Boston Bows - Making the Heavy Self Yew Warbow
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 6 ต.ค. 2024
- www.bostonbows.co.uk
See the bow being shot here, • Boston Bows 160lb Amer...
In this video I'll take you through the process of making the heavy English Warbow out of a single Yew stave. From the initial shaping phase to the final few inches on the tiller; the whole process is documented to help those who are interested in medieval archery get an indication of how the famous weapon was made.
Expect the next video to document shooting the bow and further videos expanding on the specifics of bow-making.
www.bostonbows.co.uk
I harvested about twenty hazel staves last winter. They’ve been drying in the barn for a year now. Just brought four indoors for final drying, and now, finally, aged 58, it’s time to make my first longbow.
Thanks for making this very informative video. 👍
Enjoyed spending time watching you create a proper English war bow! You are a true bower and you will inspire many others to have a go at making replica 16th century bows. The rest will know they are buying a quality English war bow from Boston Bows!
Ian. great detail in this video. Ive been holding off on this project for a while and have a suitable piece of yew with tight rings that are waiting for me to get up the nerve. thanks for posting this!
Thanks for this, I am tempted to do another video this spring. Better quality camera this time.
great to see this video back, thanks Ian
Fantastic. Trying to make my own circa 100lb self yew bow and your video is a fascinating insight of how a pro does it. Great video. Thanks for sharing. Atb, Mick
and made a fantastic bow and video as well!
A little TH-cam history right here 😉
It's a fantastic realization, very accurately and magistral. Congratulation !
Beautiful work. A pleasure to share in your craft.
you make it look easy, look forward to the next part
hey man this was a very clear and helpful video about bow building in general . thank you!
A beautiful bow. Well done!
Wow, that beast would B fit for any medieval army, but England especially!
when I closed the workshop down I had tons of 20 year old yew slabs which I sold I wish I had kept some now. I still know an elderly gentleman who lives in north east of England who still has lots of it left I may have to go pay him a visit again :)
Do! Then let me know how you get on.
Awesome craftsmanship
Got his little Record block plane made in Sheffield, England up the road a piece. Good tools.
Excellent video and instructions.
beautiful bow, impressive work!
Very interesting to see your own process for shaping the bow and tillering. Enjoy the fact you do it completely by feel. I've wondered if historical bowyers really did the single growth ring chasing business. It doesn't seem like it would have been practical using knives to shape the bow. I was surprised that you braced the bow at a pretty good brace height on the first go. The only time I have broken a bow during the process was going to full brace height on a short bow. The hardest part of making heavy bows for me is getting the bow braced without stretching the string to almost no brace height, and pulling the bow when it's getting close to draw length. Can you describe your block and tackle set up ? How is it anchored?
Bracing soon comes with experience. When I balanced it on my finger that shows the limbs were even so was going to brace quite well. You're right about stretch, use 22 strand fastflight for your tillering strings and it should hold fine, and you shouldn't have to over bend the bow to brace it at the normal height.
Two pulleys, one bolted to the wall and together they half the draweight. Of course you need to pull them twice as far but that's not a huge problem. Mine are from a sailing boat so can stand up to quite repetitive motions. I might go into it in a future video but if you email me I'll send you a picture of the setup.
Have you ever used B50 dacron for your warbows and if so how many strands. Fast flight is so expensive.
Thanks from Canada
I would never use B50 no amount of strands would make it strong enough. Buy FF there's no point buying a good bow and arrows if you cheap out on the main ingredient.
Thanks Ian. I'm alright with that.
I use back leg tendon sinew from elk .
just a quick bit of info, the scraping type tools are called in the trade spoke shaves, the wooden type you have are fairly old and probably made of box wood, although today's spoke shaves are mainly metal, of various types and adjustments for the blades
really nice bit of yew and more to the point No Knots, lol good job
You're exactly right. I much prefer these wooden ones to the modern metal ones though.
A work of art , cheers
damn that is one perfect stave.
I do like the almost total use of handtools. I'm just going to have to look for a wood more suitable for Australian conditions.
Do you have any suggestions?
So to answer a very common question: where I get my wood from? I'm not going to name the supplier because they are inconsistent in their quality. I buy ten staves at a time to guarantee I get 'some' good ones but always I'll get some which are awful. I keep the poor quality ones for my own experiments and use the best for customers. This video was a rare time when I made a bow which didn't have a customer in mind. If you're looking for staves, google it, you'll find it; I've probably spent the better part of a week looking online for good quality timber. If you really take it seriously then you have to put the effort in to finding your own materials.
What "terms" should I search for to find the wood that I need?
@@sgt.wolfenstein0818 I will be selling Yew staves in the future. But start with Ash to practice with or White Oak. They can both make bows and they are very cheap to start with.
@@Warbowification Thank you.
that is some piece of seriously dense growthrings :)
If you use power tools, the wood loses all its chi. Now you have to leave it overnight in a crop circle to recharge it
I just go to the source, ET charge's mine.
Things that make you go hmmm. And if you believe that ill through the golden gate in free. I got some ocean front property in Arizona. From my front porch you can see the sea.
@@stevenjohnson2273 Oh no, not the Golden gate. I happen to own it already.
CHI ? CHI ARE YOU KIDDING ? YOU THINK THE BOW KNOW WHAT OR WHO IS SHAPING IT ? SO DOES THE BOW ALSO KNOW THAT YEW IS POISOUS ? BECAUSE IT IS ,,, TO ALL THE SAW DUST ,,, THE CONES ,,, THE LEAVES ,, AND SO ON ,,, TRUST ME THE BOW HAS NO IDEA JUST LIKE THE COMPOUND BOW DOES NOT KNOW WHAT ITS SHOOTING AT SORRY BUT I DONT BUY THAT
@@lesterclaypool1 Welcome to the Internet.
Hi Ian, outstanding work. I think you mentioned a taper of width and depth, what would be some approximate dimensions at the ends of the limbs?
Very beautiful work. But I wonder, aren't we supposed not to "eat" the wood in the back of the bow ? You are doing so at around 9:50. I thought the back must be left untouched ?
This is a factor that depends merely from the type of wood. There are woods that you can't absolutely work on the back of it cause you alterate the dynamic characteristic of the bow and there are woods that it doesn't matter at all because the characteristics of the wood are the same in all his parts. This depends on the fact if there are differences characteristics in the core and outside of the wood. Yew maintains the same dynamic characteristics in all his parts, wethever it is core or outside, same for ash for example, where there isn't even a remarkable between core and outside of the wood.
I really enjoyed the video, very informative, but I have few questions. How did you establish thickness taper? And, where does thickness taper start? 6" from the center?
It's almost impossible to have a set thickness taper, that's why I avoided it here. It does start 6" from center, so the middle 12" is all the same thickness. If it was a perfect laminate I would taper that down to around 16mm at the tip and then work the last few inches down to 12mm when the bow is being tillered. I guess leave it deep and keep taking it down till it looks right.
I have a method where I use program such as AutoCAD to draw the taper and measure there what is the thickness change at each 10 cm segment from the center to the tips.
Then I translate these measurements to the wood and connect them while my hand glides across the back of bow so it follows the dips and humps on the back.
Of course, my initial measurements are just for me to have something to work with, they are not finished dimensions, but they help greatly.
great video, I would love to work with yew wood, I've made a few war bows out of Osage and black locust but can't get my hands on yew.
Thanks for the video,1) Is that Tung oil upon completion?2) My friend says Yew can be bad for the lungs...you may want to wear a mask when sanding
yes. taxus baccata is toxic. should wear mask and googles. gloves not so important
I know you say it's not worth the extra effort to follow the growth ring since there's so many of them but I'm curious if you follow them as best as possible and kept as much of an unviolated growth ring on the back of the bow as possible if that gives an improved efficiency?
No it's actually a bad thing to leave a growth ring. It's best to taper the sapwood evenly from the middle to both ends. Leaving an unbroken ring means the sap is too thick at the tips.
Nice bow! What are the exact measurements for it?
Hi Ian, I am currently making a heavy warbow. I'm aiming for 150lbs at 31". Currenlty it's at 160 Lbs at 25" with a lose filleting string. It's bending evenly into a nice arch. My stave, however is a bit crooked in the bottom limb. I am trying to heat bend it straight. Any advise is welcomed regarding heat bending yew.
To be honest you can often make a bow without both limbs being straight. As long as it bend without twisting. My advice is to ignore long strings, it doesn't give you a true estimation of the bow. Try stringing it to a low brace of around 4" and see how it looks. You might get away with it. Dry heat is an option, however, if you really cannot string it without; but too complicated for me to describe here. PaleoPlanet is a great forum for these advanced techniques.
Thank you Ian. I successfully straightened the bow using oil and a heat gun. Thank you your video was of immense help in making my war bow. It is 148# @ 28".
Glad it helped :)
Beautiful wood and amazing bow!!
I'm about to give it a go myself now after experimenting with other woods and bows.
And it's actually the first time I hear that you don't have to go for a single growth ring with Yew... really surprising especially considering the high draw weight. So I really learned something here.
I'd like to know what you think about reflexing the tips of a warbow. There are illustrations which show that it has been done in the "Mary Rose period" and earlier. Wouldn't that make the bow even better. Or are you aming for exactly reproducing the Mary Rose style?
After seeing the MR bows up close a few weeks ago I'm convinced they are heat treated and subtly reflexed. Apart from this one which, due to the weight, didn't need it. I heat treat most of the self Yew bows I make.
I am new to self-style longbows and wondered about the bow taking a set when strung. How did the old archers deal with it and how today? Is it just accepted or do we do something to reset the set (string-follow). Does string-follow decrease the strength or accuracy of the bow? Thanks!
Man! Yew weren't kiddin!
Hi Ian, I have a yew tree in my garden and I wanted to use a branch to make a crossbow. It this feasible and do you have any tips on how to harvest and treat the wood before making it?
HI Ian, great vid - where did you get your yew from? Cheers
Mostly America, but I've got it from Italy and locally too.
8:50 not recommendet watching with 3d glasses on
The Mary Rose longbows seemed to be thicker in the middle. Did you ever consider that design?
This is basically exactly how the MR bows are actually Daniel... that's coming from someone whose seen exact measurements for some of them.
Does anyone have a Marcus Owen longbow?
Hi after cutting the yew from the tree ,,,,do you allow it to season.
Nice
Can i ask you what are the dimensions of the bow?
Hi there Ian,i just wondering can you help me or give me any advice about making bowstring out of some natural material maybe hemp twine because i used Dacron b50 and it's simply not working stretching really too much
I missed your comment. I only use Fastflight. I tiller with 20 strand strings that don't stretch even on very heavy bows. You can easily use less but they become so thin it gets uncomfortable.
Hi. I live in Maine. how do I get a hold of a good, straight, knot free yew stave? I'd appreciate your professional thoughts! Thank you and great job!
keep the knots thay add character
so u didnt follow the sapwoods rings as a rule because they were too closer rihgt?is this boww still in life?i working a taxus right now but my rings are not too very close.
Hi Ian, have you ever heard of anyone making a heavy longbow maybe 100lbs range out of a stave of mulberry? I would like to read your expert opinion
Yeah mulberry is pretty good. I've not use it particularly but some similar species and they can work very well. Make the profile a flatter rounded section and be ready to use heat to strengthen it and you'll do well.
Thank you so much!
for these bows i have found its best to put the horn nocks on early or else the wooden nocks will split sometimes... what has your experience been?
Indeed! I put the final nocks on before I tiller the bow at all. And even then, with these weight bows, I leave the nocks quite chunky until it's at final weight. Many years ago I had one fail and I'm not losing this quality of wood to such a simple thing.
+Ian Sturgess and what do you do with large knots? Dutch plug? Im working on a yew warbow right now and it has a large knot on the side... Shall I send you a photo?
hello sir iam going to make a warbow out of a scythe handle that is straight and wide enough.Its 1.90 meters at height and 5 cm at width.Now could i make a warbow out of it that could really reach at 90 lbs and over?Its from a really strong wood but i dont know what type.Its from the company BELLOTA the handle.They say its a really strong and long lasting wood.
Good luck
is it going to give a nice perfoming bow?This is what i want to know
I doubt it. It'll be fine to practice with but don't expect it to shoot that well.
could it be lets say from 80 pounds and up.It has really tightly packed grain
I can't tell, is the whole stave rounded out? I've been thinking of the shape of the bow more like a D with the flatter face being the sap wood. It looks like you rounded the sap some, but did you round it out fully to make a full circle? Also, does the knock point go dead center? or your grip go dead center and the arrow rest a bit above that on your hand?
Yeah it's a very rounded profile. Check the initial video intro and you'll see me draw the shape I intent to make it before I actually do. Also google 'MR cross section' you'll see how rounded they are. Nocking point is 1-1.5" above centre, ever in the middle. The top limb will always bend differently to the bottom limb so handle position is important with these bows.
where in the world is everybody getting these yew staves from ...
California, Oregon and Washington, or possibly at Rudder archery,...
However, the best bow you can make or buy is a bamboo backed bow.
3Rivers Archery sells the DVD called (Hunting the Bamboo Backed Bow) With Bowyer Dean Torges.
Really simple and easy to make and tiller, And superior to other laminated bows.
Wheres-my Angels do they grow wild in california
i HAVE NO IDEA WHAT GROWS IN CALIFORNIA, but if a hard wood grows there and bamboo grows there and you glue them together and tiller it it is a superior bow.
Yew trees
Try Ravensbeak Nature Works or Medicine Bow Woods.
Which wood besides Yew can you recommend? I have a lot of dried oak and walnut laying around, can you tell me what to take care of when using these woods?
If you're talking American wood then yes. I've used White Oak and White Ash quite successfully. Walnut normally isn't consistent enough to get the clean lengths from it. but I don't know all the varieties. Using any of these be very picky, choose the densest pieces you can. They are very prone to hing so make sure the tiller is good. Keep them a tad longer to avoid over stress. I would say I got most of my early practice from self-Ash bows until about 110lb with even average wood.
@@Warbowification Yeah yesterday I was going through all the Wood I had laying around in the dry rack and I sadly found that most of the wood isn't suited for this purpose. We as a carpentry don't really have these quarter staffs laying around from which I could make the bow, so I guess I have to ask at the local sawmill. From what I've seen the wood you used was basically a whole quartered section of a tree and we need a good amount of heartwood and sapwood. I also found out that cutting Yew is forbidden here, because the tree is under protection, are there any other conifers you can recommend because I would prefer them, as they grow straighter.
Amazing video Ian. I'm inspired to give it a go myself! Does this bow have an owner?
Do give it a go! No owner, this bow was made for the video.
Ian, what are your thoughts on the reflex found in the Mary Rose bows? Do you think they were made from reflexed staves? Or was the reflex somehow heated into them? I've also heard that sapwood and heartwood degrade at different rates which could lead to the bow becoming reflexed since its burial. I've only ever seen pictures but most look to have most of the reflex in the handle section. Thanks, Drew.
That's a really interesting point. Worthy of a video of it's own in the future. I'm pretty sure bowyers or more likely timber merchants would cut green wood and hold it in a re-flexed form while seasoning. Then after the bow maker would probably heat treat it before making. I have heat treated a lot of yew and it makes a massive difference to the final bow. I've started to experiment with fresh cut staves to improve performance but a lot more needs to be done on that. I'm not sure how the degradation factors into reflex of the bows though.
About how much performance do you think an inch or two of reflex adds? Does the heat treating give it some reflex as well?
Heat treating is more to stiffen the belly. The reflex should give about 10-15yds an inch.
what tool is that you use to shave it down? a big spokeshave? Where did you get it?
My uncle gave me that big one, I got on so well with it I bought more. I get them all from bootsales. If you find one make sure it's not too worn on the wood. Check for a stamp on the blade. They only cost me a few pounds but will probably need cleaning and sharpening if you buy second hand.
By the accent i'm going to assume you're English, if you are, where did you get your wood? I find it very hard getting anything other than pine in this country
I have two UK sources, one in Lincolnshire and one in Buckinghamshire. I've never really struggled to find it. Put a word in at timber merchants and tree surgeons and I'm sure someone will have a lead you can follow.
Ian Sturgess Thanks for the reply, i know it's about it's just trying to get it locally because getting a 6ft plank posted especially if it's hard wood is no cheap thing
+MrcabooseVG if you want some 'have a go staves' I do clear out my stockpile occasionally. It'll be the staves which aren't economical for me to make into bows.
Ian Sturgess That sounds good, how much were you thinking and what kinda woods?
email me at sales@bostonbows.co.uk and we can go over it
Hi Ian how much do you sell your beautiful war bows for ?
Prices on the website - I'm not making that many at the minute though
Where can i buy this??
www.bostonbows.co.uk
What did they use for the draw string all that time ago and what do you use now.
Traditionally, western bow strings would be made out of flax or hemp ideally. It is not uncommon to use natural fibers nowadays either (for traditional bows, modern recurves and compounds always use sinthetics), but Dacron polyester is the most common material now.
Asian and middle eastern traditional bows usually used sinew or hide but basically any kind of fiber can be used to make bowstrings.
Natural fibers are heavily affected by weather conditions, specially hide and sinew.
Probably sinew was the only material both strong and durable enough to last. I've always thought the new "high performence" stretch-free braided fishing line would work great. Buy a spool of 20-30#, which is quite skinny. Twist up several strands to get the right diameter, and bind. That stuff is abrasion resistant too, so a string should last a long time.
G'day Ian,
Firstly, great video mate! Heaps of good info there and a bloody impressive bow! Quick question. When you say 160#@28", is that 28" measured from the bows back or belly?
Always from the back.
Can you send me blueprint of bow? Please
Do you have a method (gauges, calipers etc.) to mark depth taper od do you mark it by eye?
The taper is all by eye. Sometimes I'll check the depth of the middle but only for future reference.
where do u stay
I'm based in the UK. Boston, Lincolnshire.
Is maple useable for making bows? Trying to find a local source of wood in central Ontario.
Maple can be very good. Where you are I would go with Ironwood first though.
Wow iron wood really?! I would never have imagined, having walked past a thousand ironwoods yesterday to harvest a hickory! This is the best bow making video ( and comments) I have seen out of a great many, although I do use a stump axe to rough my stave lol. Cheers Ian from Ontario!
Check out Marc St Louis work. He’s in Canada as well
Hey Ian, I recently purchased a Pacific Yew stave and two Osage Orange ones with the intent of carving English Longbows. made 3 of them from Ash prior, have had some difficulty with the Yew. could I msg. you in private with a pic or two, and ask for some advice? wish ID seen this video before I had started!
thx,
Ian
Yeah sure. I'll help where I can. Email is on the website.
why is it better to have a higher count of linear rings ?
It normally means the wood is consistent, sometimes a stave can be dense in one limb and not dense in the other. Higher ring count normally is a sign of general quality and consistent growing conditions.
How can I get a heavy war bow like this. 150 plus pounds
Search for my Facebook page and message me there. If you want one it won't be until July now.
hello is it possible to make a yew bow that has a 40 to 50 lb draw weight
Certainly possible, no different to making 150lb bows.
where do I order that shaver or razor tool that you use to shave off? And small axe.
And basically tools? Bleh. It seems very complicated.
You see me use all my tools in this videos. You can keep it quite simple. Those wooden tools are drawknives; I get them from bootsales. I would never use an axe to make a bow. Check second hand markets for cheap tools.
Spokeshaves, cabinet scrapers, rasps are very common and cheap.
I must admit, I watched that whole thing to see it built and fired. Dissapointed it wasnt fired lol
Yes haha, I couldn't move it. See here for it being shot th-cam.com/video/ha4iIziiDzw/w-d-xo.html
is it safe to cut through the rings on the back of the bow near the tips?
Is is as long as you don't do too many too quickly. It should be a gradual taper on the sapwood from the middle with only one broken every inch. Don't just scrape loads down right at the very tip.
Thank you
Like it
How many lbs was that?
A few months later after settling at 30" it ended up at 184lb
ANY ARCHERY STILL ONGOING IN BOSTON?
All the time!
wow where do you post news for the practice? I'm also in Boston
Boston England or America?
I'm in America. Oh I thought the video was taken place in Boston, America. Anyway, very good of demonstration of medieval archery making.
Boston america bet they haven't got a Stump
And what oil finish did you use?
About three coats of Tung Oil normally, applied over a few days
I need that bow. It’s my size.
what do you use to treat the wood at the end?
Just Danish Oil, give it a few coats and it'll make a good finish.
Hi! Were can you buy yew staves?
I can buy them from lots of places
See the bow being shot here. th-cam.com/video/MjYr0T0IjH4/w-d-xo.html
你好，请问弓侧面的线如何画?尺寸是多少？谢谢!
That was too difficult with this stave because it had reflex. Basically you taper the belly from the middle to about 15mm at the tips. Should be a straight taper but following the natural line of the back.
thank you
If the middle of the thickness of 38 mm, then the two ends is 23 mm thick it? I remember the central area is flat. If yes, how long is this line? Thank you
You've confused me. The tips are 12/13mm and the middle is about 38/35mm So you want a relatively convex taper down to the tips width and depth. If you need more clarity send me an email and I can send a reply with pictures to clear the confusion.
thank you😊
can I buy your item
Yeah check the website for details.
Why do you leave only a little bit of sap wood on?
OH SHIT You put it through a band saw loool. I was expecting you to spokeshave it down to size
I have to make my 225lb bows by hand .
please disband the bow behind you ^^
The horsebow? No, they stay strung for months that's my training bow I like to pick up throughout the day and train.
really ? sorry
Rezanje lesa na natezni strani loka je diletantizem!