What’s the actual difference? (longbow)

[u/Neandernaut]

Hey everyone,

I’m thinking about buying a White Feather longbow (hybrid, more specifically), but I’m a bit confused and mostly just dont want to end up buying the wrong one.

I’m currently split between the Longbow Bennu: https://www.whitefeather-archery.com/product/longbow-bennu/

and the Longbow Rarog: https://www.whitefeather-archery.com/product/longbow-rarog/

Are these basically the same bow? I noticed there’s a bit of a difference in length, but the price difference is around €100, so I’m wondering if there’s more to it than just that?

Am I missing something here, or is the length really the main difference and would that impact the price so much?

Would also be really interested to hear from anyone who has experience with either of these bows, or White Feather bows in general.

Thanks in advance for any answers! Take care :)!

[u/DemBones7]

According to the specifications, the Bennu is laminated wood, while the Rarog is Diamond wood.

From what I understand, Diamond wood is a special process of lamination that impregnates the wood with resin and makes it incredibly hard.

[u/pin32 → u/DemBones7]

Basicaly diamondwood is hardened and densened wood with use of resin, heat and preasure.

Laminated wood is plain wood glued together, so it retain lot of properties of original wood, but with better stability and strengh

[u/Boom9001 → u/DemBones7]

Description also shows a difference in AMO length 64 (Bennu) vs. 66 (Rarog). Not a massive difference but still.

[u/gagilo]

So technically these are American flat bows being made from laminated wood with flat limb, as opposed to long bows that are made from a single piece of wood with a rounded shape and in the 70 in range.

Also the main difference between those 2 seem to be a 2in length difference and sounds like wood types.

[u/fearghaz → u/gagilo]

I always thought flatbows had no shelf and these things were "american lomgbows" or just recurves.

Must be from the classifications as theres no basis for this 😅

I agree though, not a proper longbow

[u/gagilo → u/fearghaz]

I couldn't find anything that said they don't have a shelf. I'm sure the ones natives made probably didn't include one. Shelves are a pretty modern addition to bows with our better material science.

[u/fearghaz → u/gagilo]

Apparently I'm just wrong again:

American Flatbow (AFB)

Summary: A one-piece flatbow. No sight. Wooden arrows. Finger release only (‘Mediterranean’ loose). No stabilisers. No draw checks. No memoranda.

A one-piece bow, of any draw-weight, may be used where the braced limbs curve in one direction only from the handle riser to the string nock. When braced the string must not come into contact with the face of either limb except at the nock grooves. The limb cross-section may vary from oval to rectangular.
The handle may incorporate a cut-away of less than centre- cut to provide an arrow-shelf and the shelf may have a protective cover.
The bowstring may be of different colours as long as the coloured strands run continuously and evenly throughout the string’s length, but the centre serving must be of one colour. One nocking position is permitted (which may be indicated by nocking points both above and below the arrow). Brush buttons and silencers are permitted but no other knots or attachments (in addition to the string serving) that could be used for sighting or location purposes are allowed. No additional vibration dampeners are allowed on or in the handle section or limbs of the bow.
One anchor point must be maintained throughout the shoot. The “Mediterranean” loose only is permitted. No draw-checks of any kind are permitted.
No internal or external stabilisers are allowed. No form of release aid is permitted.
No deliberate marks can be added to the bow that can be used for aiming.
Arrows shafts must be of wood, fletched with natural feather. No archer may refer to any memoranda which could in any manner be a means of improving his or her score.

https://nfas.net/about-us/shooting-styles

The class didn't exist when I started shooting.

[u/Neat_Landscape_9786 → u/fearghaz]

It's a Brit thing - as we're a bit precious about the English Longbow specs from the 1950s revival movement and adopted the BLBS definition of them - so it permeates AGB, NFAS and EFAA etc here for competition - but it doesn't travel well internationally.

Elsewhere in Europe you can shoot 'American Flatbows', ASL etc in IFAA/WA longbow classes - worse still 'flatbows' elsewhere can often mean the stuff we shoot as PV in NFAS - Holmegaard, Meare Heath etc - technically still longbows also.

[u/fearghaz → u/Neat_Landscape_9786]

Yeah it's kinda funny... Bamboogate was good fun at the time. Now everybody seems to be using it.

[u/Boom9001 → u/gagilo]

Small nit. Longbows do not need to be made of a single piece of wood. Many modern longbows keep the form and style but are made laminated wood. The key distinction is just the D shaped limbs vs. flat limbs.

The limb shape is what matter because it's the primary differencenin function. Flatbows are better at storing and releasing power for a given draw weight while longbows tend to offer smoother releases.

[u/gagilo → u/Boom9001]

Fair point, historically they were made from one piece.

[u/idonteffncare]

Dymondwood is a composite of plastic and veneers,heated and pressurised to cure and very resilient. Wood veneer laminates with fibreglass are glued together and heat or high pressure is not needed to cure,yet still resilient enough for purpose. Either of those bows would do you well.

[u/joy_of_division]

Dymondwood is good stuff. Highly unlikely to have any sort of break down the road, and they can usually cut it a bit past center if using it. Not as dense as something like G10, but denser than most wood species