Making a bow with no modern tools

[spandit]

https://youtu.be/SLoukoBs8TE

Looks deceptively simple, wonder what British woods would work best?

 

[Robson Valley]

Yew has excellent elastic/mechanical properties. Ash (Fraxinus sp.) has the ring-porous wood anatomy like a multiple leaf spring. Used in midwestern Canada.

 

[rorymax]

Enjoyed that, thanks.

rorymax

 

[Gcckoka]

All my childhood I used to make bows and now also I sometimes make it , nothing to complicated a straight , thick piece of hazel works great for me.

 

[Wild wandering woodsman]

I use ash and have made several, I am in the middle of making one at present yew is the best but the next best and readily available is ash. Try to find a straight limb with little or no knots or chinks, about the thickness of your wrist and as tall as you are. I recommend splitting the limb while green so you have a D shape and tying it flat side down to something rigid and immovable ( I use the side rail of the bed) for about 6 weeks then you have a blank to make your bow


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[bobnewboy]

I would recommend hazel. Ash is ok, harder to work when both are seasoned, but ash has a tendency to chrysal if the tillering isnt good. Hazel is easily found straight and clean in smaller sections, whereas ash is generally better from larger trunks. Yew is great when it can be found straight, clean and legally obtained, but that is a rare thing indeed.