My GF Paula needs a longbow ... four 45-60# longbows are gathering dust... what bowyer would be into shaving one down to 30ish pounds? John Kelly 505 503-9385

you are not going to get a bow at 50 lbs down to 35 lbs. you can get around 5lbs off on a limbs

sell 4 and get her anew one

yes get her a new one, with a grip that will fit her,,

Anybody you know has made good longbows for women? Maybe Creative Anachronism people have ideas...

I'd whittle it out myself but....

I think somebody at Great Northern said something about 5# years ago...sounds like nothing much changes with longbows :-) JK

But what! It's just physics. But you can try doing it yourself. At least that won't cost you anything.

"sell 4 and get her a new one"

Best suggestion so far.

Should be able to sell 2 if they are nice, and get her a new one.

Basic physics is that to reduce the weight by half you need to reduce the width by half or the thickness by a around 20 percent. Neither works because the proportions are important for stability and to not take away too much of the glass. 20 percent of a Hill bow with around 500 thou core, and 100 thou glass would be all the glass.

Who is a bowyer who does such work

I would think that the bow design, and how much Overbuilt the bow is to start with would decide how much weight can be taken off the bow...Also, don't forget to subtract bow weight at your Lady's draw length from the marked weight, if Her draw length is shorter than the given bow weight at a specific draw length...Straight limb Longbows can lose as much h as 4# an inch, in middle weight bows...Jim

Call Tracey at St. Joe River Bows in Michigan. She builds great bows for beginners at a very good price. That may be a place to start. There are plenty of "beginner" bows out there. Check the obvious distributors like Lancaster Archer, 3Rivers, Lost Nation, etc. Google is your friend also.

See if you can find someone that will trade a couple of the dust gatherers for a light one for the GF. Put it in the clasifieds that you are willing to do some swapping. I bet someone has one to deal. Tried the swap thread?? Put it up, someone has what you need to trade.

As an old codger who has been around the block a few times, my advice is to ask yourself a few questions: How long has this relationship been going? How serious is this relationship? How much interest does she really show in this sport of shooting a longbow? Does she have a history of staying with a sport? If she is really interested in shooting longbow, why hasn't she bought one for herself to participate with you? Is this purchase going to be just the beginning of you being a life support system?

I know, I know, I sound like a codgety old codger, but like I said, I've been around the block a few times and learned a couple of things on the trip.

No need to answer publicly, but these are solid questions for you to answer for yourself before you trsde off your stuff or buy sdomthing new.

I took 7 pounds off a bow, we test shot it with the same arrow before and after. It lost no speed with the trimming. Not all bows can be reduced. Some longbows are finished to their minimum. As a side to CA. My wife had never paddled a canoe or shot a bow. She has since, married for 44 years, has paddled many many miles on Canadian canoe trips, has shot a bunch of deer and even now in her 60s she has the young compound guys amazed at how accurate she is out to 50 yards with her longbow. You never know, but that first bow has to be very easy to shoot. I would suggest a kiddy weight recurve and nice light dart for arrows.

"""I know, I know, I sound like a codgety old codger"""

No, actually you sound like a crotchety old fart. 8^))).

You may want to consider an older semi recurve as well, since they are basically the same as what they call hybrid longbows now. You can pick up a Pearson Varsity, or York Crescent, or Bear Alaskan...early 60's model, etc., etc., etc. Usually for about $75.00 or less and they shoot very well. My granddaughter has a Ben Pearson Varsity model at 30#. She's 24 now and I bought it for her when she was 12...after she had started archery at age 4.

If it's your idea and not hers, I would hesitate to drop much money on a custom until it works out that she takes to it.

I have found that with a double lung hit, a 37 pound Hill will take a deer down as fast as the same hit with a 90 pound Hill.

Gents...good insights..except about wimmen :-) I've found they're like bows: enjoy em'.

found a fiberglass mystery longbow with a couple of light junque arras in my maximum clutter...guess it's about 40#... ugly...may work as a reference point. Paula's excited, but I suspect 30# would be better.

George, "Get off my lawn!"

Crossed Arrows,, where were you when I needed you,, I have been the life support so many times I am just now getting on my feet at 62 :):) sorry about George on your lawn,, he has a mind of his own,, :)

Look up Mad Dog bows you cant go wrong.

Gave up (for now) on a light-enough LB for Paula...

Ordered a PSE Snake (recurve)... 20#...looks good in photos and on Youtube... Bass Pro Shop

Credible-sounding reviews @ Bass/Cabelas/Amazon.... $40 with shipping.

Katniss, the archer in Hunger Games, has reportedly made these bows wildly popular :-)

https://www.pinterest.com/explore/katniss-everdeen/

PSE Snake was an OK first step, but it's far too light. I'll give it to somebody with a kid.

A great guy loaned a 35# flatbow. Today at the range we have solved her consistent shooting-to-the-left by removing the arrow plate and having her shoot cock-feather-in ...Her form is good. Great progress for 2 months (she's also been shooting in the back yard).

Never seen anyone on here say who could take weight off a longbow. I would be interested in taking 4 or 5 lbs. off mine.

greyrider - Many bowyers tend to shy away from weight reduction work so they can concentrate on their custom bow backlog. That being said, I recently had Weylin Olive at Swiftwood Bows take 8 pounds off a yew English Longbow for me and I know that JD Berry occasionally does similar work on Hill Style bows with glass lams.

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