Archery

Soo... anyone here a part-time Robin Hood, archer of Sherwood? (only the archery part)

MTW and M2TW have rekindled my interest in archery, particularly now that buying a bow is very easy and there's even copies of traditional longbows that are made from modern composite materials which makes it much easier for a newbie to store and take care of. Clearly you need other equipment (bracers? thumb rings?) but it's a growing sport, especially in the Olympic zone. :yes:

Anyone here practicing archery? Any tips to start off?

(I practiced archery before - but a long time ago)

Ive always wanted to, never had the means. Seems like an expensive sport. I mean going to the local Renaissance fair and shooting some arrows is one thing, an actual interest in the sport I imagine takes some expendable cash.

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Originally Posted by Hooahguy

Ive always wanted to, never had the means. Seems like an expensive sport. I mean going to the local Renaissance fair and shooting some arrows is one thing, an actual interest in the sport I imagine takes some expendable cash.

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Would somebody PLEASE usefully employ this fellow! Sheesh.

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Originally Posted by Seamus Fermanagh

Would somebody PLEASE usefully employ this fellow! Sheesh.

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Who has the money for their own archery range?

Edit: wait I just described your average back yard. Ill go back to being quiet.

I do archery, it's great fun. Don't expect to be good at it very fast

It's really satisfying once you get the hang of it.

It's not that expensive, Hooah. I found a traditional longbow type bow made out of modern materials for approximately 70 USD, which is not a lot at all. It's quite decent.

A really good bow obviously costs a lot they are really complex, you need sadjustable sights, all sorts of stabelisers, but you only need that if you are really serious about it. But you can find a really decent bow for cheap

I want traditional longbows, English style, and maybe Eastern style composite bows but also traditional. Hence why my preferences are much more decent compared to the super expensive gear of modern archery.

Also - Japanese yumi bows!

Got an awesome recurve, even got night-vision and laser-sight on it. I could buy it really cheap otherwise I would never had. I have a soft spot for really cool stuff, I am mostly just looking at it

Well, if you don't have money for an archery range, do what I do: find a quite place away from civilization, and shoot there. Make sure of course you're well-protected: I have to contend with bears, wolves, etc.

I was wondering how to fashion one of those polyurethane foam targets - basically you build a block of foam I guess and you apply a target out of paper over it, using the foam to absorb the impact and making sure it's easy to extract after. (the arrow)

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Originally Posted by Ibrahim

Well, if you don't have money for an archery range, do what I do: find a quite place away from civilization, and shoot there. Make sure of course you're well-protected: I have to contend with bears, wolves, etc.

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I live in a Florida suburb. I am already "away from civilization."

Finally did it - I bought a longbow!

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Originally Posted by edyzmedieval

Finally did it - I bought a longbow!

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And...? Where? How much? Really traditional in the sense of a long piece of yew that you string yourself? Hands and arms already bruised from practice?

Correct!

I bought a traditional longbow, not a yew one (yew longbows are very expensive) but made from rattan, a strong wood that is quite good for this thing. I have to string / restring it, it's insanely difficult to do so and the longbow is around 76" long (I believe 120 cms / 1.2 metres?).

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Originally Posted by edyzmedieval

Correct!

I bought a traditional longbow, not a yew one (yew longbows are very expensive) but made from rattan,

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Rattan? I think my grandmother had some chairs made from Rattan, similar to that
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped..._Furniture.jpg

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a strong wood that is quite good for this thing. I have to string / restring it, it's insanely difficult to do so and the longbow is around 76" long (I believe 120 cms / 1.2 metres?).

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Inches to centimetre? I remember something like 2,5...

According to the table here
https://www.inches-to-cm.com/
2,54 in to cm is right so 76" would be 193,04 cm or 1,9304 m - larger than me.

However that seems really huge. Are you sure about the 76"? Do you use some archaic form of Inch were you live? Is your second name Odysseus if you string such a monster?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BkWthM8pf-M

Correct - rattan is durable, flexible and makes great bows for beginners.

And yeah - my mistake, it's actually 1.93 metres! It's taller than me! And I'm sure about it, since it's etched on it 76" and side by side it's clearly taller than me. I love it though, and yeah, it's hard to pull. 40 pounds draw power!

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Originally Posted by Hooahguy

Ive always wanted to, never had the means. Seems like an expensive sport. I mean going to the local Renaissance fair and shooting some arrows is one thing, an actual interest in the sport I imagine takes some expendable cash.

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Many large cities have archery ranges.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDSjGk9nd48
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYHJt4bCfoU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JofuiMclYAU

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Originally Posted by ConjurerDragon

Rattan? I think my grandmother had some chairs made from Rattan, similar to that
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped..._Furniture.jpg



Inches to centimetre? I remember something like 2,5...

According to the table here
https://www.inches-to-cm.com/
2,54 in to cm is right so 76" would be 193,04 cm or 1,9304 m - larger than me.

However that seems really huge. Are you sure about the 76"? Do you use some archaic form of Inch were you live? Is your second name Odysseus if you string such a monster?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BkWthM8pf-M

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That's about correct for a historical English Longbow. Remember, however, that historically the English trained from about age 10 on up with progressively stronger bows to achieve the draw-weights of the classic Longbow. They also worked "inside" the bow. pushing with both arms and using the leg muscles as well.

Pushing inside the bow? As in, you push with your "holding" arm and then you draw the bow?

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Originally Posted by Xantan

Pushing inside the bow? As in, you push with your "holding" arm and then you draw the bow?

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Sort of - if you watch a longbowman even today you'll see they start with the bow pointed downwards and bring it up, as they do so both arms come apart - rather than setting the angle and pulling back.

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Originally Posted by Philippus Flavius Homovallumus

Sort of - if you watch a longbowman even today you'll see they start with the bow pointed downwards and bring it up, as they do so both arms come apart - rather than setting the angle and pulling back.

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So I guess M2TW had the correct animation for longbowmen. :book:

Armin Hirmer has a YouTube channel on archery and it's quite a very good watch.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2ynNV3UW28

I was super into archery as a teen but I haven't really been involved with it since then. My bow is a hickory longbow with bamboo backing, so it's not based on any historical bow design but it's "traditional" in the sense that it's just a stick with a string on it. I've never been interested in compound or fiberglass bows, old-fashioned wooden bows are just cooler to me even though they don't perform as well as modern bows. One of these days I'm going to buy some arrow shafts and make some arrows so I can get back into archery again.

Since mine is a bamboo longbow as well, I always wondered how differne it is from a yew or something more traditional. Have to test it out. :yes: