Difference between recurve and longbows

[Sc(+)pE]

Apart from the obvious "recurve" in the recurve bows and the ussually "long" charecteristics are they very different to shoot. is one more powerfull then other. how much are they different from one another.

[brian]

the difference is in the design - thats it. generally recurves are a little bit faster/more efficient and longbows a bit more forgiving (with poor form IMHO) apart from that they are in the end just bows. personally i like both for many reasons.

[Glenn]

Recurves and longbows feel differant when being drawn. Normally the poundage build up on the recurve at the end of the draw is not as great as the longbow, it because of the limb design. It's not true of all makes of bows because some recurves stack bad and some longbows don't.
A recurve will store more energy than a longbow but the longbow can compensate by shooting heavier arrows a bit better than a recurve, but that's just a rule of thumb. I like shooting both bows and don't have a preferance of either...Glenn...