Selfbow - Amercian Flat Bow and the ELB

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Kendaric
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Selfbow - Amercian Flat Bow and the ELB

#1 Post by Kendaric » Mon Aug 25, 2014 4:52 pm

The discussion about the Longbow and the origins about how the semi-longbow of Howard Hill (long American flatbow) became know within Australian and US circles as the 'longbow' that we generally know today, was for me, very fascinating.

At some point I always wanted to make a selfbow

The American flatbow came about, it seems, due to the fact that it was found that the flatbow rectangular cross-section was more effective than the ELB D section, and that other timbers could also be more easily used.

So what my question is - if you have both a ELB and an Amercian Flatbow, both at 68" in length - does the American Flatbow limbs have to be wider than the ELB?

Also I came across this link on how to build an AFB here: http://www.vintageprojects.com/archery/ ... plans.html

Does the AFB normally have multi-taper limbs as shown in this picture or can that be build with a straight taper?

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Mick Smith
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Re: Selfbow - Amercian Flat Bow and the ELB

#2 Post by Mick Smith » Mon Aug 25, 2014 7:25 pm

My take on how and why the American flatbow came into being relates back to a tradition of making flatbows that went right back to the native American indian bows. Nearly all of the indian bows were flatbows as the available timber lent itself to the making of such bows. Bow woods such as black locust and osage orange are probably best suited to flatbow designs, although it is possible to make decent ELB type bows from osage orange.

The fiberglass laminated flatbow was simply a modern take on the commercially available selfbows of the time, which in turn were based on native American bows.

The thickness of flatbow limbs depends on the type of timber used. Some timbers work best if they're relatively narrow and thick and others work better if they're relatively wide and thin. Flatbows were rarely used to shoot heavy arrows, as armour wasn't well developed in the Americas. Because of this, Indian flatbows were similar in draw weight to modern hunting bows generally.

English longbows may have evolved from heavy hunting bows that originated in Wales. The sole purpose of early ELBs was for warfare, so they were made in very heavy draw weights (up to around 130lb) that were capable of shooting very heavy arrows a long distance. The long, yet relatively narrow limbs have a thick rounded shape in cross section. The long and heavy limbs were perfect for drawing back to the ear to maximise the transfer of energy to the large heavy arrows then in use.

So to answer your question. Yes, generally a flatbow will have wider limbs than an ELB.
There is no use focusing on aiming if you don't execute the shot well enough to hit what your are aiming at.

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Kendaric
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Re: Selfbow - Amercian Flat Bow and the ELB

#3 Post by Kendaric » Tue Aug 26, 2014 9:06 am

So does the AFB normally have multi-taper limbs as shown in this picture or can that be build with a straight taper?

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Stickbow Hunter
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Re: Selfbow - Amercian Flat Bow and the ELB

#4 Post by Stickbow Hunter » Tue Aug 26, 2014 12:13 pm

Kendaric wrote:So what my question is - if you have both a ELB and an Amercian Flatbow, both at 68" in length - does the American Flatbow limbs have to be wider than the ELB?
Short answer is yes. A bow that is termed a flatbow usually has wider and thinner limbs. Longbows of rectangular cross section are usually narrower with a deep core.
Kendaric wrote:Does the AFB normally have multi-taper limbs as shown in this picture or can that be build with a straight taper?
IMO they vary a lot in limb shape. Some may have varying taper as in that article and others may just have a singular taper. I like to have my flat bow limb width parallel for about 2/3rd of the limb length before tapering to the string nocks.

I really like the look of the bow I took detailed photos of in this thread. http://www.ozbow.net/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=14916 It not only looks great but the tillering is exceptional.

Jeff

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