How about the real Robin Hood

[VioletDove]

I have a bow in my storage building that is a 20 pound draw. I may get it back out and get a target set up. Maybe when my husband isn’t here to ruin my fun and my targets.

I’ll bet black locusts make really sturdy bows. You’re right about those fence posts. I’ve seen some around here and they seem to last forever.

I got a target at Walmart that is foam I believe, about 2 feet square, and about 10" thick, coated with plastic sheeting with a bull's eye printed on it. I've shot it with my crossbows and have yet to destroy it, so a compound bow shouldn't hurt it that much so long as hubby doesn't use broadheads. I can't think of a good reason to shoot broadheads at a target - it just ruins the target and wasted the broadheads.

I have a book here called "Encyclopedia of Native American Bow, Arrows, and Quivers, Volume 1: Northeast, Southeast, and Midwest" that has drawings of various bows from museums to illustrate the different designs of bows of various tribes, and tells the materials they are made of, and most of the ones from the southeast are made of Black Locust.

The first one I made of Black Locust was just a tad under 6 feet long, but I shaved it too thin, and when I strung it up, I thought it was too weak. So, I cut about 6 inches off each end and re-nocked it, and when i strung it up that time, I couldn't even draw it.

It's a learning process.

In the last 30 years or so, Locust Borer beetles have entered this area, so now you have to be pretty picky about getting the right wood for a stave.

.

A few years ago I bought one of those expensive ones from academy but we had a surprise flash flood and the creek got out and that was the end of that one.

That looks like an interesting book. I enjoy learning about that sort of stuff. We have a cultural center near here and I love going to the museum there. The tools they used for different things always amaze me.