A longbow is an expensive piece of wood that has been 90% reduced to shavings.

Stringing a bow

Many archers use a stringer to string their bow. Many don't have any choice as their nocks are carved into fanciful shapes with sharp corners. If you want to use a stringer, get someone else to show you how; I've never got the hang of them.

The recurve technique of stepping through with the left leg doesn't seem to work well with longbows: I usually get my foot stuck and nearly fall over.

I find a direct approach works best: bottom nock on the ground, top nock in left hand, push down on the grip with the right knee, slide the top loop into the nock (the top nock is made longer so there is room to do this). It seems impossible at first, but that's just your own muscles fighting each other, because of your fear that the bow will break. It won't; it has to bend far more than that.

Nocking point

Your bow will come with a nocking point on the string. This is set, roughly, to suit my grip and hand size so I can test the bow. It probably won't suit you. To set your nocking point, first decide on your grip. Then nock an arrow and hold the bow so the string is vertical. The arrow should be pointing slightly down. Fit a nocking point in the right place. You can refine this with paper tuning – look it up in the archer's reference.

You'll know if your nocking point is too low, because your arrows will take chunks out of your knuckles.

Arrows and tuning

When an arrow is shot from a longbow, it starts off pointing well away from the plane of the bow. If the arrow were completely stiff, it would keep on pointing further and further away until it left the string. But arrows end up flying more or less in the plane of the bow – this is called the archer's paradox. What actually happens is that the arrow bends as it is accelerated by the string, and curves around the bow. If the arrow bends too much, it will not be accelerated as much as it could be – it's difficult to push a piece of string. If the arrow doesn't bend enough, it will rub against the bow and be subject to all the shakes and wobbles of the bow during the shot. Ideally, the arrow should lose contact with the bow, and the archer, as soon as the string is released, and stay out of contact, but only just. For target shooting it is better to have too bendy an arrow rather than too stiff. The amount an arrow bends depends not just on its inherent stiffness, but also on the weight of the point.

Arrow tuning is about finding the right shaft and point to suit the bow, and the archer. A good place to learn ways to do it is the archer's reference. A fuller guide can be found in Joe Tapley's web page. However, most tuning methods rely on getting group sizes that longbow archers can only dream of.

Since both the bow and the arrow are made of wood, their mechanical properties depend on the weather, so don't look for perfection.

A well tuned arrow flies like it means it.

Bracing height

The bracing height, the distance between the string and the bow, has an effect on bow efficiency, and hence on arrow speed. It can also have an effect on accuracy, if the string hits your wrist guard before the arrow leaves the string. The most efficient bracing height depends not just on the bow, but also on your draw length and the weight of arrow you are shooting. The most direct way of finding it is using an arrow speed meter; they cost about £100. Of course, if you do achieve a significant increase in arrow speed, you may need to change your arrows, and then you'll have to start again. And it all changes with the weather...

I just use the lowest bracing height which avoids the string hitting my wrist.

Ipê

Most woods can't withstand the stresses involved in a longbow. Most of those “traditionally” used (since Victorian times) are hard to come by, or have dubious ecological credentials. Ipê is grown in plantations in South America and seems fairly benign. See, for example, http://www.ipe-wood.com/faq.html

Bamboo

Some people say that bamboo isn't a wood, because it is a grass. But it is more closely related to oak and ash than yew or cedar are. Anyway, it makes really good bows. In particular, as a backing it seems to be virtually indestructible.

Finishes

Longbows need to be protected from the rain with varnish or oil. Oils, such as teak oil, seem to do a better job, but some woods, such as American Red Elm, need the added hardness that a polyurethane varnish gives. Regular polishing with a wax furniture polish will help keep the water out.

Compression fractures

The bane of bowyers. If the wood on the inside of the curve is compressed too much, the wood fibres develop a kink in a narrow zone. This can be felt as a small ridge. If you can't feel it, it isn't a compression fracture. They generally appear during final tillering, when almost all the work has been done. Sometimes they don't cause any trouble, but often they spread and ruin the bow.

Following the string

Bows start off straight, but most develop a permanent curve. This is called following the string. It means the wood has “crept”, and can't store as much energy as it did. Too bad – there's nothing to be done about it. Don't try to bend it back. Any effect will only last until the next shot, and you stand a good chance of breaking the bow.

Twisting and Canting

I'm not sure if this is standard terminology, but I say a bow is canted if the plane through the string and the bow is not at right angles to the back of the bow, and I say it is twisted if the string and the mid-section of the bow do not lie in the same plane.  Canting is a minor fault, though ugly.  Twisting is more serious as the bow will move around during release.

Arrow speed

I measure arrow speed with a Chronopal optical speed gun. I use at least four different arrow weights and obtain at least three good readings from each. The arrow speeds quoted for 400 grain and 500 grain arrows are interpolated from the results. This is more reliable than just measuring the speed of arrows of those nominal weights.

Bow efficiency

What does it mean? That's a good question. A physicist would tell you that it is the proportion of the energy put into drawing the bow that ends up in the arrow. But what an archer is thinking of is “how fast will the arrow go for a given draw weight?” The more energy efficient bow might actually shoot slower arrows, depending upon the draw curves. A related way of looking at efficiency is virtual mass but that doesn't seem to give the right answers either. A measure that seems to be much better is effective draw.

But while such figures might help me make better bows, they probably won't help you buy one. What it comes down to is arrow speed – the faster the better.

History

The longbow was the AK47 of medieval times: powerful, rugged and cheap. It was used to launch heavy arrows on a high trajectory so they fell on the enemy. The skill of the archer was in judging distance, no aiming was involved. The longbow is too big and clumsy for hunting or ambush – you can't sneak up on a deer with a six foot bow getting caught in every twig and bramble. Hunting bows don't need the power either, because most shots are at 25 yards or less. So using a longbow for target archery is like using an AK47 for target shooting. I bet some people do...