advise on building first longbow

[JohnGorden]

I have recently just thought of building my first longbow. Any advise on what type of bow i should build would be greatly appreciated. Also on what materials that would be best.  Thank you for your time

[kennym]

Hi John,welcome!

A red oak board bow would get you in with less cost and learn a bit about tiller.

A selfbow you could get a stave and go directly to makin shavins, or a laminated glass bow, you get to build a form, and then a bow.

What did you have in mind?

I'm bettin someone here can help you thru it!

[JohnGorden]

For my first Im just looking for the experience. I want to eventually make a hobby out of it and may try to sell longbows if i get good enough at it. Im not exactly sure where to start which is why Im here. Thank you for the reply

[Bjorn]

There are books, videos on utube, and buildalongs here and elsewhere. Like Kenny says a couple of board bows are a good start you will learn the basics and not spend a lot on materials. The first few are kinda sacrificial anyway.

[kennym]

Here is a glass build, I'm sure there are board builds as well as boo-backed,selfbow and about anything you need to see!

 http://tradgang.com/noncgi/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=125;t=001165;p=1


click search at top of page and have fun!

[JohnGorden]

Thank you, sure helps out.

[JohnGorden]

Thats a beautiful bow you made there kenny.  enjoyed taking a look at your build-along

[Robertfishes]

john, when I was first interested in making a few fiberglass bow I spent many hours reading "build-a-longs" on this site and a couple of other sites. I found some really good information on form building on kennys web page. I really prefer recurves but I have built 4 longbows using kennys 62"- 64' design. the last one I built I made was 66" using the same form. here's a couple of pics of the bows and form. If your not into pretty veneers then get some black glass, some amberboo tapers and some grey or brown actionwood for the riser. that will make you a super nice longbow with a classic look.          

[JohnGorden]

Thank you all the replies really help. Excited to start my first bow

[JohnGorden]

Well Im back for a couple more questions. After looking at several build-alongs Im thinking i want to go with a fiberglass build. The bow i have now is a 64" so i want to go with the same size. Where can i find the materials that i need to build the bow and what would be a good price to look for? Also can i get Kennys website that way i can go with Kennys 62"-64" design. Thank you guys for all your help.

[Sam Harper]

You could get everything you need at Bingham's.

 http://www.binghamprojects.com/

Personally, I like to get my stuff for free when I can, so I sometimes get materials out of construction site dumpsters.  I've also shopped at Big Lots and Harbor Freight.

[kennym]

Here ya go, the template isn't on the site til I get proper plans drawn up(workin on it), but they are 20.00 with instructions.


 http://www.kennyscustomarchery.com/

Binghams is great also, but I like my bows better......  

[Jeff Smith]

I like Kennys better too ! Great guy and good source for everything you need to build a great bow.
Jeff

[wookiewebster]

It looks like you have some good info here already.  I started out just last year by building some recurve bows from the Bingham forms. But when it came to a longbow, I really liked the KennyM style the best.  I blogged about my build  here , if you want to take a look.

Good luck and have fun.  There are great people here who helped me a lot.