150 lb yew

[Rod]

I'd like to hear how it is shooting since I am interested in the performance of Baltic yew.
In some quarters it is given a bad name but i would not be surprised if a majority of the livery bows made in Lincoln were of baltic yew shipped in through Boston and carried up the Witham to Brayford Pool.
Any info on cast and arrow weights etc. would be appreciated.

Rod.

[Lukasz Nawalny]

I see that my sharp edges make your worry It is possible that you have right but for this time I have very small % wodden  longbows brakage. I think not more like 4 maybe 5 %. Maybe if I will make round edges this % will be smaller ? Possible but not for sure  . I have made over 50 longbows from baltic yew. I must say - we have few types of this yew - very hard , other is very light another with not dense growth rings soft and elastic. Now I have my personal target bow from this very light wood - bow mass is around 300 gram , I dont seen such light longbow for this time , very fast - with only 42 lb about 175 fps. I dont know how fair can this 150 lb shoot , but my one of best baltic yew " warbows" 75 lb with 55 / 60 gram war arrow shoot over 220 meters - about 250 yards.

here pictures with medeieval longbows cross secitions



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[Jaro]

Henry, I know preciselly this type of softer and very light yew, it shoots well, but it also does not live long and has tendency to blow up all of sudden.
Anyway this:

but my one of best baltic yew " warbows" 75 lb with 55 / 60 gram war arrow shoot over 220 meters - about 250 yards.

again deserves commentary with words "sanity check" - very good yew bow of 125# and good archer might actually do the distance. To do it with bow of this weight is not physically possible under normall weather conditions (it might be with very strong tailwind).
Please see results of batsford shot for refference and consider the weights of bows in relation to the performance and weight of arrows.
55 gram arrow is 850  grain, more than standard and 60 gram is 925 grain. That is hefty arrow. In other words you are telling that you are shooting 12,3 gr/pound with longbow at 250 yrds. If its not impossible, then its very unparsimonial in the face of other evidence.
It would make you to shoot standard at distance of 300 yrds with self longbow of mere 90# if made out of the same wood, something which is not possible.

J.

[Lukasz Nawalny]

I shoot with my longbow few tousend shoot for this time and in my opinion I will be shoot about 2 seasons on high performance of this bow. This very light yew wood have dense rings and is not soft . Soft sort of Baltic yew have not dense growth rings , this is something other. I dont speak english very well but I understant that you dont belive in this 220 M distance. Well I have witness when I shoot with this bow with 55 g arrow 5 inch feather with light wind that was exactly 222 meter. Arrow speed was very close like in asian laminate bows , here is this bow in action - in second part of this movie we have laminate turkish Grozer with 70 lb. But ofcourse its only words - you dont must to belive

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sb4VwqX1Wss

[Del the cat]

I shoot with my longbow few tousend shoot for this time and in my opinion I will be shoot about 2 seasons on high performance of this bow. This very light yew wood have dense rings and is not soft . Soft sort of Baltic yew have not dense growth rings , this is something other. I dont speak english very well but I understant that you dont belive in this 220 M distance. Well I have witness when I shoot with this bow with 55 g arrow 5 inch feather with light wind that was exactly 222 meter. Arrow speed was very close like in asian laminate bows , here is this bow in action - in second part of this movie we have laminate turkish Grozer with 70 lb. But ofcourse its only words - you dont must to belive

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sb4VwqX1Wss

I don't see any problem with your claim, my 75 lb longbow of English Yew (and we all hear you can't make bows of English Yew )will shoot about 220yards* with a regular arrow which I use for field shooting.
* Paced out, but I know my paces are a pretty good yard from pacing measured distances on the golf course. The last bow I made (English Yew Longbow) 44 lb @ 27" would shoot one of my lighter 28" arrows 180yards, and I daresay it would easilly draw to 29"-30" if asked.
Del

[Jaro]

Del - since we dont know what weight is your "regular" arrow for field shooting we cannot make any assumptions, but if it is built on 11/32" shaft, it wont be likelly over 500 grain.

To enlighten you, this guy claims to shoot an arrow, which is heavier than BLBS Standard (60 gram - more like livery) 250 yards with a bow of 75#. Minute look at results of batsford flight shot and "Standard" shows that only 4 people, arguably of the best english heavy archers shot that distance with bow 130# and 140# respectivelly. Even though I would gladly cut him some slack for less fletch on his arrows than standard prescribes, one doesnt need to be bloodhound to smell bullshit.
He is basically claiming that his 75# bow is shooting 185-190 fps with 13 grain/pound, I hope you can see the nonsense.

Having seen shoot some of the better longbowmen at hand, with bows of this weight in very good yew bests of Boyton made I can safelly claim that the bow is either not 75# or his arrow is at least one third lighter than he claims (and even so 250 yards will be rather nice) or they didnt measured the distance correctly.

J.

[adb]

I think a lot of people tend to over estimate distance. I know I have. You look across a field and see a deer, and you think "holy cow, that thing is at least 300 yards away", but when you pace it off, it's more like 200 yards. I think this could possibly be the case, if the shooter was just "eye-balling" the distance. 250 yards with 60+ gram arrows and a 75# bow seems unlikely.

[Del the cat]

Del - since we dont know what weight is your "regular" arrow for field shooting we cannot make any assumptions, but if it is built on 11/32" shaft, it wont be likelly over 500 grain.

To enlighten you, this guy claims to shoot an arrow, which is heavier than BLBS Standard (60 gram - more like livery) 250 yards with a bow of 75#. Minute look at results of batsford flight shot and "Standard" shows that only 4 people, arguably of the best english heavy archers shot that distance with bow 130# and 140# respectivelly. Even though I would gladly cut him some slack for less fletch on his arrows than standard prescribes, one doesnt need to be bloodhound to smell bullshit.
He is basically claiming that his 75# bow is shooting 185-190 fps with 13 grain/pound, I hope you can see the nonsense.

Having seen shoot some of the better longbowmen at hand, with bows of this weight in very good yew bests of Boyton made I can safelly claim that the bow is either not 75# or his arrow is at least one third lighter than he claims (and even so 250 yards will be rather nice) or they didnt measured the distance correctly.

J.

Maybe there is simply some grain/gram confusion going on here... ? I dunno, it just would seem daft to be shooting such a heavy arrow from a 75 pound bow. (I shalln't insult your intelligence by rambling on about matching arrow weight to bow power)
Del

[Davepim]

I think a lot of people tend to over estimate distance. I know I have. You look across a field and see a deer, and you think "holy cow, that thing is at least 300 yards away", but when you pace it off, it's more like 200 yards. I think this could possibly be the case, if the shooter was just "eye-balling" the distance. 250 yards with 60+ gram arrows and a 75# bow seems unlikely.

adb,
    Humans are very poor at putting numbers to distances; tests done time and time again show that even for short distances, people are 10-20% out in their estimation. This is why the target archery community have such trouble over field courses, (of the FITA variety) even though there are only 4 different sizes of targets, and have to resort to "cheating" by using euclidean geometry to measure the distances. Instinctive archers invariably have the advantage here.

Dave

[adb]

I agree.

[Rod]

As every instinctive archer knows very well, there are only two distances.....   

Rod.

[adb]

... and those are?? 

[Oorlogsboog]

... and those are?? 

... Far away and the stuff between there and... here? 

[recurve shooter]

i wanna try to pull one of these things one day.