With all the nice weather we have been having here in Ontario, I figured it was time to bust out the bow and arrows and warm up for the season. About two years ago a friend suggested that we build longbows. Scheduling to get together to build them was a hectic so I decided to just build my own. It was hard to get a good photo for the entire 72" longbow but I assure you its there. I followed the directions from "Poor Folk bows" and started with a $3 piece of red oak from Home Depot. The build was pretty smooth and easy if you take your time. The backing I used is the raw canvas I made the cups out of, and finished the bow with a Purple heart riser. It measures 72" and has a draw of 45# @ 29", completely legal to hunt with in Ontario. I remember walking in to the archery school for my intro classes with this longbow among all the Olympic style shooter, they were in fascinated, their bows had all the "bow bling" (stabilizers, and sights and releases), and here I show up with a glorified stick. HA!
The quiver is also handmade, it is 12oz saddle skirting hand stitched with snoseal to protect it. Most of the commercial quivers are black or brown, I love the natural colour of my quiver. The only thing I wish I changed...and still might is making the strap removable and swivel-able. The arm guard is also 12oz skirting and works fantastic at preventing arm slap. The antler button on the front is just for decoration. Lacing up the Quiver was a bit of a challenge towards the middle, as the length was out of my reach. In the end its is one "tough as nails quiver", with the wax and the 12oz leather its is bombproof, a seriously rugged quiver.
I have since also bought a Samick Sage recurve bow, a entry level takedown bow. It is a surprisingly amazing bow for a sub $200 bow. Maybe as I become a everyday Robin Hood, I will get myself a nice Bear Bow.
Learning how to accurately and efficiently use a bare-bow is such a great skill to have, It teaches you focus, patience, relaxation, as well as posture, and its pretty rad when seeing the power the arrow leaves the bow with and the sound of contact. So if your looking for a great project this summer that is really quite cheap, build a bow! Archery honestly is fun for the whole family.
it´s just amazing how quick you make progress my shooting instinctively (if you know your aiming eye). Sold my compound bow and bought a longbow about a month after it. love it! Your Leatherwork on the bow is superb, i just bought the 0815 stuff from the web, I wish i would be more skilled with working with leather. bye alex
ReplyDeletewhat kind of longbow do you have?
Deletecome on man...full pics of the bow! gorgeous quiver
ReplyDeleteI will see, I would just be afraid it would look small and you couldn't see the detail.
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