A longbow is a type of bow that is tall (roughly equal to the height of a person who uses it); this will allow its user a fairly long draw, at least to the jaw (the average length of the Mary Rose arrowshafts is 75 cm/30 in). A longbow is not significantly recurved. Its limbs are relatively narrow so that they are circular or D-shaped in cross section. Flatbows can be just as long; the difference is that, in cross-section, a flatbow has limbs that are approximately rectangular…
Also, the Victorian longbow does not bend throughout the entire length, as does the medieval longbow. Longbows have been used for hunting and warfare, by many cultures around the world, a famous example being the English longbow, during the Middle Ages.
Traditional longbows are self bows, made from a single natural piece of wood. They have been used for thousands of years, for hunting and warfare… Worldwide the average power for bows of all designs is about 50 pounds at 28 inches of draw which is suitable for most hunting applications. Bows for warfare tend to be much more powerful, with the most powerful bows being the English longbow and the African elephant bow, both of which topped the 200 pound at 32 inches mark. Many men in medieval England were capable of shooting bows from 150–200 pounds — skeletons of archers have been studied, revealing spur like projections on the bones where their over-developed muscles pulled. However, these men did train daily from a very young age and their lives depended on being able to use such powerful bows.[5] There are modern day examples of men who can draw such powerful bows…
In the Middle Ages the Welsh and the English were famous for their very powerful English longbows, used to great effect in the civil wars of the period and against the French in the Hundred Years' War (with notable success at the battles of Crécy (1346), Poitiers (1356) and Agincourt (1415)).
Although firearms supplanted bows in warfare, wooden or fibreglass laminated longbows continue to be used by traditional archers and some tribal societies, for recreation and hunting...
One of the simpler longbow designs is known as the self bow. By definition, a self bow is made from a single piece of wood. Truly traditional English longbows are self bows, made from yew wood. The bowstave is cut from the radius of the tree so that the sapwood (on the outside of the tree) becomes the back two thirds and the belly, the remaining one third, is heartwood. Yew sapwood is good only in tension, while the heartwood is good in compression. However, one must make compromises when making a yew longbow, as it is difficult to find perfect unblemished yew. The demand for yew bowstaves was such that by the late 1500s, mature yew trees were almost extinct in northern Europe[6]. In other desirable woods such as Osage orange and Mulberry the sapwood is almost useless and is normally removed entirely…
Wooden laminated longbows can be made by gluing together two or more different pieces of wood. Usually this is done to take advantage of the inherent properties of different woods: some woods can better withstand compression while others are better at withstanding tension. Examples include hickory and lemonwood or bamboo and yew longbows: hickory or bamboo is used on the back of the bow (the part facing away from the archer when shooting) and so is in tension, while the belly (the part facing the archer when shooting) is made of lemonwood or yew and undergoes compression…
Any wooden bow must have gentle treatment and be protected from excessive damp or dryness. Wooden bows may shoot as well as fiberglass, but they are more easily dented or broken by abuse.
(Wikipedia)