Originally posted by storch
the best bows from your part of the world are made from the podicarpus (yew) bush. do tell about your hazel bow it sounds intertesting.
the medieval 'Longbow' as it was known dominated the battle field for nearly 300 years of European wars. this is the legendary 'yew' bow of which you speak, and its maximum range was in excess of 350yrds.
The longbow is carved from a large section of the yew trunk, or a very thick branch. to create such a weapon takes skills far beyond my understanding.
A full power medieval longbow would be almost impossible to use for the new archer. the masters of this weapon would have built up specific muscals in thier arms and backs to cope with drawing and stringing the bow that an average strength adult male would need to work up over a period of years before these tasks become even possible.
The hazel bow, a design i have created myself and used close to 50 times, is carved out of a single branch from the tree. hazel grows verticaly upwards in concentrated areas and is not only extremely flexible when green, but also superiour to any other English tree in terms of being virtually dead straight, and lacking in imperfections in the grain.
After taking a 7' length approximately 2" in diameter from the forest, the bark is stripped and the leaves and knots cut off. After a day of airing in the garden shed you begin the shaping stage.
To shape the bow I use a hunting knife and sand paper. the ends are whitted down to a fine point and taper outwards to the full thickness of the branch 2' from either end. The result is a 2' section of 2" diameter bow with a 2' section at either end that thins down to a point. It looks like a giant cocktail stick.
The next stage is to decide which 'way' the bow will curve. Any natural piece of flexible wood will have a stong and weak way to flex. you pick the strongest, or hardest way to bend the bow as this will give the most power when sturng and fired. After choosing the curve, the bow is flexed into a light bow shape under pressuse, and then locked with bailing twine.
Now its really starting to look like a bow. The next stage is to carve the inside edge of the handle (the full thickness center section) right down to almost half way through the bow. This provides a strong leading edge to the bow, totaly natural and uncraved, and also ensures that the inside edge of the bow will compress and not hinder the draw, or make it only possible for a super strong man to use.
Finally, with the bow still held under tension in a slight curve, rub a bee's wax candle over the entire surface of the wood. This helps to lock in the flex and moisture of the bow (which after 1 days airing will be perfect) and also stop the freshly craved wood from splintering under pressure. After the wax another sealing layer is added. I like to use rubber glue from a bicycle repair kit, but any non-pourous sealant or varnish will work. The effectiveness of this layer is doubtfull, but it helps to lock in the wax layer, and also makes the surface of the wood look more profesional.
Another day to let the preservatives fuse with the wood fibres and the bow is ready to be strung. The straining twine is removed, and the shape or a slight curve should remain. The bow is strung with high tension bailing twine (the thin orange stuff not the thick nylon green stuff) in the same manner you would string a shop bought bow. the ends have notches carved in so you can string and de-string in seconds using carefully messured loops in the twine(never leave a bow strung when not in use)
Finishing touches include a handle made from soft wool twine binded round the middle shaft. No sighting, arrow notching or balance implements are added, you rest the shaft of the arrow on your grip-hand knuckles and sight looking right down the arrow shaft.
Projectiles are crafted from 0.7m lengths of 6mm dowel and fletched with goose feather binded on with cotton and some super glue.
From under 20 yrds a well made effort will drive an arrow clean through 500ml paint can, although you're likely to destroy your flights attempting this.
Standing 150yrds apart i was able to drop an arrow at the feet of a friend who was unable to hit me from the same range with a .177 air rifle when we did some tests a few years back.
thats the quick reference version.
