[Ansteorra-archery] Bows from boards update

[john moore]

Congratulations to you and your young archer.
Iaen Mor
Gate's Edge
Keeper of the Ansteorran Royal Rounds
iaenmor at sbell.net
----- Original Message -----
From: <Sylvrfalcn at aol.com>
To: <ansteorra-archery at ansteorra.org>
Sent: Sunday, March 24, 2002 8:50 PM
Subject: [Ansteorra-archery] Bows from boards update


> Greetings fellow archers,
>   As many of you know, I've been fiddling around making my own bows. Today
I
> reached a new milestone. I successfully taught one of our young archers
how
> to make his own bow.  He'd been showing a keen interest in doing just
that,
> so right after this morning's archery practice, off to Lowe's we went.
There
> I taught him what to look for in a proper piece of wood, and, after much
> digging through stacks of boards, found one that was just lovely.  He
marched
> out with his new "longbow stave", having just laid out the grand sum of
eight
> dollars and twenty cents for it.
>   From there we headed to the Shire's fighter practice to sit in the shade
> and work on the bow (if you're gonna make a pile of wood shavings, it's
best
> done out of doors).
> I showed him how to use my hi-tech equipment (plastic ruler and felt tip
pen)
> to lay out the dimensions of his bow, pretty soon he was ready to start
> carving.  At that point he gained a new understanding and appreciation of
the
> enduring toughness of the mighty oak tree. His knife wasn't exactly biting
> into the wood, more like nibbling at it.  After a while I took pity on him
> and handed him my homemade belt knife, with it's exquisitely sharp blade
of
> Norwegian steel.  Then the chips really started to fly!
> Three and a half hours of carving, sanding, and nock cutting, later, he no
> longer held a board in his hand, but a bow.  Maybe not a fully finished
bow,
> but finished enough to be strung and test fired.  Not surprisingly, the
> string on my long bow was a near perfect fit on his, so off to the range
we
> went (no kidding, we were racing the setting sun to get there in time).
>   At the range he was a bundle of nerves, convinced that since he'd made
the
> bow himself it would most likely explode in his hands the first time he
tried
> to shoot an arrow from it. I reassured him as best I could, and with a
look
> of frozen terror he determinedly nocked his first arrow.  The bow arced
> gracefully through the draw, then twang, thump, there was an arrow growing
> out of the four point ring where none had been before. A smile slowly
spread
> across his face, like butter melting in a hot skillet. A few more arrows
> downrange and the smile had elevated to jubilant laughter and shouts of
> exhilaration. Having taken the bowmaking "plunge" just a short while ago
> myself, I knew exactly what he was experiencing.  It's a terrific feeling
to
> make and shoot your own bow, a wonderful sense of accomplishment. I was
proud
> to share that with him, and proud to know I'd passed on an old skill in
the
> old way.
>   Here in Middleford, we now have five people shooting wooden self bows.
> Bows with hand twisted Flemish strings, shooting hand made, self nocked
> arrows.  It's not "like" medieval archery, it IS medieval archery.  I
> couldn't be happier if a Guinness truck wrecked in my front yard ;-)
>
>    Cheers all,
> Robert of Yorkshire
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