How to Make a Longbow

(www.howtomakealongbow.co.uk)

144 points nbernard | 2 comments | 4/11/2025, 9:49:00 AM | HN request time: 0.412s | source

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allturtles ◴[4/11/2025, 12:58:00 PM] No.43653275[source]▶

Cool! Part 2 on "gluing laminations" got me to wondering how an ancient/medieval bowyer would have actually glued the layers together, considering they didn't have access to polyvinyl acetate. Wikipedia has some clues at [0]: "Traditionally animal proteins like casein from milk or collagen from animal hides and bones were boiled down to make early glues." and [1]: "A Scythian wood-laminate bow was... constructed by laminating several fine strips of willow and alder wood, bound with fish glue and wrapped in birch bark."

[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wood_glue

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laminated_bow

replies(3): >>43653315 #>>43653339 #>>43662136 #

1. techas ◴[4/11/2025, 1:08:00 PM] No.43653339[source]▶

>>43653275 #

This kind of animal glues have some nice properties than “white glue” miss, e.g. you can remove it with heat. Traditional woodworkers still use it. You can buy it today: https://www.fine-tools.com/oberfl.html

replies(1): >>43676825 #

2. mauvehaus ◴[4/14/2025, 12:02:00 AM] No.43676825[source]▶

>>43653339 (TP) #

I use it for most glue-ups. I'm a big fan of Old Brown Glue:

https://oldbrownglue.com/

Great stuff, and the videos they put out are outstanding as well. The one about veneering a column is highly worth watching and illustrates the advantages of an animal protein glue in a real application.

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