Sycamore Longbow

[Gyro]

Aaah, I normally cheat on arrows, and buy the shafts ready-spined for my bows. Normally these are Chris Boynton pine. Depending on the strength/weight of the bow, you have quite a lot of choice. Many arrows found on the Mary Rose were oak ......

Yeah, Snufkin, 62" is quite short for a 55lb longbow, so I can appreciate the stress involved !

 

[palmnut]

As to the spirally sycamore, there were no obvious outward signs of this, so unfortunately that was a wasted piece of wood, unless I can make something else out of it

I've had exactly the same with Hazel and Whitebeam staves earlier this year. It's dashed annoying when you've spent ages trying to select the perfect piece of wood to cut, only to discover you've cut it down for no reason. At least I only ever cut multi-stemmed trees, so I can always think that the rest of the tree can grow away the next season.

Sorry to extend the thread...but...arrows.
I have always used hazel in the past but where I live now I have little/no suitable trees, so does anybody know of any other good woods to use?

I've heard of Ash shoots being used, although last I tried this they seemed to have a significant pith - still, if river cane and bamboo both work then perhaps pithy Ash will be ok. Dogwood, if you can find it straight enough. You could get a little less paleo and try splitting down and rounding spruce wood, if you can find it straight grained in suitable lengths - split it to square section of suitable size and then keep 'taking the corners off'.

Peter

 

[Snufkin]

I too buy most of my shafts. Chris Boyntons pine ones being my choice. I steer clear of Port Orford Cedar these days. I'm sure it used to be good, but you rarely seem to get straight grained shafting anymore and they tend to warp all the time and be more suseptable to breaking. They do smell nice when you're working them though .

 

[WoodWildling]

Right here are some pics....
The torqued sycamore...

Me working on the bow....

The bow tillering happily at night...

(Yes I know the wood's a bit squiffy!!!)
For a first attemp it could be worse i suppose!!

Liz

 

[Snufkin]

Looking good so far.
Thats pretty small diameter wood. I wouldn't split any more but just select which side of the stave you want as the back and reduce the wood from the belly side.

 

[Snufkin]

Nice bushcraft moggy too .

 

[WoodWildling]

Hehe thanks, she's daft is ole' Bean, always getting in the way!

Yes it's ended up smaller in diameter than I'd planned but humha we'll see how it turns out, but yes definately not taking anymore wood from the sides.

Wild

 

[palmnut]

So...sycamore, does it work?
I have been lucky enough to get a good stock of sycamore staves and am considering turning some of them into longbows. Has anyone had any experience of sycamore bows.

FWIW the Traditional Bowyers Bible V4, in the Bow Wood section, describes Sycamore as:

Diffuse-porus. Easy to work and makes a fast, sweet shooting bow.

As a generalisation, you can make a bow out of almost any wood as long as you match the thickness, width and length to the characteristics of the wood (density, elasticity, compressive strengh). The TBB books even give examples of bows made on pine and I've seen bows from broom handles on PP - those guys are deamned good at what they do however.

 

[WoodWildling]

Thanks palmnut - are the books still in print and where may I find them?

 

[basha]

hi Woodwildling,

jumping in here... you can get Bowyers Bibles from 'Quicks' Archery (amongst others). They are available in hard and softback. A field archery buddy told me today that they have now produced Volume 5. I think all five volumes can be bought in softback version for around £70 if you can stretch to that.

They are jam packed with useful information.

Best of luck with your bow.

 

[basha]

WoodWildling, I've just spotted your location; this may be a useful contact for you if you are not already aware of it;

CAROL ARCHERY
Craft Cottage, Bookham Lodge Stud, Cobham Road,
Stoke D'Abernon, Surrey. KT11 3QG. England
Voice & Fax: 44 (0)1932 865181
email: carolarchery@tesco.net

Carol specialises in traditional archery. Make sure you ring first if you want to visit.

 

[WoodWildling]

ooooo she sounds interesting, thanks basha!
May well send her an email

Wild

 

[Snufkin]

FWIW the Traditional Bowyers Bible V4, in the Bow Wood section, describes Sycamore as:


As a generalisation, you can make a bow out of almost any wood as long as you match the thickness, width and length to the characteristics of the wood (density, elasticity, compressive strengh). The TBB books even give examples of bows made on pine and I've seen bows from broom handles on PP - those guys are deamned good at what they do however.

That's American Sycamore, Platanus occidentalis, a member of the Plane family. European sycamore is Acer Pseudoplatanus, a maple.

 

[Snufkin]

hi Woodwildling,

jumping in here... you can get Bowyers Bibles from 'Quicks' Archery (amongst others). They are available in hard and softback. A field archery buddy told me today that they have now produced Volume 5. I think all five volumes can be bought in softback version for around £70 if you can stretch to that.

They are jam packed with useful information.

Best of luck with your bow.

Only four volumes, volume four came out this year.

 

[ForgeCorvus]

I recently cleaned Quicks out of Boyton pine shafts in 60/65, apparently Chris has had a heartattack (thats what they told me) and hasn't been making shafts for a while.

 

[Snufkin]

I recently cleaned Quicks out of Boyton pine shafts in 60/65, apparently Chris has had a heartattack (thats what they told me) and hasn't been making shafts for a while.

That's bad news, hope he makes a swift recovery.

 

[palmnut]

That's American Sycamore, Platanus occidentalis, a member of the Plane family. European sycamore is Acer Pseudoplatanus, a maple.

Those Americans can't leave a good definition unchanged can they?

Thanks for pointing that out - I hadn't noticed the variation in the latin.

I'm currently working on Hazel and Field Maple staves to add to my current shooter made of Ash. At the current rate of progress that should take my until the middle of next summer to get those new bows shooting.

 

[palmnut]

I recently cleaned Quicks out of Boyton pine shafts in 60/65, apparently Chris has had a heartattack (thats what they told me) and hasn't been making shafts for a while.

They told me the same a couple of months ago - does anybody know how he's doing?

 

[ForgeCorvus]

Havn't a clue, but I only buy shafts once a year

Anyone?

 

[WoodWildling]

no sorry, haven't been to the shop for a couple of years, since i stopped shooting regularly - incidently i have a really light Quicks Junior Trainer recurve bow (26 pounder) in good nick (screw on limbs), up for sale with

~spare bowstring
~9 light platinum arrows (easton make, 2' 1'' in length)
~'fletch-tite' glue
~1 arten site & 1 small spare site
~spare fletchings (orange and bright green)
~spare black nocks
~beeswax
~belted green and white quiver (NOT in great nick, i'll be honest!, but no stitching has gone)
~bow stringer
~leather arm guard (black)
~metal, leather and rabbit fur finger guard
~white scoring pad

All in a long case. Will post pics tomorrow if anyone is interested.

Would make a nice ladies/childs starter bow Has served me well while younger!
PM for more details.

Wild

PS sorry if this is in the wrong place!!