I had a blast shooting with my uncle and cousin at the Neosho Archery range in WI today. It was a great course that I haven't been to since I was 13, a great group of guys!

It got me wanting to try my skills on building a longbow. I know the Bingham website has some resources, but I'd like any books, websites, or information that might make this potentially long process smooth. Yes, word choice was intentional. So who has some and hope the weekend brought on some great shot opportunities!

I would suggest that you just go with Bingham for all your info. It's not that there are not other sources or that Bingham is the one and only, but it's the nature of the net; the longer and harder you look, the more misinformaiton you will be subjected to.

Choose a Bingham design and go for it.

Binghams was the start for me. Traditional Bowyers Bible for selfbows. John

X2 with Bingham Projects bows. It's a great place to start. Don't let knowbody tell you different, knowbody! Even though some may tell you that there junk, ignore them! There not. there a great bow and a great start to building a bow. After you have a few under your belt and got through the nerve racking first time. You can alter the way you feel you want it to be. If you have some woodworking skills you can do it. So dive in and give a holler if you need more help. Knowbody starts off and makes a Grail there first time. You just need experience to know how and what you want. JF

Take your time on your bow form. The more precise it is. The better your bow will turn out. Joe wv

Thanks y'all for the advice. I am a perfectionist, so I will drive for a great first bow, but I think it is great advice that the grail won't come out of the first one. I'll do some more research and then take some calculated steps. I hope to talk to a few bowlers at Compton this summer and the other traditional shoots I make it to.

Shoot straight as I will be aiming at Carp this weekend!

I started building using info from build-alongs on here and other trad sites. Looking back, the quickest route to a good shooter would have been using an existing design but I learned a lot tweaking forms until I got a nice one. I built almost as many forms as I have bows :^)

I'm still a novice and haven't built one in a while but once you have the steps down and a good form, you can start playing with minor detail stuff. Thats where I have the most fun. You also get your stack and taper figured out and can hit weights pretty close.

Very nice bow glunt! That's how overlays are supposed to blend. Like the textured finish too!

Bingham is OK. You could look here also:

http://www.dickwightman.com/howardhill/hhsindex.html

He has a full build sequence, however you probably have to look for it on Archive.org. He is out of the game now and you need to look back a few years. If you poke around you will find a lot of different info there.

Trad Bowyer bibles are also good for glass bows, not in the sense of making them, but understanding them. Hill bows/real longbows are a lot more complex than they look, though you can start simple for sure.

I am assuming you want to build a real one due to the back quiver. Building hybrids, I started with modifying a Bingham, because I didn't like the design, it then gets to be a mater of making a few prototypes to get on the weight, and so forth.

Pulling one out of the hot box is like Christmas morning for a kid.

I have looked into the bowyer bibles and plan on reading thru a bit. I am a recurve guy but have been entranced by the short longbows like Big Jim's Thunderchild and Dwyer Endeavor. I'm getting rid of a Big River Bows because I can't get used to the grip. My thought is that the shorter longbows with a forward grip might help me make the transition.

Glunt@work-beautiful bows! I love the lines they make me think if Bruin Bows a bit.

Does anyone have information on forms for shorter longbows as mentioned above? Cheers!

Or you could go to 7lakes. they have blanks you could start out on.. See if you really like it??

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