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Osage Longbow

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king3933:
I'm wanting to make an Osage Longbow that will finish out to be 64 inches long and 70@28. Does anyone have the layout dimensions for a bow like this? My Osage bow is 72 inches long and 2 inches wide and 1 and one eight thick. I want to have a flat back to add bamboo too and the belly I want to be D shaped.

I'm still working on making white oak board bows, however the boards are not as thick and I cannot get the shape or poundage I'm looking for. I can get around 45 to 50 pounds but again the bow is more of a flat bow and not a D shaped belly that I want to make.The white oak boards are 62 inches long and 2 inches wide and 3/4 thick.

Any advice or help will be greatly appreciated as I don't want to ruin my Osage. I have about $100 tied up in two boards. It is hard to find any hard wood board here in my area of Ohio. A lot of lumber yards have closed down and Lowe's has white oak some times and mostly red oak. Anyone know of a good supply store for hickory, cherry, Osage, yew, black locust, and others I would appreciate the information.

Going for back surgery next week so I have time to read and explore new ideas. I do have all the Boyer's Bibles and from Billets to Bow by Glenn St. Charles and I'm trying to learn from them as much as I can remember, but wood sometimes has its own memory and does not want to come out as I plan it to come out. Also any tools to help tillering would be nice to look at and compare to what I use.

tom sawyer:
Thats pretty short for such a stout longbow.

Osage isn't necessarily the best choice for the English/American longbow style.  I've seen them but they haven't been the best performers.  Osage lends itself better to a flatbow style, the nice thing about it is the limbs can be skinnier so you don't look like you have a boat paddle when youre' finished.  One of those would be 1.5" to midlimb, tapering to 1/2" nocks.  4" handle, 2" fades.  That ought to give you upwards of 70lb if you're careful.

Sorry, I can't help with dims on a longbow.  I'd guess 1.25" wide to mid-limb.  It might not have quite the high arched belly of a yew bow, but it should hold up.

The high-arched English-style longbow isn't known as a super performer anyway.

Pat B:
I built an osage ELB a few years ago and it won BOM for Feb 2006(I believe). You can get the specs from there. I don't remember off hand what they were.  You could also check out the "war bow" thread here on PA and ask there.   Pat

Justin Snyder:
For an boo backed osage, I don't think you are asking to much. But I have to agree with Lennie on the flat belly on that length. I have a holmegard that is 66" and pulls 70# at 29 1/2".  It is 1 1/2" wide handle and fades tapering to 3/4" @ 6" from the end. It immediately tapers to 3/8" before 4 1/2" from the end and is 3/8 at tips.  It has at least 12" of rigid handle. Way to much for any bow.  But it is durable and has taken no set. It does have a flat belly though.  Justin

Trapper:
I make osage longbows allthe time and ive never had any complaints about how they perform, But I dont make ELBs I make ALBs and the flat belly allows you to go pretty narrow,     Trapper

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