to add, that a light limb also gives less hand shock. If you straped 1kg to each limb tip, it would take an age to get moving, and take a hell of a thump when it stopped, In fact you add enough mass to the limb tip eventually the top limb would Never recover to its original shape when you let go of the string . You take that exact same weight and add it to the grip where the is no movement and you would not feel the tips stopping as the mass of the moving part will be very little compaired to the overall mass.

[LobbyMuncher]

Originally Posted by Longbow_Gold

Are you sure that you wouldn't like me to test it out and take some of that work off your hands? lol, ok, so it may take me a fortnight to draw the bow back for the first time, but I'd eventually get used to it in about 10 years lol

Ack well, I guess that I can always look forward to getting sorted with a new bow sometime soon anyways

Willie

Hi Willie

You'd be surprised...I was using a 50#@28" until May when I picked up an 82#@32" from Steve (Stevesjem). All of the guys in our club can now pull this bow without difficulty (and love the feel of it, too), it hasn't lost any cast but now it feels "soft" to me and I'm working into a 110#@32", also from Steve. That's with a lot of encouragement from EnglishWarbow (Nick) and the rest of the warbow guys, 'cos I'm a skinny old git.
But I guess it depends upon how you're shooting. Our club is longbow-only, or rather traditional-only, we all draw to the ear, and targets vary from Barbie dolls to a 3D bear at 140 yards as well as rove and occasionally field. Roundel targets are usually used for warmup only. Of course shooting in this style gives an advantage to those with higher-weight bows.

Cheers

ChrisM

[moley101]

Have a look into Neil Harrington longbows:
http://www.perrisarchery.co.uk/NeilBowInt.pdf

Havent heard anything but good about them.