Red Oak for longbow??

[mossanimal]

Hi...

I just received a linen-backed red oak English longbow (50#, 28" draw, 72" long) from http://www.woodbows.com

Any thoughts on the use of red oak for traditional English longbows? Anybody have any experience with the bows from woodbows.com? They are very reasobably priced.

best wishes....

[gino]

just looked on their website, why is your bow linen-backed?

[mossanimal]

Originally Posted by gino

just looked on their website, why is your bow linen-backed?

I don't know. I am pretty new to this. I assumed this was normal.

[robtattoo]

Red Oak isn't the best bow wood going. It's fine if you're making a wide-limbed, paddle or pyramid style flatbow, but for an ELB it'll need the backing to stop it from snapping.

[robtattoo]

Actually, I've just been and had a look at the site. Honestly, I wouldn't expect it to last long anyway. Buying a bow is absolutely a case of you get what you pay for. I think you'll be getting a brush handle. A goodstart in traditional archery, perhaps, but not a good bow at all.

[mossanimal]

Thanks for that, altough its a bit disappointing... But can you, or somebody else, elaborate on why it would be a 'brush handle'? You mentioned in your previous post how it would have a problem with snapping. Do you mind elaborating?

Thanks much....

[robtattoo]

Certainment mon brave!
Tillering a longbow (any bow for that matter!) is a long, slow, labour intensive process (as anyone who's made a bow'll know) I cant for one minute believe thata bow of that price has been correctly tillered. It just isn't financially feasible! To correctly tiller any simple wooden bow (unless you are truly blessed by God) can take a couple of days at least. That'd mean the bowyer in this case would be working for nothing! To simply rough out & sand a bow shaped piece of wood is a quick & simple process & I would imagine that that's all these'll be. It won't be evenly balanced in the way it bends, it'll have hinges, it'll probably be either very stiff & whip-ended or very stif at the tips & hinges around the handle. I truly hope I'm wrong, but I suspect that it'll be all over the shop. I'd be very interested to see a pic of the bow at full draw.

[gino]

mossanimal, is this your first longbow?

[WhitehartFB]

At that price shoot and enjoy and if it breaks like most of the expensive ones do in the end what have you lost and if it's within the warranty period you may even get a new one.

Better value than the £12.50 apple twigg somebody bought on ebay.

Remember a strung longbow is a 3/4 broken crafted piece of wood so to prolong the life make sure you warm the wood up each time before shooting i.e not pulling it straight back from cold.

Happy shooting

[mossanimal]

O yes. My first.