Main Discussion Area > English Warbow

ELB or EWB?

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Ian.:
The two types are almost completely different. I wasn't trying to give a full description, but more an overview. I think what I have said defined it fairly well. In what case would an English longbow not come from Victorian design?

Del the cat:
There IS overlap between the two.
The Self Yew ELBs I make (of generally 40 - 70#) are full compass tillered and are more closely related to Warbows rather than the Victorian style.
I would hate them to be called Victorian style ELBs, but they are self evidently not Warbows.
I think you need to look at the actual individual bow to hang a name on it.
After all you could arbitarilly say that laminated longbows are Victorian, but of course some Warbows are laminated too.
Del

Yeomanbowman:
I see the 5/8ths and 32” draw truism quoted quite often.  It’s right up there with ’The medieval longbow was the machine gun of the middle ages’.  But what is the evidence?  Seeing as we only have examples of Tudor yew bows (yew being of high modular elasticity).  These bows were also made from small diameter staves, so how do we know about all the other bows of different woods?  It seems to me that medieval bowyers either dogmatically used the same design as a yew bow for whatever wood they were using OR they adapted the design to obtain the best from any given wood, of which they would have considerable experience and plenty of resources.  The 5/8ths rule is a modern one that the BL-BS use for Victorian target bows.   

Ian.:
Jeremy, I take it you have seen the MR bow in Cardiff museum. It was in a case and in dim light but, I would guess that some parts of that bow could well be flatter in section that what would be allowed today. To be honest I wasn't overwhelmed by the bow, I would guess that it could have had a hinge when drawn, as the top limb had a flat spot towards the nock. It's cross section was not typical of the reproductions today.

Ian.:
If you make them in the style of warbows then call them lighter replicas.  :laugh:

The origin of the two bows were different, there was a period when the bow fell out of use and was then re-adopted for sport, I don't think you can have something in-between the two.

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