Ozbow

Afternoon all,

Have been working on this one over the last week for a mate that requested a warbow from me for some of his re enactment shooting.

His order was for 80-90lbs @ 30 inches as he can quite handle my 115lb-er just yet. So I adjusted the dimensions to what I thought would yield a good result.

32mm wide in the handle and 30mm thick to start, 6 inch handle box section and taper down to 14mm in the tips (wanted them a bit stiffer this time to force the handle to bend) and a total of 80 inches long (he's a bit of a shorty, cant string an 84" bow haha)

Hickory on the back and red ironbark for the belly as it has given a decent result for me before (and I love the colours!)

Got her all roughed out, back crowned and belly rounded, limbs checked for even taper, nocks and stringer grooves cut and on went the string.

Short brace looked alright but the handle was a bit stiff so I started to reduce the thickness little by little to get it to bend full compass.


Eventually I got it down to the 30 inches draw but the scales only read 75lbs and the tiller needed some more fine tuning... bugger!!

Have been slowly refining the tiller today and its close to how I want it but its now down to 72lb @30" so I may have to shorten it a bit to up the weight if the timber will let me. 77" n-t-n should be enough to get a 30" draw with a good compass bend.

Photos later tonight.

Colin

looking forward to the photos Colin.

Ok here are the photos of the bow as it was initially...

Brace height around 6 inches
And down at 30 inches...
I have since looking at these photos today thinned the handle and inner part of mid limb to get the handle bending a bit more "compass" but I'm still not 100% happy with the tiller.

If I shorten the bow an inch either end I may work the tips a little to stop then looking so straight for the last 3 or 4 inches, particularly the left limb tip since it looks a bit stiff.

One other issue has come up with this bow and that was a small crack which occurred in the hickory backing in a small knot or branch spot, however the bow has not failed yet so I should be able to patch it up so it never does.

Let me know what you all think so far.

Cheers

Colin

Looks really good Colin!, but to my inexperienced and somewhat untrained eye it doesn't look like its bending enough through the handle section . This was my first ever red oak board bow, 59" in length & i was aiming to get every inch of the bow bending..took me about 2 weeks to finish and the whole thing was made with a rasp and file

Thanks Cmoore!

Yes you are correct, the handle is not bending anywhere near enough, but as I mentioned in my post with the photos, I have started to fine tune the tiller more and get the handle bending properly.

I will post some more photos today of this work as I progress with it.

The bow is most likely going to lose and inch either end so that will need to be done before the bows tiller is completed.

That is a very nice little bow there in your picture!! lovely compass bend and impressive work with only hand tools. I use nothing but hand tools to make my bows after they are roughed out of glue up so I know how slow it can be.

Colin

Ok guys,

Gave her the chop and shes now 77" ntn and I have re-worked the tiller and it looks to be bending much nicer now so I'm pretty happy with it.

This is the cut down bow at 30 inches pulling 75lbs.
Let me know what you all think of the tiller now. I'm aware that it might not be 100% perfect but its ALOT better than it was. Pretty amazing what cutting 2 inches off a bow will do to the shape of it!!

After asking around a bit and some research into it, I have discovered that the cut off for warbows is 70lbs @ 32 inches... this one pulls 80@ 32 so it actually IS a warbow!!

Looking forward to putting some 60g standard EWBS arrows through it to see how far it will throw one.

Colin

It looks as though you have got the design worked out, well done.

hunterguy1991 wrote:After asking around a bit and some research into it, I have discovered that the cut off for warbows is 70lbs @ 32 inches... this one pulls 80@ 32 so it actually IS a warbow!!

I guess your bow would be classed in the non-historical division.

"The English War bow was the bow the longbow used in battle by the Plantagenet and Tudor armies of the 14th, 15th and 16th Centuries. The EWBS defines a war bow to be a bow that follows the pattern, profile and tiller of the bows found on the Mary Rose.

Mary Rose Class Self yew bows in the “spirit of the original” MR bows:

- No shorter than the shortest MR bow (74” – to be confirmed);
- May be to any MR bow profile;
- Heat treatment may be used to straighten a stave but not to induce unnatural reflex (an unbraced bow shall not show any artificially induced reflex);
- Be full compass in tiller;
- Within the 5/8, depth/width rule along the length of the bow;
- Has some profile to the belly of the bow (i.e. not flat bellied); and has no handle grip/covering.

Non-Historical

Non Historical Bows made from laminations of wood. Any laminated bow would be in this class, exotic or otherwise, as would backed bows, any join in the handle bows and self bows of wood not used in the above period by Anglo-Welsh armies (e.g. Osage). The following shall also apply:

- A maximum of four wood laminations;
- No less than 72” in length;
- No synthetic or horn laminations;
- Bows may have a handle grip or covering;
- No bamboo may be used except for bows used to shoot the Flight Arrow"

Daryl.

great work so far colin, and I'll add my 2 cents worth re the tiller. looks like a tiny hinge left limb about 2/3 out and right limb one 1/3 out [from handle] looks tiny bit stiff, but then I've never made a warbow so probably talking through my hat!!!

Cheers Daryl!!

Yes it would be in the non-historical class should it be shot at an event or for records, but I don't think this one would be a record breaker anyway.

Bob, I think your pretty right on your analysis there actually!! There is a very slight hinge there but I cant really do much at this point to relieve it as I don't want to lose anymore weight...

I think the area about 3-9 inches out from the handle is still a tiny bit stiff on both limbs. Hoping that Dennis will look at this post and give his opinion on it.

The tiller does look a little better in person than photos tho I'll say... think its because of having to hold the camera in one hand and 70+lbs of force through a rope in the other.

Colin

hunterguy1991 wrote:Cheers Daryl!!



The tiller does look a little better in person than photos tho I'll say... think its because of having to hold the camera in one hand and 70+lbs of force through a rope in the other.

Colin

Be careful you don't end up being fed through the pulley block, holding that with one hand!

Haha will do my best not to Bob

Think I'll get a camera guy when I do my Yew bow at 130-140lbs tho!!

Well I got this bow all finished up and ready for delivery today.

The costumer got to shoot the bow in early in the week and was very impressed with how it went so I set about dressing it up with horn nocks and a satin varnish.

The end result!!
Brace height is about 5 and a half inches here. The bow is meant to be shot with a vambrace so I figure its fine to have a little bit longer power stroke. The red Ironbark and Hickory make what I think is a good colour combination.

Top nock.
Bit of a unique shape in this one and I like how it came out. I leave a bit of glue to help make a nice ramp up to the nock to make stringing it nice and easy.

Bottom nock.
Nothing special here really...