by p_ing on 4/11/25, 12:57 PM
Shooting barebow recurve / horsebow is one of the most zen-like experiences I've had. And it's a workout!
I would encourage anyone remotely interested to take lessons before you start practicing on your own to prevent bad habits or to prevent from hurting your fingers/hands/shoulders. Trainers should have light-weight bows, around 16# or so for you to try.
Etsy is a good place to buy accessories (tabs, quivers, gloves, rings, etc.).
I've bought arrows/bows from these folks and really like what I received:
https://www.szimeiszterbows.hu/
https://asianbows.com/
And for less expensive carbon arrows, I have a few different sets from https://linkboyarchery.com/. Really good stuff.
Lancasterarchery.com is a US-based outfit that has a variety of good equipment.
by a_shoeboy on 4/11/25, 3:27 PM
25 years ago, I had a Honduran roommate who barely spoke English. One day he came home with a thrift store VHS on how to make longbows and he watched that thing over and over like it would tell him the meaning of life. I hope he finally got ahold of some yew wood and made one.
by 4ndrewl on 4/11/25, 1:14 PM
I've made a self-bow (ie a longbow from a single piece of wood) - under instruction it took a couple of days with some simple, but very sharp, tools.
If you're going the laminate route do yourself a favour and buy some pre-laminated wood designed for the pressures a bow needs to take. The results of laminate cracking and splintering near your eye don't really bear thinking about.
by jakubmazanec on 4/11/25, 1:28 PM
by codeduck on 4/11/25, 3:16 PM
Shout out to Archery GB -
https://archerygb.org/ - because if you're going to be firing arrows, you really really should know how to do it safely. Bows are not toys.
by rendleflag on 4/11/25, 5:27 PM
40-plus years ago, I would take my dads bow and arrows, stand in the front yard, and shoot arrows straight up in the air. Not too high up, but high enough for me to toss the bow aside and catch the arrow in my hands when it came back down. Good times. Stupid, but good times.
by DeathArrow on 4/11/25, 4:59 PM
Meanwhile, far away, in the vast and remote reaches of Russia, in a modest workshop beside a weathered small house, an old man patiently teaches his small grandson the art of assembling a Kalashnikov.
by allturtles on 4/11/25, 12:58 PM
Cool! Part 2 on "gluing laminations" got me to wondering how an ancient/medieval bowyer would have actually glued the layers together, considering they didn't have access to polyvinyl acetate. Wikipedia has some clues at [0]: "Traditionally animal proteins like casein from milk or collagen from animal hides and bones were boiled down to make early glues." and [1]: "A Scythian wood-laminate bow was... constructed by laminating several fine strips of willow and alder wood, bound with fish glue and wrapped in birch bark."
[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wood_glue
[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laminated_bow
by blagie on 4/11/25, 1:29 PM
If this is submitted by the person who made the page:
There should be clear links to the class and how to sign up. I know this isn't a marketing page, but there's plenty of people who would gladly pay money to do this supervised. This seems like an ideal father-son activity with a teenager for summer break.
by tastyfreeze on 4/11/25, 5:20 PM
If you want to make a bow, the Tradition Bowyer's Bible is a fantastic resource.
by gnuser on 4/11/25, 3:31 PM
In my family boys are taught this at about 8. This makes me want to do it again. I had my grandfathers bow stolen out of the trunk of my car and haven’t nooked an arrow in a long time.
by airbreather on 4/13/25, 1:28 PM
I went down to the local hardware store and bought a laminted bamboo broomstick.
Less than an hour shaping with a plane and a knife used as a scraper I had a pretty good longbow.
Seemed that laminated bamboo is fairly forgiving, and capable of some serious deflection making a powerful bow.
Next, a crossbow, though I am wary of that much stored energy with a trivial trigger.
by nvader on 4/11/25, 7:49 PM
Steve Boss, an artist and craftsman at the Portland Art Market, sold me an American Flatbow several years ago. He also handmade, fletched and tested the arrows himself. I wish I could refer to his website but I don't think he has an online presence outside of a personal Facebook page.
Although I've only shot the bow a handful of times, it's always been a really fulfilling experience.
by pugworthy on 4/11/25, 4:11 PM
There is an out of print book from the 50's that's a great resource for bow making.
The full title is, "The Archer's Craft; a Sheaf of Notes on Certain Matters Concerning Archers and Archery, the making of archers' Tackle and the Art of Hunting with the Bow" and the author is Adrian Eliot Hodgkin.
by aktuel on 4/11/25, 2:40 PM
Waiting for "how to use a longbow" and "how to not kill anyone with a longbow".
by raffael_de on 4/11/25, 5:02 PM
by buescher on 4/11/25, 2:18 PM
I made a self-bow in a class and will need to make another one. If you think you'd like to make a bow and you have the opportunity to learn from someone, jump on it.
by Beestie on 4/11/25, 5:01 PM
Finally - something I can actually use.
by wewewedxfgdf on 4/11/25, 12:50 PM
I've been thinking lately "I wonder how to make a longbow?" and here it is.
by NoSalt on 4/11/25, 2:07 PM
All I can think of is: "Poor Boromir." :-(
by gryzzly on 4/11/25, 12:52 PM
i wonder why this tiny website costs a lot per month. wouldnt it fit np on a free tier of Pages or Cloudflare. Id volunteer to migrate it from wordpress or whatever they run on.
by DrNosferatu on 4/11/25, 10:37 PM
The helicopter?