Your First Wooden Longbow

Photos and article by Jason Jelinek

Terms
Selfbow Bow made of a single piece of wood. Tiller The shape of the limbs as they are bent. Tillering Working the bow to have the desired limb profile when drawn. Back The part of the bow that faces the target when drawn. Belly The part of the bow that faces the archer when drawn. Hinge Part of the limb which bends more than the limb around it. Spine The stiffness of an arrow. Every bow has a required spine range in order to shoot properly. Set Bend left in the limbs after the bow is unstrung and the limbs have relaxed.

No knots, limbs, or healed over knots as possible. Once the log is cut from the tree, the ends of the log should be coated with shellac, wax, or paint to prevent checking. The log should be brought out of the weather otherwise the wood might rot. The next step would be to split the log into staves. Use a splitting maul and wedges to break the log into staves. Ive used a circular saw to kerf a line onto the log prior to splitting and it saves time and the splits are more controlled. Care must be exercised when doing this, have both feet on the same side of the log and make sure no one is behind the saw, the saw can and most likely will kick back. After the log is split into staves, remove the bark. If the log is green, the bark can be pulled off. If it wants to stick to the stave, a drawknife should be used to remove the bark to the first growth ring. A board is a very efficient bow stave and is easier to get to the roughed-out stage. The key is to pick a really good board, with no knots. The grain lines should run parallel with the length of the board. There can be a few rings that are violated on the board, but it really shouldnt be more than 3-4 per limb. Ive found that wider limbed bows are more susceptible to violated rings than narrower bows. Picking a good board is a major key to success with board bows. White Oak and Hickory are tough woods and can handle a few more grain violations.

sanders, and others are tools that can also be used. The most common hand tools for building bows are: Hatchets Drawknives Rasps (hoof/farriers, Nichelson #49 & #50) Cabinet scrapers Block planes Spokeshaves One can make a bow with just a hatchet, but its often easier to use other tools that are suited better for the specific tasks. A tillering tree is a valuable tool for checking the bend of the limbs and providing a measure of safety for the beginning bowyer. The tillering tree is a hook that holds the handle of the bow and a string and pulley system to pull the string on the bow from a distance. This allows the bowyer to watch the limbs bend from a distance for both perspective and safety, in case the bow breaks. A good bow scale will be useful in determining the draw weight and the right time to put the string on the bow.

Wood
Hardwoods are a popular choice for making wooden longbows. Yew, which is a conifer, is one of the few exceptions. Yew has been heralded as the best longbow wood. The best wood to make a longbow is wood that is free. For this project, I suggest the following wood: White Oak, Red Oak, White Ash, Rock Maple, Hickory (Pignut, Shagbark, etc.), Red Elm, and American Elm. One can use Osage Orange or Yew, but I would save them for the next bow. They are more expensive to obtain and require a few more steps in preparation. The criteria for tree selection is as follows: 6-7 straight section of a tree. Bark is running vertical with no spiraling.

Design
The design I chose for the first longbow is a simple one that is based upon the old European and Eastern Native American styles. This design incorporates a circular tiller (equal bend throughout the bow) that bends throughout the entire bow including the handle. This tiller style is a little harder to shoot accurately at closer distances, however its easy to build a bow of this style. The war bows of England were of this style. The design didnt take up much wood, it was easy to build, and it had good cast with heavy arrows.

Tools
Power tools can bring a bow out of a stave very quickly, but they can also turn one into firewood even faster. The table saw is a valuable tool for roughing out board bows and can work well for cutting limb tapers. Band saws, planers,

Layout
The first step is to bring the stave to dimensions of about 1 & wide, thick, and 6 long. Next taper the thickness on the belly from thick in the center to thick at each tip. The stave should be left the full 1 & width until the last 12 of the limbs. Taper the limbs in width the last 12 from 1 & to . Also cut in string nocks about away from the ends of the bow at a 45 degree angle. Chainsaw files work well for this task.
1/2" 1/2"

the limbs the lower the spine of the arrow to wrap around the wider arrow pass. The 60# bow may require 40# spine arrows because of the extra width in the arrow pass. The tapers can be cut with a table saw or bandsaw if a good jig is available. A drawknife, block plane, or spokeshave can also be used for cutting the rough tapers and brought to final taper with a rasp. When the thickness and width tapers are finished and square, round the corners off of the entire bow using a radius. Ive used a rasp with a cabinet scraper to do this but it can be done quicker with a router. After the initial rough-out stage remove most rasp or tool marks with sandpaper or a cabinet scraper. Most of the tillering adjustments from now should be made with a cabinet scraper or sandpaper. For major adjustments a rasp can be used, however the tool marks should be removed with a cabinet scraper or sandpaper. If you use edged tools leave the sandpaper until last. The sandpaper leaves the grit in the wood, which can dull and pit the blades.

Place the bow on the tillering tree and put a string about the length of the bow on the nocks of the bow. Pull the string down until the limb tips move about 8 down. Use the scale to make sure the weight at 8 of limb tip movement is no more than of the desired draw weight. Check for even bending of the limbs and make adjustments when necessary. Once the limbs tips move about 8 from the straight position at about of the intended draw weight, brace the bow at about 5 brace height. Again make sure the limbs have even bending. Adjust the brace height to a full 6 or the desired brace height. Pull the bow to about 14 of draw, making sure the draw weight is not more than the intended draw weight. If it is more, remove a little bit of wood from the entire belly. If the tiller looks good, pull it another 2, weigh it and check the tiller. Pull it to this new position about 30-40 times with about a 5 seconds pause in between. If any tiller adjustments need to be made with the scraper or sandpaper, be sure to exercise the bow on the tillering tree about 40-50 times to make sure the wood will show the change. Continue with this process until the bow is drawn to the intended draw length. The bow should look like an arc of a circle when the bow is at full draw. When the bow has come to full draw on the tillering tree about 2 dozen times, draw it by hand about 2 dozen more times. Use the weaker limb for the top limb. The weaker limb will be the limb that is the farthest from the string when braced. The arrow pass should be located 1 above the center of the bow. Grip the bow right below the arrow pass when shooting. Remember to unstring the bow in between tillering sessions to give

Back

This layout should provide a bow of a draw weight of 45-50# at 28 of draw length. If you desire a 40# bow use 1 instead of the 1 & width. If you desire a 60# bow use a 1 & limb width. Remember that the wider the limbs are the harder it is to use hand tools to cut a good limb taper. Also the wider

12" 1 1/4"

Belly

36"

24"

1 1/4"
72"

3/4"

Back

24"

Belly

36"

Tillering
After the stave has been tapered, check the tiller. Stand in front of a mirror and press the tip of the bow against the side of your foot. If the limb bends in a smooth curve, it is are ready for the tillering tree. If there are stiff spots, use a rasp or cabinet scraper to remove a little wood from the belly. Make sweeping strokes along the length of the limb to prevent dishing. If a spot bends too much, shave the wood on both sides of the hinge.

1 1/4"

12" 1/2" 1/2"

the wood time to relax. Ive heard of bowyers leaving the bow string overnight before the shooting-in period to give them an idea of the final weight.

Finishes
At this point all that should be needed is a light rubbing down with 220 grit sandpaper. Then remove the dust with a rag soaked in mineral spirits or acetone. I prefer the look and the ease of Tung Oil finish. Its not as waterproof as wax, shellac, or the polyurethane, but its easy and looks great. The polyurethane finishes work well to protect the bow from moisture and are fairly easy to apply (except for me). Shellac is a very good finish for retarding moisture and can be reapplied if the finish is chipped with ease. This finish is not as durable as polyurethane. Wax is the best for retarding moisture and is also easy to apply, however this finish is not very durable.

Shooting-In
Prior to shooting-in the bow, remove all tool marks. All it should need after shooting-in will be light sanding and the finish. Shoot the bow at half draw 1 dozen times, then shoot a dozen more at draw. Finally, shoot the bow about 200 times at full draw (not necessarily at once). I like to unstring the bow when Im not shooting to give the wood a break (especially when using a bow wood other than osage and yew).

Performance
The design in this article should produce a bow that will shoot an arrow of 10 grains/pound of draw weight at 100 fps plus the draw weight of the bow for a draw length of 28. For example, if the draw weight is 50# at 28 and you are shooting a 500 grain arrow, you should expect to see the bow shoot near 150 fps. This performance may degrade over time and wood is not as elastic in tension and compression as fiberglass or carbon, but that gives the archer the opportunity to build another bow. I have also shot bows of this design in the middle of North Dakota winters with no problems. Bows of this design were meant to shoot heavy arrows, and its fun to lob arrows in at longer distances and see the Arch in archery.

Do not leave the bow strung overnight or for more than 4 hours if possible. String/Unstring the bow using either the push-pull method or a stringer. Wipe off the moisture if the bow gets wet. Store the bow in a room with 40-50% relative humidity (not a problem if your home has air conditioning/central air). Shoot properly spined arrows for your bow. Do not overdraw your bow. The design in this article permits 24-28 draw lengths. Make the bow longer if you want longer draw length (about 2 in bow length per 1 or draw length over 29). Inspect your bow for cracks or hinges in the limbs prior to stringing, after stringing, and unstringing. With care you will be able to determine if your bow has a problem. Have fun and enjoy shooting. If there are any questions please send me an email at: Jelinekjason@hotmail.com

Care
The following are general tips for wooden bow care: Do not leave the bow strung in a hot car.