Ozbow

There were a couple of recent posts on making English longbows.

I put up a few of shots of a 105lb selfbow made of Brigalow (an Aussie Acacia I believe) which Nick Lintern made for me. The bow was experimental. We knew a few people had successfully made flatbows from it (such as Perry), but didn't know how it would go in a D Section longbow using the sap and heart wood as in a yew bow. Well, in this particular case, now we know. It had showed a little, very light crysalling which we thought might just be in the finish, but the tiller showed no signs of hinging anywhere.

Anyway, as you can probably make out in the attached shots, the top limb lost it at full draw yesterday. The bow had about 500 arrows through it.

Time to go chase a stave of Pacific Yew and get Nick to work on 'Towton II'. Anyone recommend a supplier?

AAAwwww.... that must made ya cringe a bit Andy? Glad you didn't get hurt.

Cheers.... Rod

rodlonq wrote:AAAwwww.... that must made ya cringe a bit Andy? Glad you didn't get hurt.

Cheers.... Rod

Yep, a touch sad, but hey ho, it was experimental. And no injuries acquired.

http://medicinebowwoods.com .... blokes name is Dave, he also sells yew staves on ebay under the name burl.quilt
Did you suffer any injuries when she let go?

Ay Andy I feel your Pain. Roadie.

Hi Andy, What were the dimensions for that one?
Hamish.

Hamish wrote:Hi Andy, What were the dimensions for that one?
Hamish.

The dimensions? I can't be exact but, I think it started life at about 80 inches, then Nick brought it down to 78 in the end. It was about 105lb @ 32.

Roadie wrote:Ay Andy I feel your Pain. Roadie.

Hey Roadie, not a really a major disappointment. It was always an experimental bow. Cost me about $100 for the stave from Steve Farrell, then Nick did the work in exchange for a set of fancy arrows. We weren't sure how it would hold up. But now we know. So at least others can approach Brigalow with a little caution in regard to D-section bows. That said, while it was alive, it spat out 800 grain arrows quite well.

On another note, I should let you know that sadly there's no way Cecilia and I can get to Mildura for your shoot. It's too close to our Japan trip to get extra time off to travel there by road, and flights would be about a $1000 or so. Next year!

Cheers,

Andy

Hi Andy, For dimensions I also meant width and depth at the handle. I'd expect a 100lb hardwood bow to be a lot narrower than a yew warbow, or either wider and flatter, shallower in the handle area. Did you get any pictures at brace height or drawn before it broke?
That was a pretty catastrophic break, the grain looks a bit short across the width there. Where there any knots near the break? If you got that one from Steve, then its likely to be pretty straight and clean, because I helped him cut and split that stuff.
I have made a 60lb elb from brigalow but I haven't made any from that batch yet, so I will have to be extra careful.
100lber is a big step, straight into trying a new timber, but I know Nick has made plenty of big uns before from other timbers.
Hamish

I am aware that this is immaterial to this discussion but recently made a glass bow with Brigalow riser and belly lam. Love the way it turned out and shoots. I realise that glass allows all sorts of otherwise fatal flaws to be accommodated , that would be immediately fatal in a self bow. If any one can make a good selfie approaching that poundage from brigalow then its Nick.

Ok Hamish, a stab in the dark as far as dimensions. It was actually quite grunty, despite being a heavy wood. The width at the handle would have been a smidge over 1.5 inches, depth much the same. I can check exact dimensions when I get home tonight though. It was also a bow that was deliberately made a touch stiffer through the handle, rather than bending throughout.

These two shots may help give you an idea of dimensions.

Cheers,

A

H'mm very interesting, Was it the top or bottom limb that blew? Looks to be a little knot on the lower limb. You and Nick must have some pretty good shoulders. Mine start to ache just thinking about tillering a 100lber let alone shooting one.
Hamish.

I would recommend Dave at Medicine bow woods, we got some Pacific Yew staves from him, they were all debarked (must be done for customs) and well wrapped.

Only took a week from payment to delivery by courier.

Carson at echo archery also has some nice high altitude Pacific Yew staves.

Thanks for the tips on yew suppliers chaps. I've ordered a stave from Dave at Medicine Bow Woods. An 'exceptional' stave apparently, with 80-100 growth rings per inch. Nick L is looking forward to getting his mitts on it and creating 'Towton II'. Here's a few pics of said stave.

A

Looks like a beauty....80-100 rings per inch! jeez that's dense, wouldn't want to try and chase a growth ring on that!, good thing it's yew and one aparantly doesn't need to follow a single ring for the back. Looking forward to seeing the end result

Nice stave.