Reviving old-ish longbows

TJ Mason

Soaring
Supporter
Fonz Awardee
American Shoot
Our club recently received a donation of two longbows, which belonged to the couple who founded the club. But these have not been shot for at least 20 years. They were probably made in the 1980s.

Both bows appear to be in good condition and have been stored in bow bags away from heat, cold and damp. But I'm aware that a longbow needs to be reminded that it is a bow when it's not been shot for a long time.

Do you have any advice on how we should treat these bows intially, please, so they don't break on first use?

One is a lovely slim bow of about 26 pounds draw weight. It has two laminations of a mid-brown wood (no idea which) backed with a relatively thick lamination of a lighter-coloured wood. It was made by an unknown bowyer in Whitby.

The other is a 56 pounder made by George Thorley. It's very nearly a self-bow, but has a thin backing of what seems to be the same wood as on the belly side.

Both bows have light-coloured horn nocks.
 

blakey

Active member
Our club recently received a donation of two longbows, which belonged to the couple who founded the club. But these have not been shot for at least 20 years. They were probably made in the 1980s.

Both bows appear to be in good condition and have been stored in bow bags away from heat, cold and damp. But I'm aware that a longbow needs to be reminded that it is a bow when it's not been shot for a long time.

Do you have any advice on how we should treat these bows intially, please, so they don't break on first use?

One is a lovely slim bow of about 26 pounds draw weight. It has two laminations of a mid-brown wood (no idea which) backed with a relatively thick lamination of a lighter-coloured wood. It was made by an unknown bowyer in Whitby.

The other is a 56 pounder made by George Thorley. It's very nearly a self-bow, but has a thin backing of what seems to be the same wood as on the belly side.

Both bows have light-coloured horn nocks.
Warm them up with a vigorous rubbing with oil or wax, then shoot them in gently, a dozen or so arrows at half draw, gradually working out to full draw. And don't let any gorillas with long arm/draw lengths near them. Most of our members with self bows do this every time before they commence shooting. Good luck. :)
 

TJ Mason

Soaring
Supporter
Fonz Awardee
American Shoot
Thanks Blakey,

I hadn't thought of oil or wax, but it makes sense - they're probably on the dry side after all this time.
 

Flamez

Member
AIUK Saviour
Safety glasses on and get them shot.....

- - - Updated - - -

Safety glasses on and get them shot.....
 

Raven's_Eye

Active member
Ironman
As well as warming up with oil/wax and half drawing, it might be an idea to have them at a low bracing height to start with as well to remind the wood how to bend again. It might be an idea a few times after rubbing them with oil/wax to just leave them strung for a bit not shoot them and unstring them after 30mins say. Again just get the wood used to bending.
 

Simon Banks

Active member
Wouldn't oil soften the wood?
My understanding is if the wood is dry/damp just keep it in a normal room for a fries days to let it normalise. If it's always been stored in average conditions away from extremes then you can exercise it in by slowly bringing it to half draw a number of times letting it rest and going a little further..


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blakey

Active member
Wouldn't oil soften the wood?
My understanding is if the wood is dry/damp just keep it in a normal room for a fries days to let it normalise. If it's always been stored in average conditions away from extremes then you can exercise it in by slowly bringing it to half draw a number of times letting it rest and going a little further..


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Hi Simon, I've been told the oiling/waxing is more like a massage to warm up the wood rather than trying to alter the moisture content. If the wood core has dried out then you're in trouble anyway. I shouldn't think that would be a problem in England because you have reasonably consistent humidity (unless someone has stored them in air conditioning?). It can be a real problem over here in the Dry season. If you pick up an old bow and happily go to full draw it will likely break. I've managed to do it a couple of times. It's most upsetting. I did it once with a yew bow. Cried for a week! Cheers
 
D

Deleted member 7654

Guest
There shouldn't really be a problem in the Uk unless they've been kept in a very dry hot place, but waxing them is good even if it just helps you feel any lifted splinters.
Brace 'em and leave them braced for a few hours then flex them back and forth slowly working up to full draw.
I have bow that I don't shoot from one year to the next, they don't get anty special treatment.
I've even taken it to the extreme to see what happens. I took an old bow that had a load of set, strapped it down straight heat tteated the belly re-tillered it, without worrying about re-acclimatising it or such like. No problem.
Mind caution is always better than a smashed bow.
Del
 

WillS

New member
Warming up the bow, stretching the bow, "teaching the wood to bend again" and oiling/waxing is all a waste of time. Honestly.

It's a piece of wood. Once it's been made into a bow, it's a bow. If it's been made properly you should be able to brace it to full height, and get it back to full draw no matter how long it's been sitting untouched. I think there's FAR too much stuff out there (probably put forward by bowyers to save their bacon just in case something goes wrong) that gets regurgitated over and over again until people think it's fact.

Rubbing a piece of wood won't warm it up. It absolutely definitely won't warm up the middle of it, and even if it does warm up the outside through friction, that won't do a single thing to help it bend again.

Waxing/oiling won't do anything either. You wax and oil a bow to keep moisture out, not to warm up the fibres of the wood. You can even apply it with a hot air gun and it won't change the way the bow behaves.

It doesn't really matter what the draw weight is, but at such light poundages yours will be fine no matter what you do. In all honesty, you could pick up a 140lb bow that's been sat in storage for 10 years and get it back to full draw, and it will only fail if it was made badly to start with.


I know this is against what everybody else has said, and by all means spend all the time you want rubbing a piece of wood and "teaching it to bend again" but rest assured if you happen to forget to do so, you won't find yourself holding a load of splinters.
 
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