Max. length?

[AndiE]

Hi

The reason for this question is that a friend of mine wants a yew warbow and it should have reserves / be safe 1-2" more than he draws because he had one and it broke.
The problem is that he is 207cm and he has a drawlength of 34".
He said that he wants a 86" bow but only if there were historic finds with this length.

Kind regrads
Andi

[WillS]

Right, well there definitely aren't any warbows discovered that long.

34" is a MASSIVE draw length, and while it might be possible with a light weight target bow, I'd be really surprised if somebody could draw 34" with a heavy bow - and that's purely because of the compressive forces on the bow arm.  By the time you reach full draw on a warbow the arm holding the bow itself is being squashed so much that even 32" ends up being right back onto the collar bone. 

What draw weight does he want? 

[AndiE]

Hi

He wants 120-125#@34".
Here is something I found here in the forum: http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php/topic,9817.0.html
A warbow also made for a tall archer with 35" max. drawlength and 84" total length ntn.
Steve writes there that it is a replica of one of the longest MR warbows. But was there a longer one?

Kind regards
Andi

[WillS]

Tricky.  125# isn't that heavy, so there won't be a huge amount of compression on the bow arm once he gets used to the weight.  There's definitely no point in playing for risks, so I'd say you'll have to make a bow around 84" long.

I can tell you for a fact that the longest bow found on the Mary Rose was 2113mm, or 83.2" so definitely nothing around 84" long.  It depends I guess on whether his priority is having a perfectly accurate Mary Rose replica, in which case his draw length will suffer, he won't get his full potential power and may well risk over-drawing, or whether he wants a powerful, peak-performance warbow which will let you make it 84"

[PatM]

I disagree that a heavy bow can't be drawn 34". How are you getting that? I only draw 27" when just shooting but had no trouble extending the draw to 33" (the length of the arrow) with an extremely heavy bow. The whole system doesn't collapse that much if you are puffing your chest up on the draw and bracing yourself through the shoulders.

[WillS]

I didn't say they can't be drawn 34". I said it was harder as the draw feels longer.  If the guys normal draw on a light bow is 34", when given a bow that compresses the bow arm lots 34" will feel much longer because the bow arm is essentially moving back towards the body.

I was talking about bows around 160-180 pounds.  Joe Gibbs said that when he's shooting those his bow arm compresses almost 8 inches.  That moves the back of the draw 8 inches further back from the normal anchor point.  It's very common to try a new warbow and expect the full draw length you're used to, but find that you're getting the arrowhead nowhere near the back of the bow which is really odd until you realise that the bow arm is squashing.

[WillS]

Oh and the reason I was assuming the draw weight would be around 180# is due to the length being discussed.  34" on a 125# bow shouldnt be an issue.

[adb]

Drawing a wabow to 32" is challenging. I'm an average sized man... 5'10", 200 lbs, stocky and strong. Drawing to 30" is no problem, but to 32" seems very difficult, if not impossible. Unless you're very tall, and very strong, 34" (with a heavy warbow) is very difficult. If memory serves, there were no arrows on the Mary Rose that would have been suitable for a 34" draw.

[WillS]

Longest arrow found on the ship according to Alex Hildred was 34". But that was rare, and probably used for fire arrows.  The most common length was 31.2 inches, with peaks in frequency at 28" (just over 100 shafts) and 30" (just over 200 shafts)

A draw of 32" was towards the topmost length, with 28-30" being far more common.

[adb]

Longest arrow found on the ship according to Alex Hildred was 34". But that was rare, and probably used for fire arrows.  The most common length was 31.2 inches, with peaks in frequency at 28" (just over 100 shafts) and 30" (just over 200 shafts)

A draw of 32" was towards the topmost length, with 28-30" being far more common.

Exactly.

[Bearded bowyer]

Just out of interest. is there such a thing as a re-curve bow with similar draw length and power?

[WillS]

You mean are there any recorded examples of 150#ish recurve bows?

[Bearded bowyer]

yes.
And would you use a similar draw length to a warbow?

[AndiE]

Hi

I know somebody who has an older Hoyt recurve with 90#@32".I don`t know if there are stronger recurves because I don`t know much about recurves because they don`t please me.

I read somewhere that there were 95" long warbows in use in south america I think. Or was it africa, or somewhere else? I don`t know it anymore! 
Does anyone here know more?

Kind regards
Andi

[WillS]

One of the recent discussions on the other thread (Evidence....) mentioned very heavy drawweight bows from China/Japan.  Perhaps they're worth looking into - I don't know if they were recurves or not?