Home > Bow Reviews > Chris Boyton Traditional English Longbow 45#@28"
Chris Boyton Traditional English Longbow 45#@28"
Reviewed By Steve , 17 November 2009
From Boyton Archery and made by the hand of Chris Boyton himself.
Although this is a basic Hickory and Lemon wood Longbow, it holds a special place in my heart, I have owned this bow for so long I can't even remember when I got it, what I do know is that at the time I did a lot of Longbow Target shooting and had around 12 or 14 longbows in a similar poundage, this though, was the bow with which I won my first County Championship outdoors. It has been well shot over the years and the limbs have taken a slight set forward as Longbow limbs are wont to do. Despite this on my scales the rascal still weighs in at 45#, exactly as marked all those years ago.
The nocks are made from French Charolay horn and finely carved to an elegant point, in fact the whole bow is wonderfully tapered, the quality of the wood is evident in the even denseness, consistent colour and grain structure.
This is one of Chris' very old bows, his latest are a combination of Ipe and bamboo, having had just a short play with one I can tell you they are something else, we have spoken with Boyton archery and will have one in the not too distant future to test. So, as I said the bow is quite a number of years old yet still shoots very well indeed. The handle is wrapped in a braided material and is comfortable and gives a good grip.
The Bow is 75" tall from Nock end to nock end but as I mentioned they taper and are quite long, from string groove to string groove it is 72", the string is a Custom home made Dacron 12 strand Flemmish twist. The bow conforms fully with the BLBS criteria of being a "D" shape, it's very well made but then that goes without saying, Boyton bows have a reputation and this one doesn't let it down.
Within inches of drawing it the power starts to come and builds smoothly all the way to 28", which is the draw length at which I test, I didn't draw it further as even 28" is just a tad long for me, in terms of hand shock it's very tame, it does produce some shock but not as much as some, on the kicked by a horse scale it would rate as 4/10 which is why it was one of my favoured longbows, with a sensible arrow I was able to get a point of aim on a Hereford at 80 yards just on the top of the boss.
Over the chrono this is what I got
445gn 9.80gn/# 154fps500gn 11.11gn/# 148fps530gn 11.70gn/# 144ps565gn 12.55gn/# 141fps I have used the same standard arrow weights as used in all the bow tests so that comparisons can be made.
All the arrows were shot at 28" draw. The test was conducted with 12 shots with each arrow, the 2 highest and 2 lowest readings were discarded and the rest averaged. The arrows themselves were all fitted with 3 X 5" shield feathers.
| Rating | |
|---|---|
| Features & Design |   |
| A very well made traditional English Longbow, simple Lemon wood and Hickory, the staple woods used by most bowyers as their "entry Level" bow | |
| Performance |  |
| Chris knows how to coax every last fps out of the wood, despite it's age and the number of arrows it has shot this bow can still take care of business, At the time I used to shoot this bow I knew it was fast but had no chrono, now I see the figures they are quite a shock for stick with a string | |
| Value for Money | |
| It was good value at the time and remains so, what has to be appreciated is that the bowyers skill in working the wood to the correct shape and producing a bow which shoots well is rarely reflected in the price the archer pays, a hand crafted object like this is worth every penny and more. | |
| Overall | |
| It was a cracking little bow when I got it and it still shoots well enough to make me want to take it out for a shoot. | |
Steve Nicholson and Andy Gilfrin, are real archers interested in the best archery suppliers have to offer. In our search for the very best bow, arrows and equipment we have shot, used and worn pretty much everything on offer.
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| Essential Details | |
|---|---|
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What : Chris Boyton Traditional English Longbow 45#@28" Price : £240 |
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Still looks good when strung.
Elegant French Charolay horn nocks.
The braided handle is in keeping with the Longbow heritage.
Quality cuts of wood make all the difference especially with hickory backing.
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Latest |
Magazine
We were very pleased to give our support to the James Whale Kidney Foundation shoot which we cover in this months magazine. We were also contacted by Lars Pilø with news on the archery related finds on Jovfonna, and while we couldn't get out there ourselves Lars kindly filled in some background information for us.
A mixed bag this month, me in the South West, Geoff putting the record straight, a chat with Keith Stay and the wisdom comes from South Cox of Stalker bows.
We take a tour the length and breadth of the British mainland to visit Scotland with Border Bows, Yorkshire with Aidy Hayes, the Wirral with Jason from thelongbowshop.com, down South with the Company of Canterbury Longbowman, and Geoff is in Spain.
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Your Comments
Tell us what you think, do you agree with the review or have something to add?
Posted by: Malcolm Johns on Nov 17, 17:46
You mention this is an old bow and that Chris now makes his new bows from Ipe and bamboo, do you know if he still makes a more traditional bow like this?
Posted by: Steve@archers-review on Nov 17, 18:06
Hey Malcolm,
Chris is a craftsman of the old school, he will make you whatever you want, lots of folks like the simplicity of Hickory and Lemon wood or even a tri-laminate,in fact Chris has at one time or other made almost every design of Longbow imaginable. Some competition archers shooting Longbow are looking for “performance at all costs” and the Boyton Ipe/Bamboo bows are one particular avenue of Chris’ expertise, in the field shooting tournament scene in the UK you will find these bows figuring prominently, regardless of that this little fellow took me to some memorable victories and at the end of the day whatever bow you have – You have to shoot it, it won’t shoot itself.
Posted by: brian davies on Sep 24, 21:42
hi chris,
i am a 61 year old man who for over 35 years has been making walking sticks crooks and ornamental crooks, all handles are made from black buffalo horn rams horn antler and of course wood.
i have always been fascinated about how to make my own long bow and arrows but have never tried to make my own. as a child all my friends and i would make our own bows and arrows from hazel as the shaft was always straight and the same was that as the arrows, but i would now like to make my own bow from scratch and i hope you can guide me in the right direction. with kind regards brian.
Posted by: David on Oct 8, 00:42
Hey. I’m trying to make my own English Longbow out of wood other than Yew seeing as though its too expensive. I don’t have the equipment to make it the way modern people do i was wondering if you could offer me some guidance about how to make it from the tree itself rather than buying lumber and steam-bending it. Ive attempted a few and the best wood i can find is Hickory but i just cant seem to figure out how to do this right. Do you have any tips?
Posted by: brian maude on Oct 24, 18:43
iav been shooting boyton long bows for around 6 years,i own 4 at various poundiges.the cast on these bows is excellant.they are great value for money. you pay for what you get, as i have found out the hard way.matched with a set of little john arrows + plenty of practise u’ll not go far wrong.
Posted by: fred paine on Jan 17, 15:32
please can some1 contact me with a phone number or address for chris boytons shop
Posted by: Keith Clayson on Jan 18, 22:01
Please can youi tell me where I can get Chris Boyton bows from like the one here?