A fibreglass laminated scythian-style recurve and a quiver filled with wooden arrows.

A stringer.

By Chris Green

“As a young man, when in need of a bow I took my heavy hunting knife and an axe, whistled up my trained hounds and headed out into the wilderness. Once there, after several trials and overcoming hostile tribes, I selected and felled a mighty tree. With great skill and patience in the space of an afternoon I was able to carve a magnificent bow from its thick trunk.. I then fashioned a fine string from a carefully protected source that bent the limber limbs of my bow to the right fistmele. A sheaf of metal-tipped arrows made from a special plant completed my outfit. On arrival back at my village I kindly showed the bow to the admiring throng, even allowing some of them to attempt drawing it to test its powerful draw weight. Later, around the fire, I showed it to the chief and received his blessings. This was most important before I was ready to go hunting in the tribal hunting grounds… I have many other stories from my youth about my adventures as a traditional hunter.”

A bow is a bow, then. In absolute terms this is a statement of the obvious. Of course, an engineer will tell you that anything that propels an arrow using a string and the energy generated by flexing a limb is a bow. But even a crossbow is a ‘bow’ by this definition. If this view of a bow is tenable, why are there so many versions of ‘bows’, and if we all seek accuracy and efficiency why do we not all use the same brand ‘x’ modern bow? The simple answer is that we are all different, and furthermore we all have different ideas about what we consider good value for our purpose. Long may this last.

Archers, whether the highly sophisticated Olympic shooters or the ultra trad selfbow archers, shoot bows that are compounds or one of the various ‘traditional’ models. Within each class there are subclasses. Many archers shoot more than one style of bow as well. Aside from the obvious surface differences, what is the point of mentioning all these divisions? The reason is that things that look similar from the outside are not necessarily so, and each style of bow has its own peculiar characteristic do’s and don’ts. Good practice, in other words. It is a good idea to understand those differences. There is nothing odd in this at all. Antique damascus-barrelled shotguns don’t stand up to the rain too well, and neither does a Turkish walnut-stocked bespoke rifle take kindly to rock climbing in high mountains in pursuit of mountain goats. You can use them that way, but the resulting scratches, marks or rust might not please you.
I am a traditional archer and have owned and shot most types of bow, except the (expensive) Olympic competition bow. I have built many bows too. I am one of those people that enjoy the challenge of making things, and with my archery it is no different. I fell in love with the curvaceous recurve as a kid and still like them. One day I will make one, but these days I keep going back to longbows, R/D hybrids or selfbows. If you are a ‘maker’ by nature you will agree that there is great pleasure in taking a raw log and making something of use or joy out of it. It could be a chair or a banjo or a longbow!

Traditional bows have their own requirements that must be met to get the best use out of them. All-wood or wood-and-bamboo laminates have their own requirements too. For readers used to the more common variety of glass-laminated bows, it is worth noting a few salient points about wooden bows.

• Here are the ‘rules’:
  An all-wood or wood-and-bamboo bow is ‘tillered’ like its glass cousin. This means it is made to be drawn to a specific draw length at a specific draw weight. The bow limbs will bend evenly and smoothly and the bow will shoot with minimal handshock. It takes considerable time and skill to build a bow this way using only wood. The draw length is often marked on the bow, usually 28 inches. Some bows are made in lighter draw weights and for people with shorter draw lengths. Should that bow be drawn further it will suffer damage and may lose weight or develop a bias in one limb. It could even break. This is the most important difference between wooden bows and those made with fibreglass laminates.
• If finished with an epoxy-based finish, a wooden bow will withstand rain and most types of weather.
• An all-wood bow should not be left strung – unstring it after use.
• An all-wood bow should never be left strung in a car or lying in the sun. You will guarantee losing draw weight and ‘tiller.’
• Most bow woods are reasonably tough, but wood can be damaged by rough handling. Check your bow for nicks and knocks and sand them down before retreating with sealer. Epoxy-type finishes greatly improve surface durability.
• Your bow is not a walking stick, or a tyre lever! However, you will hear of times when a bow has saved its owner from attacks by snakes and other nasties.
• Travel with your bow in a bowsock, and use a bow stringer. Use foot powder in the bow’s sock (just kidding!)
• Check the string nocks periodically and clean out dirt or grit that can damage the string and grind into the finish. Damage to the finish will eventually allow water to penetrate the wood. If you neglect the maintenance, the bow will ultimately either develop a bad twist in that limb or give up the ghost in spectacular fashion.
  

This does not mean that traditional bows or all-wood bows are inferior. It does not mean anything except that reasonable care will preserve your bow. When examining archery tackle, it is good manners to ask the owner if you may draw the bow and how far. If your natural draw length is around 29 inches or longer don’t even think of drawing the bow unless you plan to buy it. Most fibreglass bows can tolerate extraordinary overdrawing and dry-firing, but even they will suffer damage in the end. Wooden bows will suffer damage sooner. Perhaps most importantly, take the time to enjoy the colours and textures of the wood or bamboo, talk with the maker or owner and listen to the passion they feel about their bows. They will tell about its materials and making, of great shots or hunting trips and how the bow has served them. Each bow will be unique and have its own particular shooting characteristics. There are bowyers skilled enough to make selfbows that shoot with great speed and smoothness. It depends on the maker and how he or she treats the wood. History is filled with stories of great shots made using bows made in the traditional manner from the disposable (yes!) English warbow, that could drive a bodkin point through 4-inch oak boards, to the short, highly recurved Scythian horse bows, the great long Yumi of Japan and many others. We are in noble company when we take up a traditional bow. Many folk who build or shoot traditional bows also make other gear such as arrows, quivers, knives, etc and will enjoy showing them to you and sharing their experience. It is much like the blackpowder shooters – we all enjoy taking the journey back in time in our imagination and like to use ‘old style’ gear and to speculate about how we might have fitted in during those times. It is all part of the mystique of archery and long may it remain so. If it is not exciting, challenging or rewarding to your soul, why do it at all?

Albert Einstein is reputed to have had a sign on his office wall at Princeton University that read: “Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted.”

For those wanting to know more about the hero at the beginning of the story – yes, I confess, it was me. At age eight. The heavy hunting knife was a kitchen knife purloined for the purpose, the dogs were my dad’s bird dogs. The hostile tribes were my sisters or the house servants who were charged with seeing that I did my homework and did not cut my hand off. The huge tree was usually a skinny wattle or other easily cut tree shoot, and the special string was my mum’s waxed-linen parcel thread she kept in her sewing basket and which I was not allowed to use without permission. The arrows were bamboo, khakibos or pampas grass tipped with nails. The chief was my Dad who introduced me to the outdoors. The tribal hunting ground was the hedge around the veggie garden and I was after mice and rats! Those were magical days indeed, trials and difficulties aside. My friends and I accounted for many rodents and the dogs could have cared less if we were after mice, driven pheasants or rhinoceroses, they piled in with joyous barks and had a whale of a time! The bows were perfect for my purpose and never went near a bowscale or chronograph. But I was as proud of them then as any other I have made since.
P.S. We currently have our target butt indoors - it is so rainy!

Have fun and shoot safe!