Long Bow plans

[John Malone]

Hello guys, I'm ready to try again. I have a piece of red oak I can get a full 72 inches out of. Going for a 66 inch no frills, plain Jane beginning bowyers long bow. Does anyone know of some basic long bow dimensions or plans. Hopefully I can keep this one over 40# that's the legal hunting  limit around here. Would love to come in at 45#.

[Wolftrail]

Ya; built a few board bows broke 'em all,        no fault of the wood. Took me a while to learn the fine art of tillering.  There are lots of build a longs on those bows especially Oak. Just do a search on here or the search engine.

66" is great the longer the better. Just finished a laminate 67" NTN pulling about 46#  @ 28".

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Myarchery
  http://myarchery.byethost18.com

[Mad Max]

This is a good one, but without the pictures I don't know

 http://tradgang.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=2;t=000122;p=2

[KenH]

There's that Poor Folk guy who has good plans/directions.

[skeaterbait]

http://poorfolkbows.com/oak.htm

[KenH]

That's the guy.  I wasn't sure about posting the full link as sometimes TG gets picky about that sort of stuff...

[Cicada]

You can check out Clay Hayes of Twisted staves on Youtube.....he's gonna be doing a build along of a board bow.

[Wolftrail]

Paleo Planet and Primitve archer is also loaded with that stuff.

=====================================
Myarchery
 http://myarchery.byethost18.com

[BMorv]

Sam Harper's website is awesome for beginners. He has a thorough, but not overly complicated way of explaining the keys issues to look out for when you are first starting out.  And his bows are built with minimal power tools.  Another plus for people just started out.  
I would have never started making bows if I hadn't stumbled upon his site 2 years ago.
 
4est Trekker's build alone is great too, but I would imagine it's difficult to follow now that photobucket sucks.

[John Malone]

Thanks guys.

[Pat B]

I'd say 2" at the fades and out 10" to half the limb then a straight taper to 1/2" at the tips(tips can be narrowed later to 3/8"). If your grain is somewhat iffy, I'd back the bow. Brown grocery bag paper is a good, strong backing that will help keep splinters down. You can also use silk(old neck ties or scarves from thrift stores or linen also from thrift store blouses, etc. You can use Tite Bond glue for these backings.

[monterey]

Everything PatB said.  I'll only add that a pyramid design has worked very well for me with oak boards.

[Pat B]

I've only made one pyramid red oak bow and it was backed with hickory. I have to say that that bow is tough as nails. I've let lots of folks shoot it, all different draw lengths and it still holds some of the original reflex.

[monterey]

I look often for good hickory but it's not common in the west.

[Cicada]

[Eric Krewson]

You need a tillering gizmo;

 http://tradgang.com/noncgi/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=125;t=001047#000000

[John Malone]

Thanks Mr. Krewson. I saw your gizmo a few months ago, you're a genius. Traditional wood working is a favorite hobby of mine so I made one. Thanks.