VIKING BOWS!!!

[Jaro]

SOM - I would be extremelly carefull about including holmegaard type of bows, since they are out of epoque entirelly. And that the bow we today call homegaard is actually 1 single neolithic find. (There is actually number of similary worked down neolithic bows like holmegaard, but none with the same degree of refinement or finish.) There are scandinavian bows which arent longbow stickbows, e.g. fenno ugrian two-wood laminates and some sinewed bows, but they do not bellong into the viking culture as such, even though have been used within viking sphere of influence. The Fin mercenary archers might have used them, but taking all things in consideration - why should they? Longbow of the time shoots about the same as these two wood bows, which are mass drivers, but poor in speed and think of all the moisture on ships.
If you want diversity in genuine viking longbows take a look at waterford bows, which vary in construction alot, some of them being rather similar to hedaby, some other quite different.

Jaro

[son of massey]

  true, and it is a good point to drive home if i didnt make it clearly.   i tried to distinguish between "viking bows"-the bows that would have been used when viking era norsemen raided-and nordic, or maybe scandanavian would be better, bows-a larger set of archery examples that encompasses what is known from a given region irregardless of time frame.   if that was buried in the other post, that is the line i would suggest drawing as it does make for interesting topic-how have bow designs changed within a region over time, if at all?   it can be applied to anywhere archery is known.    for instance, i seem to remember hearing that pre-longbow era the welch bows were actually very strong and short.   if true it is a different picture for the birth of archery in an area of britain than one may initially guess. SOM

[bow-toxo]

   -archery for the vikings pretty much meant straightstave, man tall bows of things more like white woods than osage or ipe.   norse archery is a little more diverse as this would include for instance holemgaard type bows and not just those archery artifacts proven to be of "viking" origin.   i would be interested to hear anything from anyone who has built a replica-or been inspired by-a specifically viking or norse bow.   
     SOM

I mentionrd in a previous post that I had made bows of Viking type. Let's forget the Holmgaard bow unless we want to do Stone Age re-enactment. As previously posted [with clear photos] There are two complete viking bows and several broken ends. These are from the time of Harald Hardrade and the last Viking attack on England. They are quite enough to go by. The wood used in Viking bows was yew and elm. We know this.

[Young Viking]

Son Of Massey
I like how you think! That is the logic I needed to help me along this project. I am actually about to make a "family tree" of bows of Norway. And one for German and English bows as well. Great thinking! Dankeschoen!!!
I will scan my work and try to post it when I'm done with it! I bet you all will be able to help alot and maybe correct me on some things. This will be very interesting!
-Young Viking

[Scowler]

My ancestry is predominatly english/german(Angle/Saxon/Jute)but I have an interest in Viking/Nordic history as well so I'm looking forward to seeing what information uncover.  Good luck!