Getting Started in Traditional Archery EP 3 The Longbow

The first bows were just a simple branch with a string on it. Nothing fancy and it served us well for thousands of years. All bows can be traced back to that original, simple, elegant and timeless design. All traditional bows are the direct descendants of that first bow. That first bow has many names from stick bow, primitive bow, with the most common being the longbow. The longbow is a part of human history. It is on cave paintings made thousands and thousands of years ago. It is carved into reliefs of different cultures, nations and people now long gone. But no culture is associated with the longbow as the English. Now there are those who will say the longbow is really Welsh and this is quite possibly true. But there is little doubt that no people in Europe is so associated with the longbow like the English. The longbow was there in some of England's biggest and most important moments. Hastings in 1066, where an arrow to the eye ended Anglo-Saxon rule and ushered in Norman rule. Later, in the Hundred Years War, at the Battle of Circes and Agincourt, English archers played a huge part in defeating their French opponents. In England, archers were so valued that the king made it mandatory that people had to practice archery. It was the law. The longbow and England are intertwined. Want proof? Look no further than the legend of Robin Hood. Everybody knows it. Countless movies have been made about it. But it's not just the English. Other cultures and people are closely tied to it too. In Japan, before the sword came to symbolize the samurai, they were known for their skill in archery. In North America, the Native Americans are such a people. It was a Native American named Ishii who helped spark a renewed interest into historical archery and archery in general in the early 20th century. From Europe, the Americas, to Africa and beyond, that simple and elegant bow is as much a part of human history as any invention of the human race. But like anything else, the bow became obsolete. The introduction of gunpowder and firearms changed the world and left archery as a footnote of history. Outside of a few cultures, like those in the Amazon that used archery to survive, archery was relegated to being a sport of the elite, like in Japan, where it was formalized into an art of self-discovery. But after many years of being dormant, archery was slowly rediscovered. People started again to hunt with the competitions and even more to shop for the fun of it. And with that, boyars began to relearn lessons long forgotten. In that age of rediscovery, the dominant bow style was the English longbow. But that was about to change. In the 1930s, some college students decided to do a study on the bow, specifically about limb design. They thought the study would prove once and for all that the classic D shape of the English longbow was the superior design. What they found out, to their surprise, was that a flat rectangular shape was a far superior choice. And that flat shape has now become known as the American style longbow. Now, the flatbow has been around forever. Remember, it's like I said, we just forgot about the past. So that's why they put our name on it, because these guys rediscovered it. The flatbow is now the dominant bow style of the longbow. The longbow, whether in its classical English design, to the board bow of the backyard boyar, to the state-of-the-art ILF bow, with machined risers and carboned limbs, is proof that the longbow is going to be with us for a long, long time. When talking about the longbow, you will hear different terminology. And here's a few. ELB, just short for English longbow. The English longbow is usually made of U, on average about six feet long, and has a D shape profile. Now, we have a wealth of information about this bow, thanks to the wreck of the Mary Rose. And I suggest you look that up, because it's really interesting information. Now, this bow is a legend. It's the one used at Agincourt, and it's the bow used by Robin Hood. ASL, American style longbow. This bow, unlike its English brethren, has a flat profile, and it's the most common bow design made today. The Howard Hill bow. This is a bow popular in the United States, and it's the one used by the famous archer Howard Hill. It has a very specific design, and it has quite the following. Reflex, deflex. This refers to the limbs. A deflex is where the limbs curl back towards you, like you see in the picture, and then curves away from you on the tips. Hybrid. It's another way how people describe a reflex, deflex bow. Stick bow. A stick bow is a bow made from a stave of wood, where the people scrape off layers until they get a bow. It's a throwback to the oldest design, and it is a fantastic way to learn about archery. Primitive bow. Just another way to describe a stick bow. ILF, the International Limb Fitting. This is a standardized limb design, which allows limbs to be used with different risers. Before, it all depended on how the bowyer made it. Some used two bolts, some used one bolt, some used one bolt and a frame. Limbs were never interchangeable until this design, and it's totally changed archery. Takedown. The takedown refers to bows that are capable of being taken down in either two or three pieces to aid in transportation. Archer's Paradox. This one's a tough one. There's a big misconception out there that the Archer's Paradox is the arrow flexing. That's not it. What it is, it's a phenomenon where your bow is at brace height, the arrow is actually pointing off at an angle. So instead of the arrow going straight, it looks like your arrow should shoot off to the side. But when you pull back to full draw, that paradox decreases to a bit. Now the paradox only exists in bows not cut to center. And the big thing about the paradox that you need to know is if your bow has the Archer's Paradox, or in other words, it's not cut to center, you're gonna need a softer or a weaker spined arrow. An arrow that'll flex a little more so it'll get around the riser. Up next, let's look at some longbows and shoot them and tell you pluses, minus, and the general consensus of them. All right, now that we know the basics of a longbow, terminology, parts, and yada yada yada, let's take a look at them. But here's a big one. How can you tell it's a longbow? Right? There is no set definition, but easiest way is this. If the string does not touch the limb, it's pretty much a longbow. Right? It can get confusing, especially when you get talking about hybrids. First thing we're talking about is price. You can find longbows from cheap to expensive. This is about a 1965 Ben Pearson Jet fiberglass bow. They're called indestructible and you can find them for 20 bucks at a yard sale. A lot more online because people found out how how much fun they are and the prices have gone up. These bows were mass-produced in the hundreds of thousands and they produced them forever. And they're simple bows. Check my brace head here. They're simple. They are hard to tune though. So if you do get one, understand you're gonna really have to play with it to get rid of everything. So let's take a shot with it, see how it goes. All right. I like the grip. It's a nice simple grip. This is a grip you just sort of hang on to. Shoots great, right where I want. No problems with it. You know, you're gonna hear with longbows a lot of terms people use. More forgiving, more this, more that, less this, less that. It's all debatable. Side by side. All right. There you have it. A fun bow. Remember I said more forgiving? That's arguable because if you look at barebow archers, they're always putting on weight. Their bows weigh up to six pounds. And the reason they got all that weight is because with a lightweight bow, if I make a little twitch off to here, this doesn't absorb it. It amplifies it. So you see a lot more variations in your shots when you use a lightweight bow. That is a downside of the longbow. But good form, you don't have that problem. All right. So price. Anywhere from 20 bucks up to $2,000 plus for a custom one. Where you want to be is up to you. I would say to start out, start cheap. So after price comes size. All right. Longbows come in anything from like 58 inches on the way up to over six feet. This is a 66 inch Ben Pearson Silver Sovereign Highlander. Now remember what I told you about just a few minutes ago about whether it's a longbow? This one's as close as you can get. The serving touches, but not the string. And this is from the early 60s. And this is what they called a semi recurve. But over time, that's become more of a longbow by definition. Right. So what's the benefit of a longer bow to a shorter bow? Longer bows are, you'll feel less energy required, less force, less resistance for the same draw weight. Because it has more distance to spread it out over. So when you first start, don't buy a heavyweight bow. Right. Get a nice middle weight, about 30 pounds. I would say 30 to 35 max. And learn how to shoot with that. All right. And then if you like it, it's something you want to keep up with, then you move up to a heavyweight bow. And remember, if you're gonna go to a heavyweight bow, make it a little bit longer and it's easier to shoot. These things are so easy to shoot and hold. So here we go. Let's take a shot with the Silver Sovereign. Easy to shoot bow. That 66 inches makes it so easy to draw and hold. All right. There you have it. Second thing you got to consider is height. How long of a bow you want. Third thing is you can make them. Now there's three types you can make. A stick bow, a board bow, and a laminated bow. A stick bow is where you take a stave, a section of wood from a tree, and you shave it down in the shape of your bow. Board bow is where you go to Home Depot, buy a board, put backing on it, shave the belly of it, and you got a bow. Laminated, you got to build a press and you can put fiberglass on. That's what I did. This is my homemade bow. 60 inches. You can see it fits the definition of a longbow because the string does not touch the limb. This baby is 40 pounds. I have a ball with it. Take a couple shots with it. There's no more fun that you'll ever have than shooting a bow you made. And there's no more satisfaction than hitting the bullseye with a bow you made. So there you have it. Third thing you do is you can make one. And the final thing is age. Do you want an old bow or a new modern bow? Old bows are cool. That's what I shoot a lot of. There is a performance gap. It's not that big, not that major to me. Big thing is with modern bows, you got modern materials. Like this here is manufactured wood, so it's much more stronger than natural wood will ever be. And I got bamboo cores, fiberglass. You see it is a longbow. This is technically a hybrid longbow. For modern bows, like I said, the biggest difference is they perform better. And there you have it. So you can base it on price. You can base it on size. That's consideration. Whether you want to make it or not. And if you want to go modern or vintage. Those are your basic categories when you're deciding on building a longbow. So what about a longbow? What makes it cool? Well, the history factor, right? The tradition of it. You know, ancient longbow archers from England wiping out the Calvary at Searcy and Agincourt. To Robin Hood. We've all seen them. To the Native Americans riding their horses with a form of a longbow. To tribal people in Brazil and Southeast Asia, Africa. It's the most traditional bow shape out there. And it's just a nostalgia for many people. If that's what you're looking for, the longbow is the bow of choice. They're good performers. Modern longbows, like these, the hybrids, have really closed the gap on recurves. But recurves still outperform them performance-wise. Speed, accuracy, and things like that. But don't take that as a downside, right? You can be just plenty accurate with a longbow for hunting, for target archery, and everything else. You just may not be at national level competitions, you know? But that's okay. You're just starting. So there you have it. The longbow. The granddaddy of all bows. All right. It's a simple bow that can bring years and years of pleasure. All right, everybody. Most importantly here, we're gonna wrap it up. And then you can go out and watch the next one about recurves. All right, everybody. There you have it. The longbow. I did forget one area. And that's whether you want one piece, two piece, or three piece longbow. Totally personal preference. The two pieces are fairly rare. Three pieces are more common. And they're just easier to travel with. All right. So there you have it. The longbow. The granddaddy of all bows. All right. Thanks for watching. Don't forget to subscribe. And don't forget to check out the website here for 3darchery.net where you can find out about archery, clubs, courses, festivals, competitions, product reviews, and targets by me, 3darchery. All right, everybody. We'll see you next time with an all-new episode. Trade Archery 101.