Hay Brother,.all the help, all this imfo l really enjoy this is what makes a good site..this is far better than having smoke blown up ones butt.. only to have the stub, stubbed out on your bum!!..
thanks for comming back Einion good stuff..
Phil.

That's an interesting info. It contradicts what I once heard in a conference paper about English longbows. The author insisted that proper bow could only be made from trunk of fully grown tree and it has to be knot free. In fact, he claimed that from one trunk good bowyer would be able to produce 1-3 good bows (made from side facing south*), few more of medium quality and the rest will be only training/hunting class. Obviously we have to take into account he probably meant extremely powerful examples, as some were up to 80-100 kg draw.

* or north, I don't remember. Either it needed to be from the side facing sun or not, as each gives differently grown fibres.

Welcome Phil, glad to try to help.

Yes, saying 'proper bow' obviously comes loaded with all sorts of assumptions (or biases).

Even if we take for granted that knotty bows wouldn't be as strong or consistent as one made with beautiful straight grain they are known in Britain back to the days of the Roman incursion, there's no question they existed or that they could work - that's as good a definition of proper as you'd need

And it's not like all bows of the same dimensions with similar grain are equally good anyway. What's even more surprising, given the fame of the yew self-bow, is how many surviving fragments of bows don't have a mix of sap and heartwood!

Einion

As a natural material Yew is very variable in quality. Then, as now, you made do with what you could get. The finest materials were reserved for those who could pay for them and tons of yew was imported into England in order to meet demands. I´ve shot in viking-period and medieval self-bows for 25 years, had perfect looking bows with a disappointingly slow cast and knotty branch bows with a surprisingly fast cast. Sometimes a piece of wood just doesn´t want to be a bow. I do agree that "Robin" should be seen with a heavier bow with the classic D-shaped cross-section. Robert Hardy´s "Longbow" makes a good read for an introduction to the subject.

I beefed up my United Empires WotR bow.

Spike.

Evening all,..Robin the Tinker has a new bow and his cover has been blown..I have placed all the lmfo forwarded to me by you good folk,all long hand in my book of research so l wont lose it..yet again thank you..My good wife feels l should produce a likness of Robin the tinker and his Sherwood brothers,..lm rather excited about the idea.......
good stuff folks Phil..