Main Discussion Area > Bows

Meare Heath bow

(1/8) > >>

bassman211:
I just roughed out a Meare Heath  designed bow that was found in the pete bogs of England that was made roughly 2600 years BC according to experts. It was a broken  bow that contained part of the handle ,and one limb. It is 75 inches long, 2, and half inches wide most of the length of the limbs, and tapers at the tips. The real deal was made with English yew. I used black locust, because it is what I had at hand. If I would have had a good piece of birch that would be what I would have used because of it's light mass. The rough cut bow is currently drying. I went to Utube, and saw a few well made examples by an English bowyer. The bow seems like it will be really heavy, and come with an excessive amount of  hand shock by it's very design. Has any of you on this sight made ,and shot one? Just curious as to what results you may have had. Can't wait to finish mine, and get shooting it. Bob.

stuckinthemud:
Search this site using Meare as the search term, it’s been a very popular topic over the past few years

WhistlingBadger:
The Meare Heath bow is a LOT of wood.  I've never shot one but I can't think it would spit an arrow very fast or feel good doing it.  Narrow down the tips and you have a Sudbury/holmegaard -ish design, which in my limited experience are better shooters that don't beat the daylights out of your bow arm.  Those wide limb, narrow tip, narrow handle bows look really nice, too.  And I find it fascinating how similar the designs are on opposite sides of the Atlantic.

Sometimes I wonder if some of those ancient bows got chucked into a bog for a reason...   (--)

bassman211:
Well I felt a need to build, and experience shooting one, and  if I were to build another one it would be from birch which is a less dense much lighter wood. When you hold this one in your hand it fells like a small oak tree. I have made some Sudbury bows that felt to heavy in the limbs, and to light in the handle, and  redesigned them to suit me. This design has more wood through the limbs, so I don't think it will be a pleasant shooting experience, but so far it is a fun bow to build. I just built a series of Osage plains bows , so this is a drastic switch. This bow is said to be an enigma maybe for good reason. thanks for the replies. Bob.

WhistlingBadger:

--- Quote from: bassman211 on December 19, 2024, 04:50:12 pm ---Well I felt a need to build, and experience shooting one, and  if I were to build another one it would be from birch which is a less dense much lighter wood. When you hold this one in your hand it fells like a small oak tree. I have made some Sudbury bows that felt to heavy in the limbs, and to light in the handle, and  redesigned them to suit me. This design has more wood through the limbs, so I don't think it will be a pleasant shooting experience, but so far it is a fun bow to build. I just built a series of Osage plains bows , so this is a drastic switch. This bow is said to be an enigma maybe for good reason. thanks for the replies. Bob.

--- End quote ---
Sometimes you just have to give it a shot.  Yew is a pretty dense wood too isn't it?  (I've never had the opportunity to work with it)  Makes you wonder.  Maybe the original was made to club animals and enemies to death instead of shooting them. 

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page