Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: bassman211 on December 18, 2024, 10:05:29 am
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I just roughed out a Meare Heath designed bow that was found in the pete bogs of England that was made roughly 2600 years BC according to experts. It was a broken bow that contained part of the handle ,and one limb. It is 75 inches long, 2, and half inches wide most of the length of the limbs, and tapers at the tips. The real deal was made with English yew. I used black locust, because it is what I had at hand. If I would have had a good piece of birch that would be what I would have used because of it's light mass. The rough cut bow is currently drying. I went to Utube, and saw a few well made examples by an English bowyer. The bow seems like it will be really heavy, and come with an excessive amount of hand shock by it's very design. Has any of you on this sight made ,and shot one? Just curious as to what results you may have had. Can't wait to finish mine, and get shooting it. Bob.
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Search this site using Meare as the search term, it’s been a very popular topic over the past few years
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The Meare Heath bow is a LOT of wood. I've never shot one but I can't think it would spit an arrow very fast or feel good doing it. Narrow down the tips and you have a Sudbury/holmegaard -ish design, which in my limited experience are better shooters that don't beat the daylights out of your bow arm. Those wide limb, narrow tip, narrow handle bows look really nice, too. And I find it fascinating how similar the designs are on opposite sides of the Atlantic.
Sometimes I wonder if some of those ancient bows got chucked into a bog for a reason... (--)
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Well I felt a need to build, and experience shooting one, and if I were to build another one it would be from birch which is a less dense much lighter wood. When you hold this one in your hand it fells like a small oak tree. I have made some Sudbury bows that felt to heavy in the limbs, and to light in the handle, and redesigned them to suit me. This design has more wood through the limbs, so I don't think it will be a pleasant shooting experience, but so far it is a fun bow to build. I just built a series of Osage plains bows , so this is a drastic switch. This bow is said to be an enigma maybe for good reason. thanks for the replies. Bob.
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Well I felt a need to build, and experience shooting one, and if I were to build another one it would be from birch which is a less dense much lighter wood. When you hold this one in your hand it fells like a small oak tree. I have made some Sudbury bows that felt to heavy in the limbs, and to light in the handle, and redesigned them to suit me. This design has more wood through the limbs, so I don't think it will be a pleasant shooting experience, but so far it is a fun bow to build. I just built a series of Osage plains bows , so this is a drastic switch. This bow is said to be an enigma maybe for good reason. thanks for the replies. Bob.
Sometimes you just have to give it a shot. Yew is a pretty dense wood too isn't it? (I've never had the opportunity to work with it) Makes you wonder. Maybe the original was made to club animals and enemies to death instead of shooting them.
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Or used as a double paddle. Any way after many hours of tillering I finished it up this evening. I put a finish on it, and all that is left to do is the leather work. Bow turned out 40lb at 26 inches of draw. Really thin limbs. If the weather is nice enough tomorrow morning I will shoot through the chrony to check the speed of the bow. If nothing else if I do a good job with the leather work it will be a nice conversation piece. Hope it doesn't give me tennis elbow, or rattle what few teeth I have left out of my noggin. What ever the results I am glad I made this style of bow just for the experience. Bob,
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Well, we're going to have to see some pictures! I'll be interested to hear how it shoots. A lot of the Native American bow designs in the TBB are similar--wide limbs and not a lot of taper to the tips. Honestly some of them look like they'd be just awful to shoot...but the Natives seem to have done OK with them, so there must be something good in the design. If not smooth and easy shooting, durability maybe? Maybe we'll be surprised and it will be smooth as butter and fast as greased lightning. If not, you learned something and that's never a waste of time. Looking forward to hearing about it.
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This morning it was 30 degrees with no wind. I finished the leather work on the bow last night, and served the string, so I set the chrony up , and shot the bow. I shot it at 40 lbs. at 25 inches of draw, and shot through the chrony at a blazing 130 fps. with a 390 gr arrow. It has hand shock, but not as bad as I was expecting. It has 1 inch of set. The bow weighs in at 32 ounces. You could kill with it, but performance is sub par. Not a good design for speed to say the least which I didn't think it would be. It was fun to build, and shoot ,so no regrets. Guys at my club will be aw struck with it's size, and get a charge out of shooting it. Bob.
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To be fair I would also like to say a 75 inch bow won't show much in the way of speed with a 25 inch draw at 40 lbs. This same bow at the same poundage drawn to 28 to 30 inches would show better performance. I nock an arrow at the corner of my mouth. I don't think the English shot that way, and they may have made this bow more towards 70 to 100 lbs which may have served them well with a heavier arrow for hunting , or in combat. In any event the bow remains an enigma, so this may all be conjecture.
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Interesting! Always fun when something turns out better than expected. If it's fun to shoot, that's good enough!
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To be fair I would also like to say a 75 inch bow won't show much in the way of speed with a 25 inch draw at 40 lbs. This same bow at the same poundage drawn to 28 to 30 inches would show better performance. I nock an arrow at the corner of my mouth. I don't think the English shot that way, and they may have made this bow more towards 70 to 100 lbs which may have served them well with a heavier arrow for hunting , or in combat. In any event the bow remains an enigma, so this may all be conjecture.
I think you are probably correct Bassman. I certainly am no expert on this bow or its history, but it makes sense to me that it would be more suited to a longer draw. And probably a higher draw weight to.
From my limited experience a longer bow is usually smoother draw. More consistent. And should be quite durable.
They are usually more clumsy for hunting. Not speedy. And yes they sometimes feel like you are holding a small tree.lol
I think if the draw length is increased to take advantage of the extra working area of the bow. It would make it a much better performer.
Bjrogg
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Thanks for your replies WB, and Bjrogg. The Hupa bow looks much like this bow only on a much smaller scale. Paul Comstock liked to build wide bows, and used birch to build some of them. It can be good bow wood if belly heat treated the right way, and is lighter in mass, but probaly not near as durable as yew, or black locust, or some of the other popular woods.
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We don't believe you ever made on if you don't show us pictures btw...
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I have posted quiet a few bows on this site over the years, but my wife who now has dementia, and is in a home took the pics, and did the posting. Bob Barnes was nice enough to help me post my last pics. My son took the pics ,and sent them to him. My good friend Will B. gifted me with a nice 59 inch Osage stave that I got 2 bows out of. He said he would post them for me when I was done with them. He is hunting muzzle loader now. Maybe I can get my son to log in, and take pics ,and post. I am not sure he would know how either. Since August of this year I have been working on bows 8 to 10 hours a day, and have made Osage plains bows, elm target bows, black locust bows. I only have 1 good black locust stave left. My son has elm on his property. I will be cutting some soon. One way ,or another I will get some pics posted of some of these bows. The Meare Heath will be the first one. Patience please.
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Glad to see your still at it and love it. Watching and waiting for the pics!
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Ya Dave looking forward to shooting the bow that you made that Will B has. He is quite the hunter, so it will be later on. Yesterday I cut a handle to deep trying to get the limbs lined, and it broke in two, so this morning I made a metal handle for it , and have one limb fit. In about 10 minutes I will be in the basement fitting the other limb, and keeping my fingers crossed that the limbs line up the way they should.
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Ya Dave looking forward to shooting the bow that you made that Will B has. He is quite the hunter, so it will be later on. Yesterday I cut a handle to deep trying to get the limbs lined, and it broke in two, so this morning I made a metal handle for it , and have one limb fit. In about 10 minutes I will be in the basement fitting the other limb, and keeping my fingers crossed that the limbs line up the way they should.
I’ve heard that he’s a good hunter. I did ok this year but didn’t get the one I was after this year. Too many clutter and little twigs between me the deer of choice. Almost like he knew where to be. lol. He mentioned he enjoyed shooting it. Good luck on your build!
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Glad you are staying busy Bassman. I will try to come by and take some photos and post them for you.
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You are the best Bill.
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Pictures:
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Pictures
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Pictures
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My daughter came by this after noon, and posted the above pics for me. Bill do your hunting, and later on this winter we will build a couple bows together. Thanks for your kindness. Hope the pics show how massive this bow really is.
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Very nice indeed. It’s long! Well done
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Thanks Dave. It was a fun build.
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Nicely made!
Thanks for the pictures!
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Very nice Bob!
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Dang! Now I got to get off my duff and start on my yew stave! The British report I read about the MH said that it was fairly fast and quiet, with little hand shock ar 43# and 28", right around my preferred weight, although I have a 26" draw! Nice job!
Hawkdancer
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Well I felt a need to build, and experience shooting one, and if I were to build another one it would be from birch which is a less dense much lighter wood. When you hold this one in your hand it fells like a small oak tree. I have made some Sudbury bows that felt to heavy in the limbs, and to light in the handle, and redesigned them to suit me. This design has more wood through the limbs, so I don't think it will be a pleasant shooting experience, but so far it is a fun bow to build. I just built a series of Osage plains bows , so this is a drastic switch. This bow is said to be an enigma maybe for good reason. thanks for the replies. Bob.
Sometimes you just have to give it a shot. Yew is a pretty dense wood too isn't it? (I've never had the opportunity to work with it) Makes you wonder. Maybe the original was made to club animals and enemies to death instead of shooting them.
Yew is not dense. it is relatively light.
Del
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Paul Comstock liked to build wide bows, and used birch to build some of them. It can be good bow wood if belly heat treated the right way,
right way? do you heat treat birch any differently from other white woods?
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My grandsons liked the bow ,and they both wanted one, so I made one more that is a scaled down version from black locust again. It is 1 3/4 inches wide for half the length of the limbs, and then tapered to 5/8 at the tips with a cut in arrow shelf at 72 inches long. It is much more comfortable to shoot, and draws smooth, and shoots faster at the same draw length with the same arrow. Not the same as a meare heath bow. More like a flat bow. I did the leather work on it, so it looks some what similar to the original, and the boys won't know the difference. I will get one of my kids to shoot some pics. with the bows side by side. Del that is why I think if you don't have yew to make one with birch would be a good choice. A clean backed piece of birch with a carefully well heat treated belly should work just fine I would think. I heat treat birch as evenly as I can like any other wood, and if you heat treat on a form with clamps you will need to remove the clamps at some point ,and make sure those areas are also heat treated evenly, or it can easily crush in those areas. I learned that the hard way. Hawkdancer that may be true with yew wood. This black locust Wood is dense, and that may make a big difference. There is good reason why yew is a heavily sought after bow wood. I have not yet had a chance to work with it. Maybe some day before I croak. Thanks for the replies every one, and try your hand at one, and post your results.
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Nice to see you are still making and experimenting with designs Bassman.
Nice work
Bjrogg
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Thanks Bjrogg. Winter time is tough for me so making bows, and playing bass is my saving grace. Keeps my mind ,and hands busy though now after roughing a bow out by hand the next day I suffer with body pain. 77 in a couple days, so it is not getting any easier, but I keep pushing myself.
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I'm starting on a short yew version of the Meare Heath, my stave is 64" and about 2" wide, target weight will be about 40#. The data I read on a replica indicated the original was about 43#, and shot pretty smooth and accurately at 50 yards, well past normal hunting range. Have square up the stave to get the bow to fit, and remove bark and sapwood. I will open a new thread to avoid hijacking this one!
Hawkdancer
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Thanks Bjrogg. Winter time is tough for me so making bows, and playing bass is my saving grace. Keeps my mind ,and hands busy though now after roughing a bow out by hand the next day I suffer with body pain. 77 in a couple days, so it is not getting any easier, but I keep pushing myself.
After all these years I have had this mental image of you on the front of a bass boat at sunset tossing a popper into a mess of lily pads....and now I realize you are a four stringer. I don't even know you anymore, LOL!
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JW.... I have been an avid bass fisherman, and bassist for over 53 years. Love doing both still today plus making wooden bows, and shooting all kinds of bows. A man needs his hobbies eh.