Having got a taste for field archery when making an ash selfbow on Forest Knights' bow-making course (excellent by the way), I decided to acquire another bow with a slightly higher draw-weight and fewer delightful eccentricities. Here is the bow I made on Wayne's course along with a few of my home-made arrows:
It still looks the business and draws up and shoots nicely, but I fuss and simper over it and wanted something a bit more conventional and less precious (it terms of blood and sweat invested) for getting on and improving my shooting, and something which I could take along to archery clubs without funny looks. After a bit of looking around, I decided on a bow by Millenium, the Mongo, which is a honey ash laminate, lightly recurved design with leather handle and ambidextrous arrow shelf. See below :
It's been an interesting experience owning and shooting a factory-made bow after having shot only my own self-bow. The Mongo is a nice looker, a pleasing honey colour with natural wood showing on both sides of the limbs under the very discreet layer of glass. The handle is nubuck leather, nicely stitched down the back. The bow is extremely light, draws up very smoothly indeed at 45lbs plus perhaps another 5lbs for my long draw, and shoots hard with no hand shock at all. You really could carry it all day with no fatigue. In comparison with my non-recurved self-bow, the draw weight increases very progressively and I can hold it comfortably at full draw for some time. I also find the slight recurve makes it easier to string and unstring, despite the higher draw weight than my self-bow.
The only slight negative so far is the very narrow arrow shelf, which is I think a bit of a compromise as the bow is both left or right handed and so has a narrow shelf on both sides of the handle. The bow would almost be better with no shelf at all. It takes a bit of skill to keep the arrow on the shelf as it is drawn up, but I am mastering it.
I am just a beginner in this ancient sport, but I am very happy with the choice of bow I have made and I am seeing my groupings steadily improve with practice
Incidentally, the other thing I learned was that it's a rather painful and expensive experience to spend a few hours lovingly fletching and cresting a set of 12 matched arrows only to lose one and break three on my first field shoot ! There are now some cheaper bought aluminum arrows in my quiver for when the occasion demands !
NS
It still looks the business and draws up and shoots nicely, but I fuss and simper over it and wanted something a bit more conventional and less precious (it terms of blood and sweat invested) for getting on and improving my shooting, and something which I could take along to archery clubs without funny looks. After a bit of looking around, I decided on a bow by Millenium, the Mongo, which is a honey ash laminate, lightly recurved design with leather handle and ambidextrous arrow shelf. See below :
It's been an interesting experience owning and shooting a factory-made bow after having shot only my own self-bow. The Mongo is a nice looker, a pleasing honey colour with natural wood showing on both sides of the limbs under the very discreet layer of glass. The handle is nubuck leather, nicely stitched down the back. The bow is extremely light, draws up very smoothly indeed at 45lbs plus perhaps another 5lbs for my long draw, and shoots hard with no hand shock at all. You really could carry it all day with no fatigue. In comparison with my non-recurved self-bow, the draw weight increases very progressively and I can hold it comfortably at full draw for some time. I also find the slight recurve makes it easier to string and unstring, despite the higher draw weight than my self-bow.
The only slight negative so far is the very narrow arrow shelf, which is I think a bit of a compromise as the bow is both left or right handed and so has a narrow shelf on both sides of the handle. The bow would almost be better with no shelf at all. It takes a bit of skill to keep the arrow on the shelf as it is drawn up, but I am mastering it.
I am just a beginner in this ancient sport, but I am very happy with the choice of bow I have made and I am seeing my groupings steadily improve with practice
Incidentally, the other thing I learned was that it's a rather painful and expensive experience to spend a few hours lovingly fletching and cresting a set of 12 matched arrows only to lose one and break three on my first field shoot ! There are now some cheaper bought aluminum arrows in my quiver for when the occasion demands !
NS
Last edited:
