Historical Question.....no fighting now......calm down

[islandpiper]

I have a question regarding the really old ELBs, like those found on Mary Rose and possibly some other sites.  Did the old bowyers chase rings?  Did they do it as carefully as you all do ?  Or did the men responsible for making a thousand bows before the next battle started just "crank 'em out"......getting "close' to a ring, cutting off the obvious and leaving the best parts and piling the staves in baskets when the light got too low to work? 

Somehow I can't imagine a bowyer who was facing the prospect of the French or the English or the Germans coming over the next hill with utter conquest on their minds finessing each bow the way we do now? 

Any comments?  Historical evidence?  Personal opinions?   thanks, Piper

[Ryano]

Not sure Piper but you'd probably be better off posting this in the English war bow section. I do know its not 100% necessary to follow a growth ring on yew sap wood. In fact I believe its common practice to thin the sapwood to keep the sapwood to heart wood ratio in check with yew wood.

[George Tsoukalas]

No need to chase rings with yew. Jawge

[Dano]

I'd say the guy that had to come up with all those arras had the REAL job.

[Pat B]

Looking at old Native American bows many had grain violation on them. Some of the most ancient bows found in bogs in Europe had grain violations and some were built with the split side as the back and the outside radius as the belly. It is probably more of a modern phenom to chase a clear ring for the bows back. By modern I mean when archery became a hobby or sport instead of just a necessity.

[Nightmyth]

  The answer for the most part is no. If you look back at history, people made due.

  Today, folks are obsessed with perfection, that was a luxury they couldn't afford back then.

[Del the cat]

I think the answer is yeah, but no, but yeah...They would try to keep a reasonably even layer of sapwood, so if the sap wood is thin, just leave it as it is. IF it is thick it would need thining down at the tips of the bow (else they would end up being all sapwood!), maybe they'd thin it down over the whole bow, but I don't think they'd slavishly 'follow a ring' but obviously they'd use the rings as a guide.
If the bows were being made commercially for the armies of the state they would be make them quickly and wouldn't be worrying about the niceties. Doubtless archers would also fettle their own 'standard issue' bows.
If you had to make a dozen Yew bows per day (or whatever it was) how fussy would you be?
Out of interest on my own Yew Longbow it follows the outermost growth ring for the most part, but near the tips where there is some twist and too much sapwood I've cut in a bit, there is no sign of lifting fibres tho'
So it's a definite maybe!
Del

[cracker]

I believe that I read in tbb or somewhere that perfect is the enemy of good.Ron

[islandpiper]

THANKS everybody.   I suspected that there may have been some "practicality" involved in this.  I just could not imagine all you experts chasing a ring for days, or evenings, and the old time English bowyers turning out x-bows/day for years. 

Man, i wish we had some Yew here, but living in the tropics there is no chance.   piper