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Bow types
Today, there are three main types of
bow - the traditional longbow, the recurve bow, and the modern compound
bow.
Longbows:
In the late 13th century the longbow
evolved. This new weapon typically had a draw weight of 100 to 120
pounds. Originally the bow came from southern Wales, where there are records recording
its use from around 1150. The first battle where it was widely used was the
battle of Falkirk in 1298. It was quickly adopted across England as the
weapon of choice, and dominated the battlefield until the middle of the
sixteenth century. The longbow was regarded as such an important weapon,
that at some battles longbowmen formed as much as 85 percent of the
fighting force.
The normal practice range for
bowmen was 220 yards, with most archers able to loose 8 - 10 well aimed
arrows per minute. Some archers were even able to fire 20 arrows per minute. The
maximum range for longbows was more than 220 yards, but their
shortcoming was that they lacked
penetrating power against armour at this range. A mounted knight could cover
this distance
in about 15 seconds, so the longbowmen's rate of fire was very important. Armoured footsoldiers would take about
a minute and a half to cover the same distance. For
the last 50 yards, the arrows could punch through the finest armour.
It has been estimated that at the battle of Agincourt, there were about 5,000 English archers.
Assuming a rate
of fire of 8 arrows a minute, 40,000 arrows could be loosed each minute,
which is almost 700 arrows a second! Clearly, it was difficult to
survive such an onslaught and this explains the dominance and battle
success of the longbow.
In order to make sure that there were
the necessary numbers of archers for the armies, all
men from the ages of 12 up to 65 had to practice weekly by law. The game
of football was banned, to
prevent people being injured so that they could not practice. Continued
daily practice
led to the skeletons of archers becoming slightly deformed due to
the power of the bows.
The preferred wood for
longbows was traditionally yew, but today they may be made of several other woods,
e.g.
hickory or lemonwood.
Longbows do not put as much energy
into the arrow as other bows, which is why they have to be more
powerful. Today longbows generally do not exceed 50lb draw weight. They
are less accurate and more difficult to shoot than a modern bow, but
more and more archers are changing to them today because they are fun to
shoot, and you know that you are shooting in the traditional way. You don't use any arrow rests with a longbow,
as you support the arrow on
your forefinger when shooting.
Recurve bows:
A recurve bow is
so called because of the side-view profile; in
contrast to the simple longbow a recurve bow has tips
that curve away from the archer when the bow is
unstrung. This style of bow stores more energy than an
equivalent straight-limbed bow, and therefore gives a greater amount
of 'cast' to the arrow. By contrast, the traditional
straight longbow tends to "stack" - that is,
as the string is drawn further back, the
required draw force increases rapidly .
Recurved limbs
also put greater strain on the materials used to make
the bow, and they may make more noise as they are shot.
Many beginners are confused by the shape that the bow
should be before being strung - it should look like the
bow pictured on the right.
A typical modern
recurve bow, as used by archers in the
Olympics and many other competitive
events, will employ advanced
technologies and materials and will have
been made by a professional company such
as Hoyt, or Win and Win. The
limbs are usually made from layers of
fibreglass, carbon and/or wood on a core
of carbon foam or wood. Carbon limbs
will shoot the arrow faster for a given
draw weight when compared with wooden
limbs, but they are much more expensive. The riser (the
handle section of the bow) is generally
separate and is normally constructed
from aluminium or magnesium alloy. (Risers for beginners
are usually made of wood or plastic). An
Italian manufacturer now also produces a
very lightweight but expensive
carbon fibre riser. The limbs of
the bow will fit into pockets on the
ends of the riser, and will be held in
place by the tension of the bowstring.
The
high-technology materials of a modern
bow allow
predictable manufacture for consistent
high performance, and also permit the easy
attachment of modern aids to accuracy,
such as stabilisers.
The greater weight of a modern bow is
in itself an aid to stability in the grip,
and therefore to accuracy.
The modern recurve is
the only form of bow allowed in the
Olympic Games, and is the type most widely used by
European and Asian archers.
Recurve archers
often have many other pieces of equipment attached to
their recurve bows, such as stabilisers, (for balancing
the bow and absorbing some of the vibration) sights (for improving
accuracy), and pressure buttons (for fine tuning the arrow's
flight). A piece of leather called a tab is worn
when shooting to ensure a smooth release and save wear
on the fingers.
Compound bows:
A compound bow is
a modern development of the bow which uses a lever system of cables,
wheels and
cams to draw the limbs back.
The limbs of a
compound bow are usually much stiffer than those of a
recurve bow or longbow. This limb stiffness makes the
compound bow more energy-efficient than other bows, but
the limbs are too stiff to be drawn comfortably with a
string attached directly to them. The compound bow has
the string attached to the pulleys, one or both of which
has one or more cables attached to the opposite limb.
When the string is drawn back, the string causes the
pulleys to turn. This causes the pulleys to pull the
cables, which in turn causes the limbs to bend and thus
store energy.
The use of this
levering system gives the compound bow a characteristic
draw-force curve which rises to a peak weight and then
"lets off" to a lower holding weight.
Compound bows often have a peak weight of up to 60lbs,
but may only need 15-20lbs to hold the arrow before
firing it.
The compound bow
is little-affected by changes of temperature and
humidity and gives superior accuracy, speed, and
distance in comparison with other bows. The compound bow
was first developed and patented in Missouri in
1967 and has become increasingly popular. In the United
States, the compound is now the dominant type of bow.
Instead of standard sights, magnifying scopes are
used in conjunction with a 'peep' sight in the string, and the arrows
are shot with a release aid, similar to a trigger, rather than with the
fingers. It is recommended that you learn to shoot a recurve bow
before attempting to move on to a compound bow. |
The Battle of Poitiers in 1356
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