bowmaking course

Kragen Ironfist · #1 (**permalink**) 15-04-06, 05:00 PM

hi - I am interested in moving from recurve bow to longbow. As part of this tansition I would like to take a bow making course. I have been looking on google and have found a few sites which offer such courses ranging from £150-£300 for a weekend course camping in a wood and making the bow etc.

What I really wanted to know is if anyone here has taken such a coure, or has a particular course they would reccomend.

chris · #2 (**permalink**) 15-04-06, 07:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kragen Ironfist

hi - I am interested in moving from recurve bow to longbow. As part of this tansition I would like to take a bow making course. I have been looking on google and have found a few sites which offer such courses ranging from £150-£300 for a weekend course camping in a wood and making the bow etc.

What I really wanted to know is if anyone here has taken such a coure, or has a particular course they would reccomend.

aint been on a course but can tell ya that making a bow is fun.
but considering that i broke some it might be better to go on one and have someone help out

it is good tho shootin some thin you made yourself tho

chris

LineCutter · #3 (**permalink**) 15-04-06, 08:25 PM

I'm not far down the road from you & can give you some help if you want to play at being a bowyer. Not that I claim to be one myself, but I've made a few... & I can handle it... I can stop any time I want... yeah, really. It's just that now isn't the right time, y'see.

There are a few pics in the earlier reaches of my journal.

I've never done a course, but being self taught I'd suggest making a few bows first, before you try to get it right at £300 a pop. Not that any of my first 3 bows are still in one piece. Number 4 is currently in retirement & 5, 6 & 7 have all had use this year. 8 will be a laugh, as I'm making it (very slowly) adult sized & with the wood the wrong way around - just to see what happens.

Maybe more seriously, have you shot a longbow & got the bug for one? I shoot recurve (& a copy of a Korean traditional bow) & have no need, nor urge, to make one myself. I'd put making my own bow a long way behind the shooting of it in order of priority. The bows I've finished have all been for the kids, who won't get a longbow tailored for their needs unless I make one (or drag Graham Knight out of retirement

)

Huffy · #4 (**permalink**) 15-04-06, 09:51 PM

Hello
I have done 2 bowmaking courses. One was a one to one course with Chris Boyton at his workshop at Staines in Middlesex. At this course I produced a 3 layer laminated longbow from a prepared stave.
The finished bow after the two days just required varnishing and the handle binding to be stuck on.

Hilary Greenland ran the second course. This was a two-day course in a group of about 7 people and the bows produced were Ash primitive bows. They would be closer to an all wood American flat bow. The course is run by SPTA (society for promotion of traditional archery)

The Boyton bow is the better shooting bow (due to Chris being there all the time)but I learnt a lot at both courses.

(Chris Boyton produces wooden arrow shafts as sold by many dealers and writes articles in the Glade on bowmaking))

(Hilary Greenland is the author of the traditional archer’s handbook)

Hope this is of use, Mark

Kragen Ironfist · #5 (**permalink**) 15-04-06, 10:12 PM

thankyou for your advice

there are a few reasons why I am considering going on a course rather than getting a book and trying to do it myself.

1) I have neither the tools or the space to make one at home - living in a room in a shared house.

2) I don't have the time to do it at home - working 60+ hours a week I barely have time for archery at all

3) I need a holiday and I figure if I combine the course with time off I'll have a great time, meet new people, learn how to make a bow AND be able to take it home when I go - and depending on the course I may even learn other outdoor survival skills at the same time.

Yes I have shot a longbow - I borrowed a friend's spare one at my club. Although I am currently shooting recurve, it was my love of all things fantasy/medieval etc that guided me towards archery in the first place and I joined my local club fully intending to make the move to a long bow when I had the opportunity. th elongbow to me feels mor natural, ok so accuracy may not be as good as recurve or compund bows but there isn't all that fiddly technology either, its just you and the bow

For me taking a weekend away course and camping out in a forest etc whilst learning to craft my own longbow and living off the land has a very strong appeal, it is similarly whuy I enjoy fishing, mainly I fish to relax but at the same time it is a way for a simple townie like myself to get back to the ancient hunter gatherer lifestyle of our ancestors

LineCutter · #6 (**permalink**) 16-04-06, 12:53 AM

Fairy Nuff.

Hope you achieve what you're after, both in the bow & the shooting. Longbow archers certainly seem to have more fun at competitions. Well, they're usually much more audibly jovial

chris · #7 (**permalink**) 16-04-06, 08:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LineCutter

Fairy Nuff.

Hope you achieve what you're after, both in the bow & the shooting. Longbow archers certainly seem to have more fun at competitions. Well, they're usually much more audibly jovial

you tryin to say i got a big mouth?

its fun

chris