a funny longbow story

[dragonman]

Here in the uk there is sadly  a lack of primitive archers and bowyers. Last year, feeling alone and isolated I decided to join the nearest archery club thinking at least there would be some long bow men amongst them.  Firstly I was told I must complete a begginers course, I complained saying I'd shot bows for 20 years, but no, I had to comply with the rules, so I humbly agreed. I proudly turn up at the club next day, with my latest BBI in hand.  Loking confused, they ask what kind of bow is that?. I reply its a 60lb BBI I made it. But what kind of bow is that, he replies, never seen one of those befort? It will have to be inspected for saftey you know Have you done an apprenticeship?. I hand over the bow for inspection, hoping for some respect for fine craftsmanship. The leader looks confused, turns it around a few times totaly unable to relate to what he is looking at and says, well I suppose it looks safe and hands it back. Oh well he's a compound man I'm thinkng , Ill get on better with the long bow men. There was 2 of them there that day. The first looks at my bow as confused as the leader, the second, asks what category of bow is this? I no nothing of categories I've always shot in the woods, I reply, but its fast!! Lets see what these long bows can do I've heard a lot about them.. I was very confused and dissapointed. These bows where looong. must have been at least 76", and they kept unstringing them between shots. ?? why, to keep up their speed, their power was quick to let off apperently!! They had at least a 3" set as far as I could see. I decide to ask for a closer look at their bows. Hickory backed lemonwood with a purple heart core they proudly respond. Made by the most respected, 'official' longbowyer in Britain (whose name I wont mention unless you pm me)   Very nice I reply, even though they where well sluggish compared to my uncatergorised bbi.
      I thuoght wow, they're gonna be well impresed with the speed and performance of my bow, and they can leave it strung all day! I'm gonna get some sales here!! But no, The first guy, says hes about to buy a new long bow and he will sell me his old one at a good price , then I can shoot a real lonbow Its all true They wherent concerned, or didnt even notice the performance difference of these bows , they where only concerned with the looks and style.
  Even now , I'm confused, as to why, Britains most well know longbowyer, uses the heaviest wood in the core of his laminated bows, makes no sense to me, can anyone else explain it. What is the use of been stuck in tradition at the expense of practical performance?. I persevered for a few weeks at this club but quickly got bored. I hope you like this true, unexaggerated story. By the way, their shooting was ok, not great but ok.  The compounds thrashed me every time

[Pappy]

Cool story,we have that here sometime when I take a selfbow,especially a character one to a mostly
compound shoot,Theywill ask questions like can you hunt with that thing. and they all call them recurves no matter what type of bow they are.  I just smile. and think you dumb A$$.You tell them it's a selfbow and they say O you built it yourself.
   Pappy

[gpw]

  He's just making "pretty" bows for the "sports"...  eye candy !!!   Tradition and marketability  does interfere with progress frequently...  
 Compounds   Grrrrr!!!  
   Best find some mates who share your vision ...

[Parnell]

Hi Dragonman,

That is a very interesting story.  I've been to England on several occassions.  My sister lives in the London limits.
I always enjoy the time I spend there.  I've always been shown fine hospitality from the in laws and the community.
It is always interesting to me, though, about the differences between American and English culture.

Do you think they were "hung up" on tradition or maybe they want to resist change?  I hope this doesn't come across offensively, as that isn't my intention, but I've always felt there was more of a feeling of - This is the way things are and I'll know my role and I'll carry on being content- mentality when I've gone to visit.

It's too bad that you couldn't have enjoyed the experience as an exploration of ideas and comeradery in an enjoyed pursuit.

I wonder if hunting the bow was commonplace for the people if there'd be a greater interest in exploring alternatives for bow performance?

I was watching a tv show last night - Pig Bomb - on Discovery Channel.  They were highlighting the expansion of the wild boar population throughout the world.  Southern England was mentioned,  a woman apparently was attacked while on horseback in the countryside.
Have you seen an expansion in wild boar in your area?

Thank you for the post - it's very interesting to me.

Parnell

[gpw]

 Wild boars can be very tasty , especially "harvested" with a bow you made yourself !!!  Very satisfying , Twice !!!    Don't know the hunting laws there, but it could be classified as "pest eradication"        

[Del the cat]

There are lot of people who trot out the 'received wisdom' and don't really appreciate what they are shooting.
I'd hope you'd have got a better reception at our club where they are friendly and interested in the whole subject.
Many years ago I had been put off clubs before by stuffy attitudes, I visited one by invitation, they all wanted a go with my longbow but didn't offerme a go with their bows, then some pillock made a fuss because I was spending time looking for one of my arrows that was lost (not shot by me). The worst was when I took my crossbow pistol to demonstrate at their indoor winter practice hall (I was invited). Some officious jobsworth who had drone on at me about safety proceeded to walk across in front of me while I was on the shooting line with a cocked loaded crossbow pistol .
I vowed to never go back.
A couple of years ago I found my current club which is great.
I'm sure we've all met some twits, better luck with a different club, the field shooting fraternity generally seem pretty friendly.
Del

[Lombard]

Sounds like you got the new guy snub. Sounds like an opportunity to start a local trend. Perhaps you could set up somewhere, at a festival of some sort, and introduce primitive archery to folks. You may develop a customer base that way. Just a thought, when the gold rush happened here in the US; the folks that did the best, were selling picks, and shovels. 

[jeff halfrack]

  dragonman  it  was  a  bad  dream!!!  you are  home  at  PA  we'll protect you  from  the  wheelie  men jw

[dragonman]

thanks guys, I'll have to move to big wilderness over the ocean. Dont mean to put those guys down, they where nice enough, and tried to welcome me best they could, mostly nice guys. Just had no idea about wooden bows, or any interest even. Even the longbow  men!!!!. I just found this suprising, along with the quality of the long bows!!! How can you get a 76" bow of prime bow bood to take a 3" set if you make bows for a living?

That was my plan Parnell to have this attitude , but I couldnt make it work.

as for wild  boar, I've never seen one, there aint any around here and if they showed up the 'farmers' would soon kill them as a pest

[Parnell]

Hmm - I wonder if that story is true.  I was surprised to hear of wild boar in England...
Now if the program were Pheasant Bomb then I'd see it.  I couldn't believe the dead pheasants on the roadside!
Hope you can find a group you enjoy. 

[HatchA]

D-man...  I'm finding out that there are very similar scenarios and viewpoints over here in Ireland as you described.  There are "societies" like ITFAS and AFAS and probably some others (I'm not really bothered cos I don't need to join them to make and shoot bows) that have certain attitudes and opinions that seem to serve little or no other purpose than to fuel the egos of the ones "ruling the roost".

The chairman of one of the field archery societies over here, runs it more like a target archery format.  "...let's cut that tree down- it's in the way.  keep that target out in the open and mark off how far away it is from the archer..."   

Fine, if that's how he wants to run things.  Shouldn't call it "field archery" though.  My bowyer mentor is 75 and comes originally from the East End of London.  Back in the 50's or 60's, he applied to the council somewhere for land to be put aside so they could use it for field archery.  They met the representative out on a suggested piece of land and he asked my friend "what d'you think?  Pretty good, eh?"

Jim said it was a lovely field but not very useful for what they wanted   they eventually got a wooded area somewhere that fit the bill perfectly.

My friend Jim also says that what I'm doing is very rare in Ireland and even England.  He says he knows feck all people that choose to make a bow and the equipment that goes with it.  Most people go to the nearest shop and pay through the nose for some slapped-together piece of wood and/or plastic and some "arrows" that have feathers on one end and a pointy bit at the other...  and then they're an archer.

For me, it was just the natural thing to do - make my own stuff.

Anyone on here that makes bows to hunt with (or in the UK/Ireland, for field archery) knows that it can take a long time to make a bow that's "good enough" for you!  I've seen some longbows made by "respected UK bowyers" and there's a fair amount of set in them...  and these are "new bows" for sale in a shop!!  Not owned and used for the past ten years...  To my mind, there's a big difference between the bows I see on this site and the "professionally made" bows that some guy is whacking out at a serious rate, in order to make a living from.

There's a favourite saying that was used on here the other day - "you simply can't polish a turd..."   This is true.  But you can seal it in tru-oil or urethane or varnish of some sort and then polish that up pretty shiny

As for wild pigs...  There's been some reports over here in the past few months of wild pigs being seen in (I think) the West of the country.  Very cool, if it's true.  I just wish they'd allow bowhunting here.

[George Tsoukalas]

Well, it can be that way here too. I get funny looks at "everybody" shoots. But everybody is respectful of the old guy who shoots outdated tackle. LOL. I haven't been to one in awhile though. Jawge

[The Gopher]

Cool story,we have that here sometime when I take a selfbow,especially a character one to a mostly
compound shoot,Theywill ask questions like can you hunt with that thing. and they all call them recurves no matter what type of bow they are.  I just smile. and think you dumb A$$.You tell them it's a selfbow and they say O you built it yourself.
   Pappy

My dad shoots a compound and for the life of me i can't get him to call my selfbows, "longbows" he always says "recurves", it's funny. I thought it was just my dad, guess not.

[Dane]

I've heard the term "stick bow" with more than a little derision in the tone. At one 3D shoot, there were three non-wheel bows, two were fiberglass, and mine was the only self bow. I've found the wheelie guys often, but not always, consider traditional bows a joke.

Dane

[dragonman]

Parnel' I believe that it is true there are a few breeding groups of wild boar in Britain. Some in the New Forest, down south, but very few. It is pretty certain that black leopards are living wild here too, ther are sightings snme where in Britain every week. Those guys are smart, because even the army cant find them. There are often sightings from believable people and police and army try to track them down..