Primitive Archer

Main Discussion Area => English Warbow => Topic started by: backgardenbowyer on July 01, 2009, 06:50:15 pm

Title: Ash practice bow
Post by: backgardenbowyer on July 01, 2009, 06:50:15 pm

A friend of mine gave me an ash stave (thanks Peter!) from which I wanted to make a medieval style bow to get a bit more experience working with this material and style.  Here's the result - not a "warbow" in weight, but I think it belongs more in this forum than any other as it is very much a medieval bow in style..

73" nock to nock
55lbs#29"
2" set
profile - rectangle with rounded corners
English ash with black buffalo horn nocks, finished with Danish oil

I had trouble with the tiller on the right hand limb as you can see its got some natural reflex/deflex in it.  But looking at the pix the left hand limb looks much stiffer in the outer third than it appeared when I was tillering it - maybe I need to stand further back to look at the bow.  It could be the angle of the pic - things look different in photos!  2" set is a bit more than I anticipated and I was aiming for 60-65lbs at 29".

I tempered the belly twice - once at the start of tillering and again near the end.

Thanks for looking

Any thoughts?

Stan

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Title: Re: Ash practice bow
Post by: Josh on July 01, 2009, 08:14:10 pm

Gotta love those character staves.  Good job on the tiller!    -josh

Title: Re: Ash practice bow
Post by: cracker on July 01, 2009, 09:24:34 pm

I like it a little character always makes things interesting.Ronnie

Title: Re: Ash practice bow
Post by: Del the cat on August 02, 2009, 04:55:16 am

Fine work, I think that is as good as you will ever get from Ash.
Once you make a Yew one you will realise how dead the Ash is...my first was an Elm bow...I though it was the box deluxe until I made a Yew one.
Nice work, I love the wiggle.
Del

Title: Re: Ash practice bow
Post by: bobnewboy on August 02, 2009, 05:23:47 am

Looks great to me Stan.  The wiggle at the end is particularly nice, and could catch on.  What does it shoot like?

Title: Re: Ash practice bow
Post by: backgardenbowyer on August 08, 2009, 07:29:23 pm

Bob,

It shot about 210 yds with my normal arrows for roving marks and 235 with a flight arrow.  Not too bad for a bent stick.  Smooth and soft to shot because of the length and the string follow.

Stan

Title: Re: Ash practice bow
Post by: Cromm on August 08, 2009, 07:32:21 pm

Nice work.

Title: Re: Ash practice bow
Post by: radius on August 27, 2009, 02:09:41 pm

i love it dude!  So far i'm having zero luck tillering these longbows with no string follow.  I haven't tried heat treating them yet, because the yew is all knotted, and my intuition tells me better to have the string follow than just the string...

Title: Re: Ash practice bow
Post by: backgardenbowyer on August 27, 2009, 06:39:00 pm

Absolutely right! A bit of string follow is not such a terrible thing, some bowyers even recomend it. Good luck with your yew.  I've just acquired some rather twisty yew from a couple of trees cut down where I work (I told them they had to give me the wood as part of their recycling programme as the demolition team would chip it or burn it!).  Have to wait a year before it is ready.  Having made this bow from ash I think it is a lot better wood than it is given credit for.  There is no way it is as good as yew, but it is certainly capable of making bows of moderately high weights.

Title: Re: Ash practice bow
Post by: Del the cat on August 28, 2009, 04:24:54 am

Quote from: backgardenbowyer on August 27, 2009, 06:39:00 pm

I told them they had to give me the wood as part of their recycling programme as the demolition team would chip it or burn it

;D