Good afternoon and happy Father’s day to all. Wondered if I can get some information from the long bow shooters here. Just picked up a long bow at a flee market. Says Custom built by Louie Armbruster, Zebra Grevy. From what I could tell it is a RH 70” 59# at 27 or 28”. Beautiful bow with what it looks like purple heart lams. Is there a way to desypher the serial number to get its age? Being a recurve bow shooter, long bows are beyond my knowledge. Any input will be much appreciated.

I don't know if you can decipher the date code, but you stumbled across one of the finest American style longbows that was ever made, built by one of the best bowyers that ever built a bow.

70" and 59lbs. that bow will be one more sweet shooting bow.

Louie Armbuster was a top level Hill style longbow maker,,making bows in Iowa Being 70" id say its one of Louies bows compared to the man he sold the company to Doug,,,,,liked to make shorter longbows,,,which is kinda how you tell the maker and close to a time frame not from ser#

Maybe Ron Laclair will chime in Louie made the longbow Ron used to win the Longbow World Championship i think his was 83#

Louies bows are great! I know theres guys here with his bows i have one and i have owned every ASL you can think of and his bows rank right up with the best in the business That said Louie made bows his way noone elses,,,he liked alot of back set compared to others,,,,like 1-1/2-2" I suggest you give the bow time and learn the Hill system to truely enjoy that style of bow Or PM me id love another Zebra

what’s the brace height that works on these bows?

Don't know if Louie is still alive. If he is, he would be in his 80s, I think. He built bows in Beetown, a small community in far southwest Wisconsin. When he retired, a fella by the name of Doug Duncan took over the business. Duncan also built recurves, but didn't stay in the business long.

Louie's bows are very well made. Unusual to find one so "light." Enjoy.

Low brace heights Louie prefered close to 6" and not over really Id start at 5-3/4" and play the brace from there

Early 1980s

Thank you gentlemen. Did some searching and think that 83 in serial number indicates year built. For a 35 year old bow this thing is in perfect shape. slight clear coat scratches, no twists or any type of structual damages

From that pic it looks like Yew and bamboo lams,,,i love that mix of lam woods

Thets a piece of junk

Ill take it off your hands,,,,you wouldnt wanta been seen with that bow ; )

Man alive nice find.

WOW! I’ve just getting into longbows in the last couple of years and that is sweet! Keep us updated on how you do with it. Lance

I had the privilege of meeting Louie and owning a couple of his bows. For a long time he made his home in Bluegrass, Iowa. Later, he moved to Wisconsin and set up his shop in Potosi, Wisconsin. That is where I met him. He made fine bows and stood behind them. I learned he was a veteran (Navy as I recall). I took my uncle with me on one visit to Louie's shop. They hit it off great. They were both the same age and both Navy veterans from WW2. They told stories for some time and Louie broke out some of his homemade wine! Louie demonstrated his method of file sharpening broadheads also. He was strictly a still hunter at ground level. He did not hunt from treestands. I was saddened to hear of his passing a few years back.

Thats a beauty. The lams look like Maple and Osage gone dark, to me. Those tips are something else, they look like Art Deco jewelry.

1983 very nice bow. I’ve owned quite a few of Louie’s Bows.

Maple, Purple Heart, and cocobola for a limb core.

Maple, Purple Heart, bubinga is what I meant!

Marked 59#@27” this thing does feel heavy getting it to my 31.75” DL. Never shot a long bow before, so what do I know.

Be careful pulling that bow back that far. If it’s hitting a wall like that (stacking) it’s telling you it’s redlining. That’s 35 year old glue that’s holding that bow together remember.

had to put it down after 2 shots.

Great score, I had two, wish I still had 'em, this one was 48#@27 69".

Your draw length on a recurve shooting tournament style will be longer then if you shoot an ASL Hill style which is what that bow is meant for Hard to explain

Yep hill style long bow you should shoot with a bent elbow per John Schulz. Will probably shorten your draw by 2 maybe 3 inches.

Welcome to our merry band of longbowen.

I suggest you do some casual archery with your longbow at unknown distances, shooting by feel. Roving or stump shooting can accomplish that, so can shooting walk-backs at an unmarked range, my favorite. I start up very close, look where I want to hit and shoot by feel. Slowly stroll back a few steps, nock an arrow and shoot again. Repeat until your quiver is empty. No range estimation, no conscious aiming, feeeel the shot. Cant the bow a bit and maybe lean forward a bit. Grip gently with the middle fingers or the last two.

Your fine longbow and you may bond together after a couple of weeks.

Kindly let us know how it goes. - lbg

Rod has the right history as I new it too. I never got to meet Louie but learned a lot from Doug who made his bows similar to Louie. I shot a few of the zebra bows for 30 years until I needed to lighten up in pounds. Great bows

My Grevy...70" 58@28, brown glass. Great shooting bow

Spent all day yesterday reading all the stories about this man and his craft. Funny how a random flee market find leads to a day long diving into quite engaging stories. Been learning to shoot recurves for the last 8 months and with a long draw lengh don’t think we are a match. It deserves to be in the hands of someone who fully appreciates its history and capabilities.

Anderi,,,,if you dont have alot of money in it you should hold on to it and try learning how to shoot it they way it was meant to Like i said you have to learn how to shoot it,,if you shoot it like a recurve it wont be enjoyable If you learn a technique it was meant for its magical It is s top quality ASL

Thanks.

Louie was a great bow maker, VERY set in his ways

I still have the bow that he made for me in 1979, 70" 83#@ 28", all purple heart riser and laminations. I won the World Longbow championship with it in 1980.

This is a picture shooting that bow at the shoot

Ron now that you've shoot 1000 longbow since then how do you like purplehart as a limb wood? Never heard of anyone else using it. I've always wanted one of his bows but never see one light enough.

While we're waiting for Ron to answer that question, I'll point out that a guy in Aztec NM used to make a lot of purpleheart longbows, as did Randy Hamilton of Scorpion Longbows. I've made a couple and found it works fine, but nothing special, except for looks. It's heavier than most woods used in laminated bows but only a tiny bit stiffer, so it makes for a heavier limb for a given draw weight, which slightly robs performance and smoothness. If you like glass laminated longbows with osage limbs, you'd like purpleheart. For me, I prefer lighter woods.

The bow pictures on this post look like purpleheart mixed with lighter woods, so less of an effect there.

Mountain Man, the picture of Louie had on the same attire when I bumped into him by Potters Flowage, Black River St. Forrest, Wi. one evening. He was walking down the same sand road that I was going toward him, had a nice chat. He had his Gravy and I had my Fedora 560, a good man for his time and ours.

Oh i think i coulda chucked some ceder with Louie ; )

I think purple heart is better suited for contrast wood, a little too heavy for limb core in my estimation.

I think purple heart is better suited for contrast wood, a little too heavy for limb core in my estimation.

If you have already registered, please

sign in now

For new registrations

Click Here