So i am wanting a Medieval English longbow for use at Renaissance Fairs, general shooting and maybe small game.  I have had discussions with a Bowyer (sponsor) about modifying one of his current bows to meet my need. I am not aiming for totally accurate, just kinda have the look.  It will be a glass bow.  Probably 40-42 at 28".  No sight window (shoot off hand).  68 or 70 inch.  Yew is expensive, we discussed hickory and cherry limbs (hickory on the back and cherry on the belly of the limbs), small round riser made of hickory, G10 tips built up to look somewhat like horn.  I could go for total yew bow but it drives the price up.  As it is a glass bow I don't think I am giving up a lot of performance.  What do you think?

I'm pretty sure white oak was a fairly common wood used in the english long bows also. ELB's were typically a bend through the handle bow too, so no riser to really speak of. Should be a great bow for you either way it's made.

post some pics for us when it's done. Looking forward to seeing it.

Tattoo Dave

I would think any self-bow would be more "period correct" than anything with glass. Bristol Renaissance used to be pretty strict about everything within the fairgrounds.

I think you're a pretty fast learner.  You've got it under control.  All your options will work.  Just a matter of what you ultimately decide to do.  Not much of a performance difference, and they'll both look good.  Good luck.

Sounds to me like you need a few bows, not one -- bummer

Ren fairs -- haven't been to one but is this just for display (costume) or are there shooting competitions as well?  Hunting bow or English Longbow (war-bow)?  What's your character role -- woods hunter or part of the king's army?

For demo purposes & a little small game, 40# is probably more than you need.  Apologies -- can you clarify if you are an entry-level shooter or if you are a seasoned veteran with a bow? 

Hickory-backed cherry sounds like a good combo performance-wise.  I think ELBs were D-shaped -- different from a flatbow (American, I think).  But I'll let others say for sure as I only have a little bit of knowledge here. 

If the arrow pass is much past about 1.25" in width (5/8" from center), getting arrows to tune well becomes difficult for me.  That could just be me, though.  When I have wide handles, shot right-handed, my arrows still impact way left.  Going to even rediculously low-spined arrows, shot bareshaft, still impact left even if the shaft lands sideways with the nock going left.  Again, might just be me.  But it has always worked better for me to just scrape the pass down a little more to reduce the width in that area.  At least then I can get the arrow to shoot straight where I'm looking.  For costume, none of this matters in the least.  But for small game hunting, you're going to need some good accuracy & consistency.  A little forgiveness is helpful, too.

You might want to post this question on the bowyer's bench forum.  Very knowledgeable folks over there in just about any bowyer style you can imagine.

Under clear glass the hickory could be dyed to look more like yew. Action-boo is close in color also and good performance as well..........

I see so many really cheap options for bows like that used; on the Classifieds, Craiglist, etc.


Thats^ probably the route I would take.

Is a billet spliced ELB part of the history?  One of the very finest shooting bows that I ever played with was a third or fourth generation sinew backed billet yew with horn tips.  The straightest grained yew I have ever seen.

I have a glass longbow that I shoot off my knuckles; no shelf. It happens to have Vermont cherry limbs and it shoots great. I would not worry about it......glass makes up most of the performance.

If the historical correctness of it matters,Ash or Elm would be better substitutes for yew in an English longbow. I'm not sure if Hickory grows there. As far as performance, the glass is doing the lions share of the work, so they should be very similar.

With a glass bow the wood is decorative so choose the woods that match the colors you want.
The Victorian style ELB with a stiff handle area were used in the Victorian era for target shooting and would probably be an accepted style for Ren Fairs.

If your looking for options, Crows Head Archery makes a Huntsman Medieval English Longbow for around $200 and they are having a sale to boot. Check them out at Crowshead.com