I don't know if this is the proper place to ask this question but I need some help. My boy scouts think they want to build some longbows. My question is, are there any vendors on TradGang that sell either floor tillered or raw hickory staves to scout troops at a discount? Thank you for your help, Martin
How many you thinking about building?
Right now it looks like probably twelve scouts but it could be more.
My scout troop is looking at doing the same thing. However (and please don't jump me for this, because I still believe that we will make wood at some point) we are going to use PVC pipe first, and use some of the plans we found on YouTube. In particular, a young man who goes by BackyardBowyer has several excellent videos, and has even written some books on the topic of PVC bows. Our thoughts were that if the scouts stayed interested and wanted to raise the level of difficulty, then we could move up to hickory bows from boards or staves.
Here is a link to the youtube videos I was referring to: https://www.youtube.com/user/BackyardBowyer?feature=watch
I made rattan bows with scouts once. We had to adjourn the meeting and finish up just as friends to shoot them though since I was not a registered shooting instructor. We had a blast.
Go with the flattened PVC youth bow for a bunch of kids.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95Buzpjllgo
Cheap easy and fast. If you have a couple that still have the interest and want after that then move on to wood.