150lb at 30" English Yew bow

[WillS]

This is a bow I finished late last year, but was finally able to get it shot at the recent Warbow Wales shoot in Chepstow on Sunday.

It's a dimensionally exact replica of the Mary Rose bow MR80A0451 in reasonable quality English yew, with cow horn sidenocks.  I don't tiller or weigh my heavy bows past 28", so it was nice to see it at full draw finally!  It was about 135lb or 140lb at 28" and when Joe shot a couple of arrows from it he said it was around 150lb at 30" which is more or less average for the MR bows.  I imagine if it was made from really good European yew it would be a fair bit heavier still.

The sapwood is too thick in some places, but you can see the heartwood around both sides when looking directly at the back over most of the bow, so it's not far out.

There's a quick video of Joe shooting a 29" Westminster Abbey arrow out of it at the end.











https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5_lMpfAVkM

[loon]

Very nice!!

Are these warbows at all handshocky? That one sounds very.. smooth..

[WillS]

Depends how they're tillered I guess.  Same with any bow - if the tips are heavy and stiff it'll give you shock unless the arrow is overly heavy.

[Del the cat]

Nice to see English Yew, cool nocks.
Del

[Ruddy Darter]

Very nice WillS  , great work, and again, nice to see some English yew get up there. 
 
 R.D.

[selfbow joe]

Nice work

[WillS]

Cheers folks.  I've got a vast amount of English yew of better quality than that stuff seasoning, so I'll make the exact same bow a few more times and see where the weights end up. 

[meanewood]

Hi Will
Nice bow as usual.

When making replicas do you follow the dimensions and then tiller accordingly or do you leave the tiller as is if safe, thereby keeping the dimensions true to the original?

Stuart

[WillS]

This was such a clean stave that I worked it down to final dimensions straight away, fitted the nocks and then checked the tiller.  It needed virtually nothing doing to it save for a few adjustments at around 25".

If I'm making Mary Rose "style" bows, I use a set of measurements I averaged out from all the bows put together, add a few mm to everything and go from there.

[Marc St Louis]

Very nice.  Looks a bit whip tillered though 

[WillS]

It should do at 29"

The middle works more and more further into the draw.  I need to get a shot of it at 31" or something as it comes round nicely there.

[wizardgoat]

Nice looking bow Will, can't wait to see the FD

[mikekeswick]

Looks like a beauty but how do you stop the tips working at 29"

[WillS]

Fairy dust, and magic sidenocks 

FWIW, I'm happy with the tiller.  A video of it being shot a few inches from full draw at an angle isn't exactly the best way to judge the curve of a bow...

[sieddy]

Wow nice beast of a Bow 🏹 mate! I can't believe how easy Joe Gibbs makes the drawing of it look!