Main Discussion Area > English Warbow

# 2 Ipe triple laminate warbow 120lb 32''

<< < (3/5) > >>

peacefullymadewarbows:
Hey Will can you describe how you would use a knife to cut a side nock? I've never heard that as a possibility before and just assumed that the bowyers had files and rasps by then. I can't imagine trying to cut the deeply into horn with a blade considering how tough it is. Do you think they had serrated knife blades?

WillS:
They would have most definitely had serrated blades, there have been lots found.  They had serrated swords too ;)

That said, you don't need one.  I just use a Stanley knife / carpet knife.  Remember you're only cutting into a few mm of horn, you're not trying to dig through a great chunk of the stuff.  A properly shaped horn nock should just be a thin sheathe over the wooden tip.

The problem most people have is they buy thick blocks of buffalo horn, so big they have to use bandsaws to shape the things, and then try cutting a nock groove using a tile saw or something.  That's how you make Victorian nocks with modern tools.  If you use the very tip of a cow horn, it's already shaped for you, it's nice and thin when you've bored the hole for the tip and cutting the nock is a very quick job with a blade.

It's hard to describe, really.  Try it - it's amazing what you discover when you put away the modern tools!  The other one is horn inserts for arrows.  Most people either buy massively thick slabs of buffalo horn and end up with a great black stripe down the arrow, or they use sandpaper/belt sander and remove half the strip.  As soon as you're reduced to using a simple knife blade, you quickly find a way of splitting horn lengthways to give you three perfect thickness strips from one commercial slab, or better still able to take the same thickness piece from a complete horn.

Looking at the actual artefacts gives lots of clues too - there aren't any file or rasp marks on the bows, but plenty of blade and scraper impressions.  They had a flote, which is essentially a block filled with lots of scraper blades which works really well, and I assume that's about as close as they got to using "rasps" on a bow.

peacefullymadewarbows:
Thank you! I think I will give it a shot with my next bow. I've a few pairs of cow horn tips like you described where you just lop off the tip and hollow it. I'll have to look into a flote as well as I am guilty of using my nicholson rasp for about everything shaping between roughing out and tillering.  (lol) As always your info is appreciated.

WillS:
There's nothing wrong with using a rasp.  I use them all the time, plus you won't find a flote in this life or the next! 

My point really was that sometimes it's worth taking a step back (if your interest is in making accurate replicas etc) and figuring out how they would have done it, instead of using modern tools to reach the same end goal.  I think we're all guilty of it, but it's only ever a problem when you use modern tools, get a slightly different result to the originals and then state/decide that the design is flawed or "no wonder we stopped doing it this way..."

Mikkolaht:
Intresting discussion.
Alot to learn there.
I'm going to use only knife for my next horn nocks.
Just to see the end result!

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page

[*] Previous page