Homemade English Longbow - Hazel ~85lbs

[mechanic]

just dont tell the riding school that i was using their indoor arena at 4am
 

[macleod01]

Batty, have you ever been along to a reenactment? Plenty people who make these bows for a livign and practive with them a lot. Might be worth it so you could pick up a few tips. Maybe be able to share your experience making these weapons with other people with the same passion.

Just an idea 

[FiLtH]

 Robin Hood...you are an enemy of the crown! Seize him!

 Cool stuff Bat!

[Baggy]

Hi Bat, just wondering why you make them out of hazel and not yew? I know yew is very slow growing, are they a  protected species?

[mechanic]

Yes you are right Baggy, most of our woodlands are protected. Yew was used so extensively in the past that we had to start importing it to even make our own bows. There was at one point a trade stipulation that refused entry to any foriegn trade ship to an English port who did not arrive with a donation of yew logs. It is possible to buy yew logs but that kind of defeats the point of having fun for free, for me. Hazel on the other hand is widespread and often used for things like rural fencing. It also grows very quickly.

thanks for the feedback guys, Filth I will fight to the death!

Mac, that's a good advice also, thanks. I am quite pig headed and prefer to do thing my own way even if it means it takes me years to work some things out.

[macleod01]

Batty, I totally understand. It just might give you ideas, things you wouldn't have tried. Maybe fletchings and that sort of thing reenactors may have an idea which you can then develop. As I said, it was just an idea to try and help out with your interest.

Great shooting by the way

[mechanic]

Yessir, I totaly see the benefit. I may well do something like that if the time is right one day. Fletching are one of the most important things to get right, along with the shafts.  Currently I use a load of different shaft lengths on all the different bows. To be really good I would need to have specific arrows for specific bows depending on draw length.

Just today I was distance shooting in a field with a couple of friends. Using the bow in the vid and a much smaller hunting bow. The hunting bow was a really beauty but sadly it fired it's final shot today a little over 120 yards.

[macleod01]

Damn, that is a sad sight to see

[MarineUS]

haha very nice. The very end piece made me laugh

The background sounds we peaceful

[morfiend]

Every bow is just 1 shot away from looking like yours there Batty......

  Do you even make your own bowstring?? braiding that hemp cant be interesting to say the least.......



     


 PS: Looks like the windings were just a wee bit short!Ever consider laminating rawhide to a bow,supposed to help stop failures like you had.

[AKH]

These guys aren't that far from you Bat.

http://www.companyofholyrood.co.uk/Videos6.htm

[mechanic]

wow thanks for finding that site, I will have to study that in the morning. I would love to try out a real yew model made by a skilled bowyer one day.

Morf, you are dead right. That bow was always going to end like that. The problem with hazel is it is not very strong so it's hard to make the bow tips thin enough. This tips gives better acceleration but with hazel they also break very quickly if cut down to the recommended 3/8in. So the concequence is the majority of failiures happen close to the handle as alot of the flex and spring is loaded there.

Sadly, that is just bailing twine for bow cord. I'm very lazy in that department! It works ok though with minimal stretch.

[Stoney]

What's the max effective range of a bow like that?

[DREDIOCK]

Bah,

Pluck Yew

 

[mechanic]

hehe Dred


Stoney, it depends what you mean by effective.

the 85lb bow in the vid is capable of launching an arrow 150 yards. If it hit you there it would be extremely effective. The weight of the metal tips mean that a high angle shot accelerates with gravity on the downward passage of the arch. At that sort of range you would be, let us imagine, using 200 archers to fire into a rank of 200 enemy. Very effective indeed.  For single shots at a single man from 150yrds; very useless without extreme skill or luck. At max range I can drop 3 arrows into a 5m circle no problem, but that is not what I would consider effective for killing single targets.

As far as target shooting is concerned I have found myself to be effective at 30m and possibly a little beyond firing at a human sized target. Someone with more strength could probably do better than me with this bow. If you wanted to go hunting with this longbow you would have to stalk your prey or make a hide (large - 8ft tall min) to wait in and get real close.