ELB Archery

[~JM~]

I noticed a few threads about archery, anyone shooting a traditional English Longbow? Not an American Longbow, but a true D-section ELB? A couple of years ago I got back into archery and was shooting a fiberglass recurve, I came into contact with a local bowyer who made traditional ELB’s, so I started a shooting group. We make our own bows, arrows and quivers. We’ve had to laminate our bows using two different types of wood and glue, but we shape them ourselves and the head bowyer is planning on hunting as soon as he finishes his medieval hunting gear.

[TheSp8]

Alas, I don't have an ELB. I have recurves and a bamboo backed osage longbow. I hunt and shoot for relaxation with traditional bows. My compound is used for bowfishing but I'm planning on setting up one of my trad bows for bowfishing and ditching the compound altogether.

YMOS,
Tony

[haukehaien]

I noticed a few threads about archery, anyone shooting a traditional English Longbow?

I don't - I shoot a recurve - but one of my friends does. Anitra marshals archery for the SCA and makes/shoots trad longbows and arrows.

(Here's a pic of some of her work)
I've tried hers a few times, and it's fun, but (at least at the moment) I've got enough hobbies taking my time/money; I don't need to become a bowyer.

And welcome to the group! Why don't you post in the Kilt Board Newbie area and introduce yourself?

[~JM~]

Will do a little latter today, thanks.

[creativeaccents]

There used to be a rather famous maker of "stickbows" in the Athens, Georgia area. Once he showed me a true longbow that he had paid a small fortune for; this was over 30 years ago. I was more than a little surprised to see that it was little more than a "stick". There was no lamination, nor was it even smoothly plained or even on all sides. What it was was a stave of very fine wood with thin growth rings, well aged and made with a true craftsman's eye to avoid any runout of the growth rings, with a pull of about 80 pounds. As I recall it was about five feet long, which surprised me because I had envisioned longbows as being substantially longer.

[~JM~]

Ya, the ELB bends even in the handle which makes it a little different the the American LB which bends in the limbs. The ELB is a slower shooting bow and it's just a stick. One of the best ELB's we have was made out of a chuck of oak from Home Depot that was left over when my buddy was remolding his kitchen. The draw is something like 80lbs and has little set in the limbs. We've made heavy warbows with draws around 100 - 110lbs.

[Andrew Breecher]

I've shot with a 45 lb. ELB, but I'm just not strong enough to shoot much higher than that! I could probably pull off a couple of shots with a 70 lb, but I'd shaking after that. Even with the 45 I had to use a heavy leather finger guard. Beautiful bow, that.

Andrew.

[~JM~]

Hi Andrew, I'm sure you could pull a big bow if you use changed from a Victorian style draw and "get into the bow" a little more. They're a lot of fun.

[Tartan Hiker]

I've shot a recurve for 40+ years and build custon wood arrows. I recently have been shooting Treadway longbows and have a beauty on order. Modern materials, super fast (200+ fps at 50#) and no hand shock. I shoot for fun, competition, and for hunting, and don't really want a bow that hurts my old joints. ELB's are wonderful, but I'd never be able to manage 100 shots per day (my usual practive routine) with one.

[~JM~]

It's not for everyone...

Have you folks seen the Penobscott double bow?