Bow, Arrows and Quiver. Pictures of things that i made.

[Demonwolf444]

Yew Longbow - My first working Yew longbow, it draws about 50 lbs at 30 inches. The bow was carved from a Yew limb that was heavily de flexed, it then took on about an inch of even set, I wish i had steam re flexed the limbs then heat treated the belly, is i would have got a much quicker and slightly heavier bow out of it, but we live and learn. The Nocks are very long heavy antler tines, for sure it slows the bow down a bit, but i like the look. Finished in tru-oil. The Grip is English saddle leather re purposed. The bow cost me the £3 that i paid for postage for the nocks to make.

The painting is of an illusive deer i stalked, some people see the deers face straight away, some people don't. I painted this about a year ago.

The Quiver is made from canvas ground sheet i found in my shed, sown to an ash bottom plate, and an ash frame

The arrows are made from a cane that grows long and straight in my garden with very little pith. There is also an oak and an ash shaft in there as well. All the fletchings are from pigeons and crows i have shot. I am not after match grade accuracy, i just like to hit the target somewhere. so they are a bit rough and ready. the fletchings are bound with wool thread soaked in super glue and sanded.

 

[Niels]

Great and very aboriginal looking stuff. Love the painting as well. Saw the deer immediately.

 

[Demonwolf444]

Thanks for the kind workds Niels, quite like archery just because of the amount of different things and styles of things you can make.

 

[HillBill]

Nice work mate.

Looks very short for a longbow though. How long is it?

 

[copper_head]

Like your style, nice work

 

[Demonwolf444]

Its a very big canvas, the painting! its 66 inches from nock to nock, with another three inches of antler tine on the other side of each knot the bow is very light lbs, it had the potential to be much faster and around 70lbs safely but first bow, and also my archery muscles (lack of) at the time wouldn't have managed a heavier bow. I have enough Yew for a few more, so hopefully i can make some progress with my bowery. I want to make a very light fast yew bow with re flexed limbs and de flexed center next. Then when i find an appropriate billet i want to try making a heavier bow maybe 70-80lbs. The aim would be to make a shoot a mary rose replica, but bearing in mind my draw weight is about a third of that of a mary rose bow it will be a long time coming.

Appreciate the kind words from all.

 

[Dreadhead]

very nice i like that

 

[Demonwolf444]

Thanks dreadhead, Thread could be alternatively called "getting into archery for £3" I just like launching arrows from as far away as possible into cardboard boxes before i throw them out. What the thread doesn't show is my first yew long bow attempt which was soo stiff and simply refused to bend; when it finally was reduced enough to bend it shattered in to shards, made good fire wood.

 

[Leiflet]

Very nice. Do like to see these things. Good painting.

Cheers,
Leif

 

[Leiflet]

Tenderfoot? I've been called some things in my time. My feet are good and horny, thanks - errr, so to speak.

Cheers,
Leif

 

[Wayne]

Nice workmanship. I like the rustic authenticity proper bushcrafty.

 

[Demonwolf444]

Any carving was done with an axe then swiss army knife, no fancy draw knifes the bow was roughed out by eye with cabinate rasps, then sanded smooth, then to tiller i would just go by eye and then rasp sand smooth as necessary. Its left thick and stiff in the handle because of two knots that i dont want to over stress, you just start to notice some bend in the handle at full draw. Not a masterpiece but functional. Just selected three billets this evening from the pile, think thats all i have left. One will make a heavy bow. One a target bow. And one a flat bow. There is also another crossbow prod as i want a heavier prod on my crossbow than the current one. I have a steam machine and a heat gun and know better how to use them so hopefully i will be working on nice straight staves, and can manipulate the wood a bit more.

 

[Dannytsg]

Lovely work there. I'm jealous as I have always wanted to make my own bow but never had the tools or ability to do so.

 

[Demonwolf444]

Tools, axe, knife. Ability, eyes and common sense. Some bowyers are real artists, but if you want a functional bow all you need is a suitable thick stick progress slowly. My first bow was just a stick with a natural re flex/ de flex to it, with half of the wood moved from the back. I knew nothing about tillering just that the more wood i removed from an area the more it would bend. I made this as a short bow and it has a very light smooth draw of about 10-15 lbs, and it made a very quick bow for the draw weight. From this i began experimenting with some dead fall yew the first was heavily knotted stick, tapered at the nocks and it broke after a short while. Next i had a perfect ( flawless ) yew stave which i wish i had saved, i didnt take enough wood off it but it would have been okay for a 50+lbs bow, anyway i didnt remove enough wood and tried to bend it too soon and it instantly exploded. I help off for a while after that and then began this bow. As i said now i wish i had spent more time straightening the bow, reflexing the tips, and heat treating the belly. But there is always next time.

 

[mrcharly]

Nice work.

Unless you just want a heavy bow to shoot for the sake of it, don't bother going over 50lb. You end up needing to use heavier shafts, the arrows don't fly faster and it is harder to shoot accurately.

 

[Demonwolf444]

Thanks charlie, Its rare you get an english yew stave of good enough quality to make a mary rose style bow, but i believe i have one. So therefore if i am going to make one - i need to be able to shoot one! For that reason i am going to make some progressively stronger bows. From my pile of yew i have extracted some bits. One thick branch almost perfectly straight with no defects visable, this will be the mary rose stave. One thinner branch straight, perhaps a little short at maybe 60 inches, this i want to make a reflexed bow out of aiming for 50 - to 60 lbs but it depends. One much thinner branch, this could make a light weight target bow. Some defect free yew logs may be split into billets and spliced just to try splicing, i would keep these fairly light lbs. I small branch that might make a good bow for my little sister, its a bit knotty though. And one that could make a crossbow prod. As with all these things you can think you have the perfect stave and it can just explode on you. I was working on a thinner quicker crossbow prod last night and put the tiller string on it and it broke instantly. Think the wood was too dry - compromised a little.