Chard Posted April 20, 2012 Report Share Posted April 20, 2012 (edited) With some supervision from his older brother, who's a bit of a dab hand at bowmaking among other things, my youngest lad made a traditional English longbow and some arrows. We sneaked out today to put it through it's paces, though the weather could have been better We had thunder lightning rain and hailstones, but it kept the dog walkers out of the way I suppose The bow worked brilliantly. I was getting in excess of 160 yards with it. The lad struggled a bit to pull it right back to his ear, but he's getting there. Ben in full flow : And in the middle of a hailstorm :lol: Hard to get an idea of distance from a photo, but this is taken from where my arrows landed, looking back to the lads at the original firing point :o Edited April 20, 2012 by Chard Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2bangs Posted April 20, 2012 Report Share Posted April 20, 2012 Very nice ... for some reason I really want a pint of cider now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bakerboy Posted April 20, 2012 Report Share Posted April 20, 2012 (edited) The bow looks really good and very well made. I enjoyed shooting long bows albeit many years ago. Lets hope your lads enjoy it. Edited April 20, 2012 by bakerboy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chard Posted April 20, 2012 Author Report Share Posted April 20, 2012 (edited) The bowman himself, with a bow he made for himself. It's as much as I can do to pull this one, in fact I put my shoulder out on one of his other ones, which was nowhere near the draw weight of this one :o :o :o and I'm not exactly a scrawny little gimp Edited April 20, 2012 by Chard Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mudpatten Posted April 20, 2012 Report Share Posted April 20, 2012 Great pictures.Only missing the Frenchmen whom it is customary practice and tradition to shoot with a longbow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leeds chimp Posted April 20, 2012 Report Share Posted April 20, 2012 The bow looks really good and very well made. I enjoyed shooting long bows albeit many years ago. Lets hope your lads enjoy it. legend has it that you taught robin hood the art which you had been taught at the battle of Hasting? And then Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
figgy Posted April 20, 2012 Report Share Posted April 20, 2012 It his your new clay shooting tool,faster than subsonics carts. Atb figgy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caisterboy Posted April 20, 2012 Report Share Posted April 20, 2012 Wiki has some interesting stuff regarding the English and Welsh Longbow of course before the Welsh boys rightly take umberage given they made up a large part of the tradition back then of shooting at the French with these beasts My link Quote : regarding the draw forces for the arrows/bows from the Mary Rose are estimated by Hardy at 150–160 lbf (670–710 N) at a 30-inch (76.2 cm) draw length; the full range of draw weights was between 100–185 lbf (440–820 N)for kit fpound at this time period! Good to see traditional pastimes being upheld now all we need is a Frenchman to really test it out Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chard Posted April 20, 2012 Author Report Share Posted April 20, 2012 Wiki has some interesting stuff regarding the English and Welsh Longbow of course before the Welsh boys rightly take umberage given they made up a large part of the tradition back then of shooting at the French with these beasts My link Quote : regarding the draw forces for the arrows/bows from the Mary Rose are estimated by Hardy at 150–160 lbf (670–710 N) at a 30-inch (76.2 cm) draw length; the full range of draw weights was between 100–185 lbf (440–820 N)for kit fpound at this time period! Good to see traditional pastimes being upheld now all we need is a Frenchman to really test it out Yes, they must have been big lads back then That bow Ben is using is around 55lb (ish). The one I put my shoulder out with was about 75lb and my eldest lad, Ross, uses one which is 130lb :o :o :o Most bows for sale in the UK are between about 30-50lb Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vince Green Posted April 20, 2012 Report Share Posted April 20, 2012 It took years of training to develop the strength needed to become an archer. They were lopsided from the uneven muscle development. Boys would start as soon as they were old enough to hold a bow and practice constantly throughout the rest of their lives. While they were doing that they weren't working so for the lord of the manor to have 100 archers was bloody expensive, but very handy if they were needed for they were nearly unbeatable in battle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whitebridges Posted April 20, 2012 Report Share Posted April 20, 2012 (edited) Lovely things longbows. I remember going to a medieval reenactment at Goodrich castle and they were shooting bows with a pull of 110lbs and the arrows were aimed at targets on the ground. We also listened to a fascinating old boy who gave a talk on the English longbow. Vaguely I recall he talked about our two finger sign which comes from "sod off Frenchman i'm and English bowman" and the term "knock on and knock off". A knock is on the bow string and English bowmen had to do mandatory practice for a set period on a Sunday by order of the King. Hence knock on and knock off. Another thing he said was our archers could get 10 arrows away to the minute to 1 bolt the French fired from a crossbow. I think i've got this right? It was a while ago. Edited April 20, 2012 by Whitebridges Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fenntay Posted April 20, 2012 Report Share Posted April 20, 2012 My son is on the gb junior squad for recurve bow the strength he has is unbelievable Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bakerboy Posted April 20, 2012 Report Share Posted April 20, 2012 legend has it that you taught robin hood the art which you had been taught at the battle of Hasting? And then I knew both Robin and Harold as boys, Robin was good, but Harold! well he just couldn't get his eye in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
death from below Posted April 20, 2012 Report Share Posted April 20, 2012 FTF Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve_b_wales Posted April 20, 2012 Report Share Posted April 20, 2012 Lovely things longbows. I remember going to a medieval reenactment at Goodrich castle and they were shooting bows with a pull of 110lbs and the arrows were aimed at targets on the ground. We also listened to a fascinating old boy who gave a talk on the English longbow. Vaguely I recall he talked about our two finger sign which comes from "sod off Frenchman i'm and English bowman" and the term "knock on and knock off". A knock is on the bow string and English bowmen had to do mandatory practice for a set period on a Sunday by order of the King. Hence knock on and knock off. Another thing he said was our archers could get 10 arrows away to the minute to 1 bolt the French fired from a crossbow. I think i've got this right? It was a while ago. The story I heard about the 'two finger salute' is that the English/Welsh men would stick them up to the Frenchmen, stating that as long as they had those two fingers, they could still fire the longbow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deputy dog Posted April 20, 2012 Report Share Posted April 20, 2012 Thats why when/if they ever caught a long bow archer. They would cut his two fingers off so he could never use a bow again. DD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chard Posted April 20, 2012 Author Report Share Posted April 20, 2012 (edited) My eldest son Ross, the bowmaker, having a pop at a warbow meetup. That one would have gone a serious distance And again.... Edited April 20, 2012 by Chard Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cockercas Posted April 20, 2012 Report Share Posted April 20, 2012 that looks so cool Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shaun4860 Posted April 20, 2012 Report Share Posted April 20, 2012 My eldest son Ross, the bowmaker, having a pop at a warbow meetup. That one would have gone a serious distance And again.... The first one looks like an incomer, the second is a right to left quartering away crosser.... What sort of distance are you looking at with a 130LB longbow, accuracy wise? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chard Posted April 20, 2012 Author Report Share Posted April 20, 2012 (edited) The first one looks like an incomer, the second is a right to left quartering away crosser.... What sort of distance are you looking at with a 130LB longbow, accuracy wise? It doesn't really go up pro-rata. I was getting somewhere around 160 yards with the 55lb bow today, Ross would be close to 200 yards with a 130lb bow. He's pretty accurate with it, even at ranges like that, but you're not talking target accuracy The tactics were that they would saturate the enemy with a cloud of arrows, rather than pick out individual targets. Edited April 20, 2012 by Chard Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gnome of the Woods Posted April 20, 2012 Report Share Posted April 20, 2012 Chard, does Ross know Mark Stretton? When we were doing our DSC1 with David he was saying Mark his son does that sort of thing. He apparently holds the world record with a 220lb pull! And uses a 150lb normally. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zapp Posted April 20, 2012 Report Share Posted April 20, 2012 Wow! I'd love one of these Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chard Posted April 20, 2012 Author Report Share Posted April 20, 2012 (edited) Chard, does Ross know Mark Stretton? When we were doing our DSC1 with David he was saying Mark his son does that sort of thing. He apparently holds the world record with a 220lb pull! And uses a 150lb normally. Not sure, he knows a lot of the well-known bowmen. I'll ask him tonight, he's on his way here from Kent at the moment, sitting on the M25 ******* and blinding In fact I'm almost sure he does know him. I think Mark Stretton is the big guy with a beard in this video, dressed in brown with an England St. Georges cross badge on his jacket, shooting near the end at about 6.18. Ross is in the video, wearing a black T shirt with a white logo and writing on the back and blue jeans. So they seem to shoot the same shoots http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7SL8hfitq5A&list=UUgkVHUxltoZ_uoNUFlJ_B7A&index=2&feature=plpp_video Wow! I'd love one of these Ross would make you one Zapp, but he charges over £200 :o Edited April 20, 2012 by Chard Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr_Scholl Posted April 20, 2012 Report Share Posted April 20, 2012 Yes, they must have been big lads back then That bow Ben is using is around 55lb (ish). The one I put my shoulder out with was about 75lb and my eldest lad, Ross, uses one which is 130lb :o :o :o Most bows for sale in the UK are between about 30-50lb Thank God for the compound bow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vince Green Posted April 20, 2012 Report Share Posted April 20, 2012 (edited) The british longbow was a more formidable weapon than the musket right up until the advent of the Enfield musket. Even then it only beat it on range not rate of fire. The secret of the musket was that any soldier could be trained to fire a musket in a week or so where as it took decades to train an archer. Given average life expectancy in the middle ages most archers would only peak in the last decade of their expected life so most were never used in warfare. Edited April 20, 2012 by Vince Green Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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