It's clear that war bows had no handle bindings, so that's an easy one, but I'm a little stuck on the issue of nocks. The academic community seems split on the issue of whether the mass-produced bows of the 14th and 15th century had horn nocks as standard or not. Virtually all the surviving longbows seem to have been cut to take horn nocks (thinking of mainly the Mary Rose survivors here), though as I understand it, some may have been intended to be self-nocked. But they are all from the early 16th century at the earliest. What art from the period I have seen is not entirely clear. Some of the illustrations clearly show horn nocks (particularly the 15th century ones), but some are not clear, and some show what appear to be self-nocked bows.

Still, Clive Bartlett makes the broad claim that most medieval war bows would have been horn nocked, but Robert Hardy seems to think most medieval bows would have been self-nocked, though he somewhat mollifies that position in light of the Mary Rose finds.

Sooooo.... what is the consensus of today's living history community? Who are some good sources for an accurate replica yew longbow that won't cost me my first born?

My OPINION on horn nocks... I agree that it was a given that both existed. From a research standpoint, (and I've discussed this with some of the big bow pullers in the UK and Germany) is that nocks are the better way to go. It causes less wear and tear on the nock area. Break one? Replace it! Over time, the nock area wears down. And at the cost of a proper yew selfbow, the extra $75 is worth it.

I have 2 yew selfbows with a 3rd on severe backorder. One is on loan and is a 104 lb without nocks. In retrospect, I would have liked to have had it ordered with horn nocks but it's only on semi permanent loan to me. I'm seeing a little wear. The second is a much lighter (42 lb) target version with a simple leather wrapped grip with horn tips. And besides looking cooler, the string lays in the tips more securely. At least I think so.

I'm not sure this is a great argument of either way, but if it were more used to portray and multipurpose (hunting) bow, I would take the horn tips. If I planned to shoot it a lot, I'd take the horn tips. I think it's simply better on wear and tear.

Now, looking at historical data and realizing oh how little we know, most of all of the Mary Rose bows were made to accept horn tips on them. And the ones they pulled out, conserved, and test fired (yes a few were used, tested, and sacrificed for the good of the many), were horn tipped. (I admittedly don't recall if all of them were but I think so.) But we are discussing just one shipment from one (group of) bowyers. Whose to say that another bowyer might not have had access to enough horn. If 1000 bows were ordered on short notice to support a campaign, horn might be hard to find. Let alone 2000 plus pieces of it...

I believe that horn nocks are more important the higher the poundage of bow. So say 50 pounds and less (hunting bows) would not need nocks. The lutrel psalter shows a number of bows without nocks, and one with what may be nocks. It also shows one crossbow that looks as if it has nocks. However the artist may never have seen a bow up close.

As for poundage of bow, 40 or there abouts is fine for target use. Anything less and your arrows start to arc into the target. The higher the poundage the harder it is to aim well, and less often you are able to pull it. So if you do have a 'manly' 80 pound bow, you won't be shooting for long and your arrows will not be closely grouped. The person beside you with a mere 40 pounder can shoot for much longer with closer groupings. Hitting what you aim at is more impressive to me than having your shaft pass through the target, back stop and disappearing into the ground. A lighter poundage is easier on the fletchings as they will not be passing through the target.

I suggest you do a Google search for yew bows. There are many makers out there. Prices vary and I have seen as low as $75.00 USD to $300+

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I've decided to get horn nocks for durability. And since my goal is to eventually represent a household archer, I find it more probably that such a man would have horn nocks.

It looks like nullJay St. James seems to be the guy for a yew self-bow in this country and his all-yew models are going for about $650. I already have a lighter self-nocked bow to develop technique that I picked up for about $75. The retailer told me it was made from elm, but I think it more likely it's made from dagame. Still, it makes a decent low poundage shooter. A few guys on the 'net are advertising yew bows in the $300-$400 range, but the few I'vew contacted seem to not have access to yew very often.

I know I could go with an elm or ash bow and still be "correct", but I've wanted a yew bow since I was a little kid!

Paul Rogers can make a courser looking bow. www.woodbow.com
(He made the 104lbr.)

Woodbows.com

It has bows starting at under $100 USD

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I've contacted Jay St. James and he says he'll build me the bow I want for $650 and his delivery time is 6 months. I saw one of his bows last night, and I'm sold. It's a bit pricey, but it IS the bow I've always wanted.

Now I just need to get a decent shooting glove... doing it bare handed is ripping my tender fingers to shreds

I have 2 new/unused bows from woodbows.com that I was going to teach people with and then found another model. From woodbows, I have one regular 30ish pounder and one less that he had to thin due to an error. (Could be a kids starter bow.)

For $75 plus actual shipping via money order, I'll offer BOTH of them.

he doesn't have a webste but you can contact him via e-mail or phone. i think that Museum Replicas had a couple of his bows on stock. if you are in the atlanta area you can check out his work. don't buy it through them though because they marked up the price. he does gaurantee the bows for a year. but this didn't stop him from repairing one of the horn tips for free after two years of purchase.

if you are interested i can hunt down his contact info.

daniel

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Db

Do you have Wipperwill's email and phone number by chance?

I think I'm going to go with Jay St. Charles, but I want to keep my options open in case Jay can't do it.

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Db