Bowmaking and Fletching

Discussion in 'Weapons' started by LilBunnyRabbit, Aug 15, 2011.

  1. LilBunnyRabbit

    LilBunnyRabbit Old One

    It's surprising how much work and effort can go into two days, and how quickly a block of laminated wood (lemon wood, purple heart and ash) can turn into a beautifully finished longbow. On the first morning we arrived and were presented with our blocks of wood, still with glue marks obvious on the sides and clamped into a recurve (two blocks of wood placed under each end, one over the center). The recurve works counter to the intended final curve of the bow and provides a nice little boost in final speed, without increasing the weight.

    A bit of terminology might be useful here. When talking about the weight of a bow I am not referring to its physical weight (surprisingly light) but the amount of force required to take it to a particular draw length. Generally heavier bows are faster, though this is far from guaranteed. With the right mix of woods for front, core and belly you can create a very fast and very light bow with little difficulty. The belly is the side of the bow which faces the archer, the core is the centre of the laminate and the front faces away from the archer. The nock refers to the slits (or any other mechanism) to secure the string, as well as the slit at the rear of an arrow and the process of fitting an arrow to the string for firing, and the arrow pass is the point at which arrows will cross the bow in order to be fired.

    longbow-03.jpg Once we had our blocks of wood a template was placed and clamped to give the basic shape. This was then cut into the bow-to-be with a circular saw (unfortunately the students on the course were not able to do this themselves for insurance reasons - not terribly dissappointing as I'm attached to my fingers) to give us something semi-recognisable as a bow shape, if somewhat square. Throughout this we were told about the different woods used to create a bow and how they could be laminated together. The instructor obviously enjoys experimenting with different arrangements - one bow we were shown used coconut for the front, giving a strange effect, while another used bamboo (bamboo does not make for a good bow - it had failed disastrously during tillering).

    A lot of sanding and shaping improved the shape of the bows even more. Hand cramps abounded among those of us who are not used to practical carpentry, but by lunchtime the bows were definitely taking shape and ready for the nocks to be fitted. This bit was somewhat tedious as the tips of the bow needed to be sanded to perfectly fit holes drilled into lumps of buffalo horn. With a tight tolerance (no wobble can be permitted) several attempts were needed at this, though under guidance we all eventually managed as near a perfect fit as possible (by this point my bow had shrunk several inches in height - the others didn't fare quite so badly).

    longbow-10.jpg With the buffalo horn glued in place a round-bladed saw was used to cut the nocks. Apparently these are almost a signature of different bow makers, as each has their preferred method ranging from beehive-like lumps to narrow spikes with thin slits. The nocks also have to be blunted so that an inadvertent poke with the bow won't puncture anyone - and more importantly so that bags aren't destroyed. Again, tedious and hard work but the constant flow of information and friendly chatter made the hours pass rapidly. By the end of the day the bows were shaped, the nocks were cut, and tillering was ready to begin the next day.

    longbow-15.jpg Tillering is the point at which a bow is made or broken, quite literally. It involves stretching the bow and checking for deformations in the curve, as well as measuring the weight of the bow's draw. If there is a flaw in the wood or the bow is badly made then tillering will break it. The next morning, and a large part of the afternoon, was taken up with stretching the bows, examining the curve, gauging the weight, and scraping down the wood in order to reduce the weight or get the curve closer to true. Of course a bow will still work with an imperfect curve but the stresses will be more intense at some points than others which can lead to failure.

    We were lucky - none of the bows had flaws in the wood, and after a lot of scraping they all curved near-perfectly. Hours were spent on this, filled again with information on bowmaking and shooting from the instructor. During this time, as the bows were stretched closer and closer to an actual draw, we made our strings by plaiting very thin strands together to form the loops, and waxing the finished product. Serving (the thicker part of the string where the arrow is nocked) was wrapped around, and tillering then began using the bowstrings rather than looser strings.

    This is where things can go wrong - on the tillering strings the bows aren't under as much force as under a draw. Once a real bowstring is in place the forces jump a lot. Marks on the ceiling showed past failures where bows had failed catastrophically during this process - exploding into splinters and shrapnel. Again, we were lucky, and all three bows were taken to a full draw without a problem.

    And that's it - the only parts of the process left were varnishing or polishing. I chose beeswax, which gives a much more subtle and softer finish than varnish although doesn't handle water as well. After buffing the bows were ready to begin the process of shooting in. This involves just firing a lot of arrows (not something I have a problem with) at 3/4 of full draw, until the bow is 'used' to being fired and ready to be fully drawn.

    I'd recommend this course to anyone who wants to make a longbow of their own - for the quality of bow you get out the price is a bit of a bargain, especially the bow will be custom built to fit you. The information on bowmaking is invaluable, Lee is very happy for people to take pictures throughout the process and is more than happy to go into technical details whenever asked questions. There are other courses around as well, of course.

    http://www.heritage-longbows.co.uk/
     
  2. Mitch

    Mitch Lord Mitch of MAP Admin

    Fantastic article, thank you very much :)

    Mitch
     
  3. slipthejab

    slipthejab Hark, a vagrant! Supporter

    ok nice this is going to be my reading just after dinner. :)
     
  4. Kwajman

    Kwajman Penguin in paradise....

    Nice article, I am a little concerned about you killing an unarmed tree in your first pic... ;)
     
  5. Osu, A great article, thank you!


    Osu! :)
     
  6. Anth

    Anth Daft. Supporter

    Very interesting, thanks LBR :)
     
  7. LilBunnyRabbit

    LilBunnyRabbit Old One

    That damned tree will be there longer than me - it's under a preservation order due to its age so we can't remove it from the garden. May as well make use of it if we have to tolerate it.
     
  8. Brutus

    Brutus New Member

    trukey feathers are the best for fletching imo.
     
  9. Taiji_Lou

    Taiji_Lou Banned Banned

    that is AWESOME
     
  10. marcokane23

    marcokane23 Banned Banned

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