Primitive / Self Bow suggestions

[CrkdLtr]

Looking to step into Traditional / Primitive archery. I know 3 Rivers Archery has a few bows to choose from but curious if anyone else shoots or has suggestions on a one piece long bow or one piece recurve?

 

[tbone]

Looking to step into Traditional / Primitive archery. I know 3 Rivers Archery has a few bows to choose from but curious if anyone else shoots or has suggestions on a one piece long bow or one piece recurve?

I have a long list of links to custom made recurve and longbow web sites that I saved from searching for custom made bows on Google. Get out your wallet. The cheaper ones are around $500 on up to $1200. The takedowns are more expensive generally than the 1-piece bows. Some are works of art like Acadian Woods bows all of which are over $1000 if I remember correctly. Bob Lee, Palmer, Belcher and Brackenberry bows are fine bows but expensive, also.
Many of the less expensive bows today are made in China (like everything else). I don't have any experience with these.
I wouldn't order a recurve or longbow. I would want to shoot it before I bought it. Of the many that I have shot, some have so much stack they are impossible to shoot with consistent accuracy.
I got to shoot a friend of mine's longbows and recurves recently and really liked the reflex/deflex longbow. I think they are sort of a hybrid longbow/recurve - shorter than most longbows with some recurve in the limbs but not as much as the recurve.

 

[tbone]

I forgot to mention (although you may already know) that a self-bow is usually a bow you make yourself from a stave of wood. It is an ordeal to shave wood off and get the bow to draw correctly and I expect that a single piece of wood is not going to maintain the memory and draw weight nearly as long as a laminated limb containing fiberglass and wood. I believe that all self-bows are built to be longbows.

 

[LACamper]

And on the other end of the spectrum... At the LA ren fest which starts in a few weeks near Hammond there is a bow vendor there. Prices for unfinished bows start at $35 and go up to $150 or so. I think the name was Kee's Archery. Very rough bows but with some TLC and finishing could be nice, or at least a fun low cost project. I may pick one up just to use for bow fishing in the spillway.