Howard Hill

[CraigMBeckett]

Not sure if this is the correct place for this, if not someone please move it.

A Question for those who know.

On another forum one of the members stated that Howard Hill used an arrow shelf on his bows. I however do not think he did but can only come across very poor photos that seem not to show a shelf but could show a very thin one. Do any of you know whether he did or didn't or if he did did he always do so?

I do know that the bows he supplied Errol Flynn for his Robin Hood film did not have a shelf but that could have been specifically for the film.

Craig.

[Hrothgar]

Craig, your question got me curious so I went and looked at some old pics. It seems some (and maybe most) of the bows have a slight, narrow arrow rest. Being a "purist" I doubt if he used any more modern, higher tech equipment than was necessary.

[Kegan]

Depends on when you're talking about.

Like fiberglass, Hill did eventually start adding shelves to his bows. I believe, but don't quote me, it didn't become commonplace until the fifties or so. Most of the bows he used in his career were all boo laminated longbows with no shelves though.

You will hear claims of fiberglass and cut in shelf use by alot of folks who like shooting Hill Archery laminated bows today. Before you go beleiving everything they say, look through the photos in his books or his old videos. If there's a shelf on those bows than it must be about 1/8"... and fiberglass must have had nodes

[CraigMBeckett]

Hrothgar, Kegan,

Thanks for your responses.

Hrothgar, can you point to those photos with a shelf or possibly give a date for them?

Kegan, yes I believe like you he may have used shelves later in his life but was curious about what he generally used early on in his very long career. As for the bows, bamboo was his favorite until he got lazy and switched to glass. I seem to remember reading that when he got a delivery he boiled it then pressed it flat.

Had a quick search of this site and found this post, so in the mid to late 30's he did not make bows with shelves.

http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php/topic,14402.0.html

Wonderful what you can find if you search properly.

Craig.

[Kegan]

Craig- from the dates on many of the photos I've seen, his bows went unchaged, for the most part, from the 30's to the late 40's, and he even used several of his favorite bows into the 50's without modification. He switched to glass to allow long brace times without set, but I never did find why he began to use shelves after so many years without them .

There was an online article from some magazine about the "evolution of arrow rests". Though more than half the article was about compound fall aways and what not, there were several bits of early arrow shelves used by Pearson and others from the 50's. Despite the compound bow focus it seemed pretty well researched. Wish I could find the thing now

[Hrothgar]

Craig, here is one sight that has some close-ups, looks like the one or 2 definitive pics were taken in later years.


howardhillshooters.com/howardpix/howardpix.html

[CraigMBeckett]

Hrothgar,

Thanks for the address,

looks like the one or 2 definitive pics were taken in later years

Yes it does, funny he is such a well known person I would have thought someone who knew everything about him would have popped up and could give us chapter and verse on his bows.

Craig.

[sailordad]

well since youve first started this thred i managed to dig out a thumb drive with some pics on it that i took at the POPE AND YOUNG ARCHERY MUSEUM
this museum has original bows from all the greats,pope and young(obvioulsy),hill,st charles,bear

here is a pic i found with a couple of HH bows
on the one you can clearley see a shelf



i dont know how to enlarge it to make it better
however when i zoom in on the pic,you can clearly see his signature on that bow

[CraigMBeckett]

sailordad ,

Thanks for the photo, as you say you can clearly see the shelf. Tried blowing it up but lost definition, does the bow have a date on it?

Craig.

[sailordad]

no i dont see a date on it
when i get time i will sit down and go thru all the pics on my thumb drive and see what else i can come up with
i know some one had asked about raw hide quivers,i also have a nice pic of one that was made by POPE(i believe)
if you want i can give you the phone number to the museum,i am sure the
proprietor would love to share any ifo he has(hes very knowledgable on the greats  )

[Cromm]

I will have a look in my copy of hunting the hard way he shows and tells you how to make a bow in it.

[CraigMBeckett]

if you want i can give you the phone number to the museum,i am sure the
proprietor would love to share any ifo he has(hes very knowledgable on the greats

Thanks for the offer but as I am currently unemployed, was made redundant, I would prefer to forgo the cost of an international call, now if you had an Email address for him that would be good.

Cromm,
Now that would be interesting to know, I look forward to reading it.

Craig.

[Cromm]

OK I had a look and it doesn't say that he cut an arrow shelf into the bows, but it looks like on some he puts a leather grip on with a button of wood or horn. In one other book on him there are photos of bows he made and used. The first and oldest bows look like English Longbows, then there are some that are more along the American Longbow style but no arrow rest, it does say with that photo that he shot of the hand. Then there are later bows with the small rest added on to the side...................That's all so far.

[CraigMBeckett]

Hi Cromm,

Thanks for the information,

It certainly seems that he began without shelves but moved to them later, the same as he began making bows with bamboo then switched to fibreglass later.

Craig.

[Jesse]

I cant see the picture too well but it looks like a built up rest not cut in but Im looking at a small picture on a small screen I might be wrong