unfortuanatly the 13th century period equivalent is to use Yew wood, and not back it with anything. Unfortunatly Yew is prohibitivly expensive try 150 just for a piece of wood.
So I use the closest thing i can find to replicate the bow, and Hickory is the best and cheapest source so far. Now the problem is that commercially available hickory wood does not follow the growth rings of the tree, so it must be backed with something or it will break along the grain/rings. So while Clear fiberglass is not an invention of the 13th century, it is clear, and renders itself to nearly invisable from a few feet away, and so a comprimize or consession must be made to build the bow to keep with the looks and appearance of the wood, while maintaining safey and usability of the bow. Adding the glass greatly increaseses these factors while not detracting from the bow by looking "Modern"
The draw weights on most of my bows that I have made are between 35 and 65 lbs. With the magority being around 35lbs. I personally shoot a 40lb bow, because it is close to the weight I am used to when shooting in competitions, and my compound bow is much lighter after you get past the peak draw weight so its a fair trade.
I am making a pair of REAL authentic Yew Longbows (like I said the wood alone cost 150 per stave), with real horn nocks, and a friend is spinning some silk for me to use to make into a bow string for these puppies. Once finished one will be my pride and joy the other will go to the highest bidder, I can easily get 800.00 for the Yew bow once complete, as there are no bowyers in the US making yew longbows that are authentic.
tell us more about the going in drag part. can you outfit Crock with tights and all and get pics? a picture is worth a thousand words, J.K. you have all my respect for being able to build a bow like that and actualy bring down a hog with one. but seriously some photos of Crock in that get up would be priceless.
I would doubt very highly I could get Crock into a period tunic and tights. Not even at gun point 🙂
Pic of me at a primitive archery competition, this is not a bow I built but one that was loaned to me for the competition, the arrows were store bought too. Its actually a good bow, but my new one is mucho better.
way cool, almost like a rennissance festivel get up. hey gw me n u need to chat bout somethin im sending you a pm
Hey look! It's Robin Hood. Or is it Friar Tuck?
