Hickory Longbow?

[DUCKS2525]

How well do solid limbs made of Hickory hold up on a long bow?  I am just starting to make a transition to traditional from compound bow hunting.  I know nothing about Longbows/Recurves.  There is a guy locally that is selling a bow he bought from the enternet and the limbs are solid hickory and the handle is laminated to it and it is also hickory.  He want to sell it for $40 bucks.  He says it needs finished Tillering.  Any advise would be appreciated!

[Pat B]

Hickory makes a great bow if the moisture content can be controlled and if the longbow has a flat belly(as in an American longbow) as compared to the round belly of the English longbow style. Hickory is very strong in tension but weak in compression so the rounded belly of the ELB causes all the compression stresses to run down the center of the belly instead of spread out along and across the entire limb of the ALB. This will cause more string follow and possible fretting(compression fractures).  For a starter bow the price sounds fair but don't judge all hickory bows with this bow. With a bit of help on this site you could build one as good or better than what you can buy on the net.

[DUCKS2525]

Thanks Pat B!

[razorback]

For $40 ypu really can't go wrong for a first finish yourself bow. Get it and post lots of pictures on here. There will be plenty of help to turn the stick into an arrow flinger. If it isn't a great bow you will definetly learn a lot from the experience.

[SpikeMaster]

Is hickory easier to work with for making a self bow than Osage? I've also read here that hickory bows aren't a good choice for a humid enviroments. It gets really humid here in West Virginia in the summer. If the bow is only exposed to the humid air for the hour or so that I'm out shooting and placed in a dry air-conditioned house the rest of the time would that aleviate some of the problems?

[ALW]

SpikeMaster I haven't made a lot of bows but for me the white woods (hickory, elm, pecan.....anything you don't have to chase a ring on) is easier to start out with.  I'm not great at chasing a ring and it takes me long time to do it right.  However once you learn to chase a ring, woods like osage and BL are really nice.  I haven't built an osage yet but I've chased rings on several staves.  You can harvest BL all around where you live.  I grew up in Clarksburg so I know it's pretty abundant around there.

I've built several hickory bows and I do take care to control moisture when building them.  I built a hot box to really season them out and to keep them dry when I'm working on them.  I usually put 6 to 8 coats of finish on them.  I have used Spar Urethane and the Massey finish and like both.  I also put several coats of a good past wax on the bows several times a year, expecially right before hunting season.  I haven't noticed any real lose of weight when shooting in the humid summers.  The humidity is usually a lot lower in hunting season so I don't worry much about it then.  But you can alway keep them in the drying box to help keep the moisture down.

Aaron

[Harperclan7]

I am working on a couple of hickory bows now I will post them and let you know how it works in West Virginia since that is where I am at as well