How about the real Robin Hood

[727Sky]

Many years ago I took up archery because of Errol Flynn playing Robin Hood. Robin was from Barnsdale/Wakefield not Nottingham.

[guohua]

I would like to believe.

[Michigan Swamp Buck]

I was into archery in my early 20s, but I gave it up because I got tired of destroying and losing arrows, esp. with broad heads. Plus I'd rather drop a deer with a firearm than take a chance on merely wounding one and loosing it. I won't even fire unless I'm certain of a clean shot and kill. My grouping wasn't that great and I didn't practice like I should have anyway.

A crossbow would be OK I'd think, it's legal in Michigan for anyone now, although it was once only allowed for disabled hunters. William Tell along with Robin Hood were favorites of mine as a kid.

[VioletDove]

I’d like to think there was.

Errol Flynn was that probably the best Robin Hood. I watch that movie every time it comes on the classic movie channel. I still watch the animated Robin Hood too. 

I tried archery for awhile. When I was growing up my parents couldn’t afford a bow for me so I got my own a few years after I moved out. It was cheap and not very good. My husband had a compound bow and whenever I’d practice he would come out and destroy my targets with his arrows. He bought me a compound bow but my wrist joints hurt so bad I didn’t have enough strength to pull it back. I’ve since given it up.

[Ninurta]

I was into archery in my early 20s, but I gave it up because I got tired of destroying and losing arrows, esp. with broad heads. Plus I'd rather drop a deer with a firearm than take a chance on merely wounding one and loosing it. I won't even fire unless I'm certain of a clean shot and kill. My grouping wasn't that great and I didn't practice like I should have anyway.

A crossbow would be OK I'd think, it's legal in Michigan for anyone now, although it was once only allowed for disabled hunters. William Tell along with Robin Hood were favorites of mine as a kid.

I've got a couple crossbows. They are more consistent than longbows in the power stroke because the draw length is always exactly the same, but they still have that arching trajectory, and so need practice for consistent hits. There are special scopes made for them now with range stadia to compensate properly for the bolt drop over distance, but that still requires the user to be pretty accurate with his range estimation.

I don't know about their hunting legality here, since I don't use them to hunt, it doesn't concern me. I know that in NC they were hunting-legal for disabled persons, which mystified me - If I can't draw a 50 pound longbow, then drawing a 150 pound crossbow to nock seems like it might be a little problematic. They were legal for hunters with shoulder problems, for example, who would not be able to hold the draw after drawing it, but I never hold draw with a longbow, anyhow. I release it as soon as it's at full draw. Waiting mucks up the aim for me.

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[Ninurta]

I’d like to think there was.

Errol Flynn was that probably the best Robin Hood. I watch that movie every time it comes on the classic movie channel. I still watch the animated Robin Hood too. 

I tried archery for awhile. When I was growing up my parents couldn’t afford a bow for me so I got my own a few years after I moved out. It was cheap and not very good. My husband had a compound bow and whenever I’d practice he would come out and destroy my targets with his arrows. He bought me a compound bow but my wrist joints hurt so bad I didn’t have enough strength to pull it back. I’ve since given it up.

I dislike compound bows, and they are almost all you can find in most stores now. I call them "bows with training wheels". Sure, they are easier to draw once you get past the "break", but they seem to me to be HARDER to draw up to that point, and that sudden break of tension in the string throws me off every time.

If archery as a target sport is what you are after, as opposed to hunting, you might check into a lighter weight bow. I have 3 fiberglass bows, one of about 20 pounds draw, one of 25 pounds draw that my dad got for me when I was a kid (yeah, I still have it), and one of 45 pounds or so draw - that last one is the only hunting-legal one out of the bunch. The draw weights may not be exact, because over the years I've had to replace the strings, and I make my own strings, so if the string length differs a little, that will affect the draw weight. Longer makes it weaker, shorter makes it stronger.

I've got some Black Locust seasoning out for wooden bowstaves under the shed, and it should be ready to work into bows this summer. I know that in Robin Hood's day yew was the go-to wood for English Longbows, but I just don't have any of it here to work with. I used to make my own bows, and Black Locust was what I usually used, just like most of the Indians that lived in this area. It's tough and durable. and not prone to rot - and a bit more forgiving of shaving errors than woods like Osage orange are. There are Black Locust fence posts here that have been in ground contact over 75 years, and still strong as ever.

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[VioletDove]

I’d like to think there was.

Errol Flynn was that probably the best Robin Hood. I watch that movie every time it comes on the classic movie channel. I still watch the animated Robin Hood too. 

I tried archery for awhile. When I was growing up my parents couldn’t afford a bow for me so I got my own a few years after I moved out. It was cheap and not very good. My husband had a compound bow and whenever I’d practice he would come out and destroy my targets with his arrows. He bought me a compound bow but my wrist joints hurt so bad I didn’t have enough strength to pull it back. I’ve since given it up.

I dislike compound bows, and they are almost all you can find in most stores now. I call them "bows with training wheels". Sure, they are easier to draw once you get past the "break", but they seem to me to be HARDER to draw up to that point, and that sudden break of tension in the string throws me off every time.

If archery as a target sport is what you are after, as opposed to hunting, you might check into a lighter weight bow. I have 3 fiberglass bows, one of about 20 pounds draw, one of 25 pounds draw that my dad got for me when I was a kid (yeah, I still have it), and one of 45 pounds or so draw - that last one is the only hunting-legal one out of the bunch. The draw weights may not be exact, because over the years I've had to replace the strings, and I make my own strings, so if the string length differs a little, that will affect the draw weight. Longer makes it weaker, shorter makes it stronger.

I've got some Black Locust seasoning out for wooden bowstaves under the shed, and it should be ready to work into bows this summer. I know that in Robin Hood's day yew was the go-to wood for English Longbows, but I just don't have any of it here to work with. I used to make my own bows, and Black Locust was what I usually used, just like most of the Indians that lived in this area. It's tough and durable. and not prone to rot - and a bit more forgiving of shaving errors than woods like Osage orange are. There are Black Locust fence posts here that have been in ground contact over 75 years, and still strong as ever.

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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.

[Ninurta]

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 wastes 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 dimensions and 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, it was so stout that 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.

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[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.

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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.

[Ninurta]

The English Longbows of Robin Hood's day were monstrosities. They were made of yew, and had draw weights of 80 to 150 pounds, usually around 110 pounds. That is a pretty heavy draw for a long bow, and it took a hell of a man to draw it. There is evidence in archer skeletons from those days of the toll that heavy draw took on a man - it tended to "beef him up", more so in one shoulder than the other, depending on whether he was left or right handed.

There is an old ship, the Mary Celeste I think, that was dredged up from the sea, and had aboard it a cache of English Longbows.

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[ABNARTY]

So... Errol Flynn WASN'T the real Robin Hood? Now I don't know what to believe.

[Ninurta]

So... Errol Flynn WASN'T the real Robin Hood? Now I don't know what to believe.

Well of course he was, just like Sean Connery was the real James Bond!

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[NoAngels]

Those old English long bows had crazy draw and could penetrate French Knights armour!

Children were encouraged to train in archery and after many years when they were adults their immense upper body strength could bend the yew 

Speaking of Robin Hood, Wardour castle is a couple of miles away from me and was used in a few scenes in the Kevin Costner movie

Even closer to me was a safe haven for the Order of Nights of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem in the early 1200s, they had other property in local village and Salisbury 

Now of course its a big converted barn in a small village that Top gears James May moved to

If you have Netflix, check out the relatively new film King. It’s pretty good

[WonderCow]

The English Longbows of Robin Hood's day were monstrosities. They were made of yew, and had draw weights of 80 to 150 pounds, usually around 110 pounds. That is a pretty heavy draw for a long bow, and it took a hell of a man to draw it. There is evidence in archer skeletons from those days of the toll that heavy draw took on a man - it tended to "beef him up", more so in one shoulder than the other, depending on whether he was left or right handed.

There is an old ship, the Mary Celeste I think, that was dredged up from the sea, and had aboard it a cache of English Longbows.

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You're thinking of Henry the Eighth's flagship, the Mary Rose.

https://maryrose.org