Information on making your own long bow?

[Fullabull]

Hello all,

My son will be a senior in high school next year and they are required to do a project. If my son can get permission from the school, he wants to make a long bow.

Facts:
He archery hunts with me but uses a compound.
He would like to make this bow to hunt with.
We do not have a wood shop and we do not know if the school would allow him to use theirs.

Unknowns:
How long of a process is making a long bow.
Where to find a good set of instructions on making a long bow.
How to determine the draw length and weight or a long bow
Pretty much everything falls into this category

Does anyone know of a good starting place for my son to investigate a project like this and what it would take to complete?

Thanks for any assistance/direction you can provide.

Regards,
Fulla

[Old Dog]

The Traditional Bowyer's Bible is a good place to start.  There are several volumes, and I believe they are available at amazon.com.

[STIKNSTRINGBOW]

3 Rivers Archery has kits,
and check out Traditional Bowhunters of Washington WAJAM
WAJAM       
 8 - 10 Jul, 2011
Cashmere, WA

[Lowedog]

http://www.binghamprojects.com/ 

[quadrafire]

The Traditional Bowyer's Bible is a good place to start.  There are several volumes, and I believe they are available at amazon.com.

Fulla
If you are on the east side I have the first 3 of these you could borrow. PM me if interested

[Oneshot1Kill]

Hey that's pretty cool! Next year I'm a senior and trying to get it passed so that I can make my homemade bow and arrows. Looking at Rose City Archery. They got some great arrow making kits and what looks to be great long bow kits too. Tell him good luck if it's his senior project!

[STIKNSTRINGBOW]

What is funny, back when I was in High School, they had the form for making a recurve in our woodshop,
I wish I knew then what I know now.....

[Fullabull]

As always, this forum has lots of good folks willing to share information and knowledge 

Thank you very much for your responses and messages. My son is a junior this year but has been searching for an idea for his sinior project. This was his first year archery hunting with me and he loved it. We only have compound bows but he took an interest in wanting to shoot a long bow. Well, I told him when he gets good at hunting with a compound, we'll look at a long bow.

As teenagers often do, he found a way around my conditions
If he gets it by the school, I think it's a great idea for a project...

Quadra, we are on the west side but I appreciate the offer!

Oneshot, good luck with your school and project as well..

If my son gets to do this I will post pictures next year while he is working on the project.

Thanks and regards,
Fulla

[Hornseeker]

Definitely look at/go with the Bingham Projects kits... they are a piece of cake and NO ONE has catered to more first time builders. You can have your son email Elmont Bingham, at the address provided on the website.... he will be VERY helpful...he is an old man that has built and helped others build thousands of bows!

[scout88]

i remember doing my senior project back in 06/07. its not that bad at all and i hope your son gets this approved!

[bigdave]

I have seen on this thread several times "if the school will let him".

Why wouldn't they let him? I can see then not allowing him to string it or shoot it at school....(duh)...... but to deny it as a project? If the couselor said no I'd be scheduling a meeting with the principal and if I didn't get any satifaction then I would schedule a meeting with the Superintendent and bring a lawyer.

I work in the school system and this kind of thing really gets me going. As a teacher there would be TONS of teachable moments in this project. The science and math applications would be almost limitless.

Good luck and good hunting!!

[scout88]

I have seen on this thread several times "if the school will let him".

Why wouldn't they let him? I can see then not allowing him to string it or shoot it at school....(duh)...... but to deny it as a project? If the couselor said no I'd be scheduling a meeting with the principal and if I didn't get any satifaction then I would schedule a meeting with the Superintendent and bring a lawyer.

I work in the school system and this kind of thing really gets me going. As a teacher there would be TONS of teachable moments in this project. The science and math applications would be almost limitless.

Good luck and good hunting!!

i dont think that its the fact of it being a weapon or anything, but the project itself has certain requirements that you have to follow. dont really remember what they are but they can be a pain for sure. you have to write a research paper, do some interviews, do some community service is what i think they tried calling it in the that field, make a presentation board and do a presentation on it. personally i dont see what the problem would be with it but its up to the teachers, and we all know how that can go...

[Ray]

The project could be as simple or as complex as you want it to be. I think you'd be best finding and following the most simplistic set of instructions based upon the type of bow your son wants to make. Instructions are all over the web. I.E. Laminated recurve,longbow from board wood vs. a bow made out of tree billets. That's probably the first decision to make...

If your son took his time, he could make a great vine maple bow in a few days out of raw tree material from right here in the northwest. But even board laminated bows wouldn't take someone more than a week if they dedicate their time to it.

My personal experience with the Traditional Bowyer's Bible is that it is too broad and might confuse or otherwise intimidate a first time bow maker. It has a ton of information that is useful, no doubt.

[quadrafire]

My personal experience with the Traditional Bowyer's Bible is that it is too broad and might confuse or otherwise intimidate a first time bow maker. It has a ton of information that is useful, no doubt.

Ray
I would agree. They are a good read, but I think part of the reason I haven't tackled the project yet. Kinda intimitading.

[TONTO]

 http://tradgang.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=125;t=002064;p=0

I followed a link I think I picked up here to Tradgang.com and found this thread, been building my first oak board bow following 4est's instructions. Every time I end up in a lumber store I start digging through the hardwoods and stocking up , might be a new addiction, anyhow there is alot of usefull info to be gained from the bowers bench section of their site. Good luck and lets see some pics when it all comes together I've got my first bow just about finnished up just need to get me a string now and get out and do some shooting, then on to building the next one . Some day I hope to start on some laminates.