I got commissioned by the Museé de Crécy-en-Ponthieu back in March to make a replica warbow and set of arrows for their new exhibition, and I've finally managed to get them all finished up.
The bow is untillered, as it's just a display piece and they weren't paying for a fully finished bow, but it's made using the measurements of Mary Rose bow MR80A1142, in average quality English yew. I've used the exact same measurements for a number of other bows, using yew from the same tree, and from the same land and they come out between 110lb and 145lb so that gives a rough estimate.
Really dark cow horn sidenocks from my local cattle vet, and a hemp fibre bowstring from hemp that I harvested a couple of years ago down in Devon. It's a true Flemish string, so single laid in loop, rat-tail and bowyer's knot the other end, and laid into a fish glue solution. The finished dried diameter of the string is 1.7mm, which is the same as the few others I've made previously that sit in 150lb bows without much problem.
The arrows are a mix, with five being 1/2" to 8mm birch fitted with my hand forged Type 9 Crecy heads, and the other six being 1/2" to 8mm ash in three sets of two (MoL Type 7s, MoL Type 8s and MoL Type 14s). The 1/2" to 8mm profile is taken from a Mary Rose arrow I measured a year ago.
They're all inserted with tapered horn glued in place with hide glue, with swan fletchings bound with red silk into a tallow, beeswax and copper verdigris compound, and the heads are fixed with fish glue as per the MR arrows.
