I can't actually remember the Bow I have. It's a sort of mid-range recurve I purchased after I'd done my safety course and never felt the need to upgrade in the 10yrs or so I was 'active'. I did have to have some extra long arrows made because of my arm length. I had grand ideas of going Compound etc, but in the end simply enjoyed what I had considering how little I had time to indulge. I'm really lucky to have Quicks just a few miles away, not many live so close to such a specialist: https://www.quicksarchery.co.uk/
I had a Barnett compound bow in the late 80's. (Just like him with the long hair muscles and head band). Even then arrows were over £3 a pop. Was absolutely amazed how easy it was to lose the blighters in short grass. They'd stitch themselves in to the tufty stuff. Woe betide anyone who thought you could just lift/pull one out!
I have a similar issue. I’m only 5’9” but have a 31” draw. Compounds are great and an amazing technical achievement, but they leave me a bit cold as they’re too easy to shoot. I really enjoy the challenge and immense satisfaction of bare bow and the semi-spooky nature of instinctive shooting rather than using a sight or even aiming though the gap. I also love the idea that I’m practising a skill which humans have relied on for hundreds of thousands of years, using equipment which has barely changed over that enormous timespan.
A very parallel story to my own. I only remember Quicks at Waterlooville and Hampton Court but see there are a couple of others now and that maybe Hampton Court is no longer there?
It’s just crossbows at this stage but I imagine all the finger-wagging HR Karens and sissy cucks who seem to dominate politics and the public sector will use that as a Trojan horse to sneak in bans on anything else remotely pointy or shooty until we are all forced to use plastic cutlery and crayons instead of pencils.
That was written by the actor that played Siegfried in the original All creatures great and small tv series, he was a leading authority on the long bow and even did work on the bows found in the Mary Rose.
Yes, Robert Hardy was the head of the Royal Toxophilite Society for many years. I won that book in tournament in 1987 and have to say it is a very good read. I was working at the old Portsmouth Power Station when the Mary Rose was lifted and they even came and borrowed one of our JCB's to assist with something or other. They discovered hundreds of bows on the Mary Rose (all in the book) and computer analysed them. As an Archer you will know all about Draw weight and the fact that today most average strong men would use a recurve bow between 35 - 40pounds. A modern longbow requires a draw weight of circa 70 pounds and it's only doable because you draw and release; no holding. The bows on the Mary Rose were coming up with draw weights between 100 and 185 pounds. They initially thought the computer programme was faulty so actually replicated bows to the precise computer analysis and it was correct. Can you imagine the strength of people drawing 185 pounds and shooting for hours in battle. It beggars belief but I guess in those days people were born into it and developed physically accordingly.
I don't know if you saw this wot I posted a while back: What Are You Watching......? To save you bobbing about between threads, here's the video again.
Went for a walk and now sitting down on a bench. Dry, but clouding over and not particularly warm. My fault for coming over in April.
Not all draw weighs are created equal. I’ve seen another video featuring the same archer, Joe Gibbs, where he’s shooting a 130lb compound bow. Interestingly, even though he can shoot a 200lb longbow he struggled to draw even an 80lb compound at first because all the weight is in a different part of the range to a longbow as the longbow gets heavier as the draw increases whereas the compound draw starts very heavy then falls off a cliff for the last quarter due to the cams. It took him 3 months of practice to work up to the 130lb compound bow and even then he really struggled and was only able to complete 3 or 4 shots. Recurve bows are different again and a 70lb recurve shoots faster than a 120lb longbow but slower than a 50lb compound. Another interesting thing is that when he shoots the heavy longbows he adopts that same rather odd “here’s me ‘ead, me arse is coming” posture that the archers on the cover of the Robert Hardy book are using. He said it’s not a conscious decision - it just seems to be the most biomechanically efficient way of doing it.
