[English Longbow] Yew longbow - draw length??

Hi there i'm pretty new to this archery lark so bare with me! I've made two selfbows so far, one out of ash (flatbow) and one out of yew (d-shaped). Both have gone pretty well and haven't snapped yet...but i'm not quite sure how far I should be able to draw them? The ash bow is 65 inches long and the yew bow is 72 inches, I haven't been able to measure the weight yet as our bathroom scales have bitten the dust..but the yew bow is significantly stiffer..at the moment I have made 3 arrows that are 24 inches long and they seem fine for the ash bow but i'm pretty certain that they are too short for the yew bow? So to clarify :scratchch what length arrow should I be using for a 72 inch d-shaped yew longbow??
 

English Bowman

Well-known member
Have a look at this thread
You should first work out your draw length. You should then make the bow to suit your draw length. And as I've said before the best thing to do is join a club.

Daniel
 
Cheers for the advice, like I said i'm very much a newbie. So I guess the next question is how do you work out your draw length then!? I have contacted the two closest clubs in my area, as you say i'm sure thats the best (and easiest!) way to get advice.
 
D

Deleted member 7654

Guest
Your draw length will basically depend on your stature and where you anchor at full draw. The anchor is the point where your hand should consistently stop at full draw, personally I fit the V of thumb and first finger against the angle at the back of my jaw bone. I think this is nice and comfortable and a good compromise between the kissing the string school and the Warbow fraternity who come right back to the ear or beyond.
This works out at 28" (ish) for me.
I have taken my longbow back to 31.5" but I wouldn't recomend it as a breakage would be rather upsetting. (That's a pic of it in my Avatar :) but I'm not going to do it again)
Kudos for making a Yew bow as there is not much of it a bout and it's a tricky process.
(Have a look at the bow making forum, a long way down the 'forum' page.
Wecome aboard)
BTW. You can buy a cheap spring balance which reads upto 110lb on the internet for about ?10, just the job for a tiller rig, I bought a small caravan winch too which is great for bringing a bow back slowly in a controlled manner.
Del.
 

steve58

New member
I found a website somewhere that claimed a 5'10" gent who wore a "regular" suit jacket would inevitably have a 28" draw! (Presuming the under the chin style.)

Works about right for me, but my mate is a couple of inches taller than me and draws an inch or so less. Go figure.

I have an old arrow marked in inches for measuring draw lengths, it is quite long as it was made before my draw length settled. You need to have several draws and get an average. The other thing is that it might vary with the poundage of the bow, when I was a beginner with longbow 10# of draw weight made at least an inch of difference.
 
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