Main Discussion Area > English Warbow
osage molly warbow (now with pictures)
Young Bowyer:
The bow is premade red oak with hickory backing and horn nocks and thanks, im trying to learn everything i can haha :)
johnston:
I like what I see Noel, keep 'em coming.
yo.bo. if you need help start a thread. Like the warbow kid said, people here will help and most know a bunch.
Lane
CraigMBeckett:
--- Quote from: Young Bowyer on June 01, 2011, 09:41:57 pm ---What makes a warbow "molly?" sorry im a newb ::) im going to order my first ELB from 3 rivers archery as soon as i get the cash :D
--- End quote ---
Have a look around on here and on Paleoplanet, the 'Mollegabet", (please excuse the lack of use of the umlaut etc) was erroneously referred to as a holmgaard in The Traditional Bowyer's Bible and is still referred to by that name by people who won't accept the error. Both names are areas of Denmark where artifacts were found. The Holmgaard finds were of an almost complete bow and a good part of another, these bows have pyramid type limbs, the Mollygabet artifact is the majority of one limb of a bow that has the outer section as (probably stiff) levers.
See http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php?topic=17521.0 for some photos of the two sets of artefacts.
A "respected" archaeologist believes that the original Mollygabet was a very light weapon and was probably made for a child. It is the only one of its type found, although there are somewhat similar designs used by some of the Anderman islanders from the Indian Ocean. As the ancient Danes, (although not necessarily from the same time as the Mollegabett or the Holmgaards), were fond of depositing weapons of war into bogs, swamps, lakes and the like, supposedly as offerings to their gods in times of victory, and as no other finds of the Mollegabet type have been found the odds are that it was not a weapon of war and was indeed a child's weapon.
Craig.
Young Bowyer:
Thanks Craig and Fishfinder! :D Im really liking this forum! Not many people in my area shoot traditional or make bows for that matter.
This really helps, thanks, YB
CraigMBeckett:
--- Quote from: fusizoli on May 27, 2011, 06:02:16 pm ---
That time the hunting bow was the weapon in the war.
--- End quote ---
While probably correct this statement is only an assumption and should not be stated as fact, we do not have sufficient data to draw any such conclusion, we do have data that shows that some groups of people, admittedly from different areas of the globe, did use different bows for war. The fact none have been found is not absolute proof of their absence it is only an indicator.
"Whitout armour they doesn't need the heavy warbows as Nidrinr mentioned."
Again another assumption, heavy bows are not only used for war, what weight bow would you choose to use against an Auroch, standing 2m at the shoulders, weighing over a tonne, and with the disposition of a cut snake? Ötzi's bow, even if it is accepted as being unfinished, was not exactly a light "hunting bow".
What weight bow was used to hunt with in Medieval Britain? again we don't know, we have books written fro the gentry advocating "light bows that can be held at half draw", now if you can pull a bow you can hold it at half draw relatively easily, so these books are nonsense and are for the gentry anyway. We do have anecdotal evidence in the form of both paintings, prose and arrow heads, that suggest the hunting bow was heavy, Look at some of the paintings contemporary to the times the bows appear to be heavy, Geoffry Chaucer wrote "The Canterbury Tales" sometime between 1387 and 1400, and in it he has a character called the Yeoman who was a "proper forester" that is a person responsible for looking after the forest, enforcing forest law and hunting or arranging hunts for his lord, according to the prose this "hunter" bore a mighty bow, not a light bow but a mighty bow. You also only have to look at the swallow tail broadhead which wasit is believe is only intended for hunting deer and you will see that it could not be used in a light bow.
Craig
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