_HOW TO CHOOSE A BOW, AND HOW TO USE AND PRESERVE IT WHEN CHOSEN_
The next point to be considered is the strength of the bow to be chosen;
and respecting this, in the first place, the bow must be completely
under the shooter's command--within it, but not much below it. One of
the greatest mistakes young archers (and many old ones too) commit is
that they _will_ use bows that are too strong for them. In fact, there
are but few to whom, at one or other period of their archery career,
this remark has not applied. The desire to be considered strong appears
to be the moving agent to this curious hallucination; as if a man did
not rather expose his weakness by straining at a bow evidently beyond
his strength, thereby calling attention to that weakness, than by using
a lighter one with grace and ease, which always give the idea of force,
vigour, and power. Another incentive to the use of strong bows is the
passion for sending down the arrows sharp and low, and the consequent
employment of powerful bows to accomplish this; the which is perhaps a
greater mistake than the other, for it is not so much the strength of
the bow as the perfect command of it that enables the archer to obtain
this desideratum. The question is not so much what a man can pull as
what he can loose; and he will without doubt obtain a lower flight of
arrow by a lighter power of bow under his command, than he will by a
stronger one beyond his proper management. This mania for strong bows
has destroyed many a promising archer, in an archery sense of the term.
Not only did one of the best shots of his day, a winner of the second
and first prizes at successive Grand National Meetings, dwindle beneath
mediocrity in accuracy through this infatuation, but another brought
himself to death's door by a dangerous illness of about a year's
duration, by injury to his physical powers, brought on by the same
failing, only carried to a much greater excess. And, after all, the
thing so desired is not always thus attained.
Let the reader attend any Grand National Archery Meeting, and let him
observe some fifty or so picked shots of the country arranged at the
targets, and contending with all their might for the prizes of honour
and skill. Whose arrows fly down the sharpest, steadiest, and keenest?
Are they those of the archers who use the strongest bows? Not at
all. Behold that archer from an Eastern county just stepping so
unpretendingly forward to deliver his shafts. See! with what grace and
ease the whole thing is done!--no straining, no contortions there! Mark
the flight of his arrows--how keen, and low, and to the mark they fly!
None fly sharper, few so sharp. And what is the strength of that
beautiful self-yew bow which he holds in his hand? Scarce 50 lbs.! And
yet the pace of his shaft is unsurpassed by any; and it is close upon
five shillings in weight too. There is another. Mark his strength and
muscular power! Possibly a bow of 80 lbs. would be within his pull; yet
he knows better than to use any such, when the prizes are awarded to
skill, not brute force. The bow he employs is but 48 lbs.; yet how
steady and true is the flight of his arrow! And so on all through the
meeting: it will be found that it is not the strongest bows, but those
that are under the perfect command of their owners, that do their work
the best.
Inasmuch, then, as the proper flight of an arrow from any bow depends
almost entirely upon the way in which it is loosed, the strength of the
bow must not be regulated by the mere muscular powers of the individual
archer; for he may be able to draw even a 29-inch arrow to the head in
a very powerful bow without being able during a match to loose steadily
a bow of more than 50 lbs. Not the power of drawing, but of loosing
steadily, must therefore be the guide here. The bow must be within this
loosing power, but also well up to it; for it is almost as bad to be
_under_- as _over_-bowed. The evils attendant upon being over-bowed are
various: the left (bow) arm, wrist, and elbow, the fingers of the right
(loosing) hand and its wrist, are strained and rendered unsteady; the
pull becomes uncertain and wavering, and is never twice alike; the whole
system is overworked and wearied; and, besides this, the mind is
depressed by ill-success; the entire result is disappointment and
failure. On the other hand, care must be taken not to fall into the
opposite extreme of being under-bowed, as in this case the loose becomes
difficult, and generally unsteady and unequal. The weight of the bows
now in general use varies from 45 lbs. to 54 lbs., stronger ones forming
the exception; and the lowest of these weights is ample for the
distances now usually shot. Each archer must therefore find out how much
he can draw with ease and loose with steadiness throughout a day's
shooting, and choose accordingly. If a beginner, 50 lbs. is probably the
outside weight with which he should commence; a few pounds less, in most
cases, would even be better for the starting-point. As lately as twenty
years ago bows were very carelessly marked in the indication of their
strength, many bows being marked as much as 10 lbs. above their actual
measure; but in the present day all the bowmakers incline towards the
custom of marking a new bow to weigh rather less, perhaps by 3 lbs.,
than its actual weight. The reason of this is that in the opinion of the
marker the bow will arrive at the strength marked in the course of use.
It is indeed a very rare case when a new bow does not with use get
somewhat weaker.
Besides keeping the bows for his own use mostly of the same description,
every archer should also keep them of just about the same weight; and
if he shoot much he should possess at the fewest three, as much alike as
possible, and use them alternately. This will prove an economy in the
end, as each will have time to recover its elasticity, and will thus
last a much longer time. It is an agreeable feature in bows that they
have considerable facility in recovery from the effects of hard work.
This fact may be easily tested by weighing a bow on a steelyard before
and after shooting a single York round with it, when a difference of one
pound or more will be found in the strength of it, more particularly if
the day be hot; but with a few days' rest this lost power will be
regained by the bow.
In the choice of a bow a beginner should secure the assistance of an
experienced friend, or content himself with an unambitious investment in
a cheap specimen of backed-bow or a self-lance, on which he may safely
expend his inexperience. When an archer is sufficiently advanced to know
the sort and weight of bow that best suits him, let him go to the maker
he prefers, and name the price he can afford to give--the prices of
trustworthy self-yews vary from twenty to five guineas, of yew-backed
yews from five to three guineas, and of other backed bows from three
guineas to thirty shillings; whilst self-lance bows may be procured for
as little as twelve shillings--and he will soon find what choice there
is for him. If there appears one likely to suit, let him first examine
the bow to see that there be no _knots_, _curls_, _pins_, _splinters_,
_chrysals_, or other objectionable flaws; then let him string it, and,
placing the lower end on the ground in such a position that the whole of
the string shall be under his eye and uppermost, let him notice whether
the bow be perfectly straight. If it be so, the bow, so balanced between
the ground at the lower and a finger at the upper end, will appear
symmetrically divided by the string into two parts. Should there appear
to be more on one side of the string than on the other in either limb,
the bow is not straight, and should be rejected. A bow is said to have a
_cast_ when it is tilted in its back out of the perpendicular to the
plane passing through the string and the longitudinal centre of the bow.
Any bow that has this fault should also be rejected. This fault, if it
should happen to exist, will be easily detected by reversing the
position of the bow just previously described, i.e. by holding the bow
as before, but with the back upwards. The next step is to watch the bow
as it is drawn up, so as to be able to judge whether it bend evenly in
both its limbs and show no sign of weakness in any particular point. The
upper limb, as before stated, being the longest, should appear to bend a
trifle the most, so that the whole may be symmetrical, when considered
as bending from the real centre. It may next be tested, to ascertain
whether it be a kicker; thus the string must be drawn up six inches or
so and then loosed (of course without an arrow). If the bow have the
fault of kicking ever so little, experience will easily detect it by the
jolt in the hand. But on no account in this experiment should the string
(without an arrow) be fully drawn and loosed. Care should be taken that
the bow be sufficiently long for its strength. What has hitherto been
said applies to all bows; but in self-bows attention must be paid to the
straightness of the feathering of the wood. As a general rule, the
lightest wood in a yew-bow will have the quickest cast, and the heaviest
will make the most lasting implement. Between two bows of the same
strength and length, the one being slight and the other bulky, there
will be about the same difference as between a thoroughbred and a
cart-horse. Therefore the preference should be given to bows that are
light and slight for their strength. Light-coloured and dark yew make
equally good bows, though most prefer the dark colour for choice. Fine
and more open grain in yew are also equally good, but the finer is more
scarce. If there be no bow suitable--i.e. none of the right weight--let
the choice fall upon the best bow of greater power, and let it be
reduced. Failing this, the purchaser may select an unfinished stave and
have it made to his own pattern; but it is not easy to foretell how a
stave will make up.
There remains one point about a bow, hitherto unnoticed, and this is its
section, as to shape. This may vary, being broad and flat across its
back, or the contrary--deep and pointed in the belly. Here again
extremes should be avoided--the bow should in shape be neither too flat
nor too deep. If it be an inch or so across the back just above the
handle, it should also have about the same measurement through from back
to belly. This much being granted, it is further declared that the back
should be almost as flat and angular as possible, showing that it has
been reduced as little as may be after the removal of the bark; but the
belly should be rounded; and as the back should not be reduced in its
depth towards the horns, and should not get too narrow across, it will
follow that the chief reduction, to arrive at the proper curvature when
the bow is drawn, must be in the belly, and therefore towards the horn.
A well-shaped bow will in measurement become somewhat shallower from
back to belly than it is across the back as it advances towards the
horns.
Bows are broken from several causes: by means of neglected chrysals in
the belly, or splinters in the back; by a jerking, uneven, or crooked
style of drawing; by dwelling over-long on the point of aim after the
arrow is fully drawn; by the breaking of the string; by damp, and
oftentimes by carelessness; and even by thoughtlessness. Bows, moreover,
may be broken on the steelyard in the weighing of them. A few years ago,
when the Americans first took up archery very keenly, one of their
novices wrote to a prominent English archer saying that he had broken
nearly seventy bows in a couple of years, and asking the reason. He was
told that he must either keep his bows in a damp place or the bows must
be very bad ones, or else (to which view the writer inclined) he must be
in the habit of stringing them the reverse way with the belly outwards.
This would certainly have a fatal effect, but it is true that the
Americans bought a number of very bad bows about that time from inferior
makers in England. Whenever chrysals appear they must be carefully
watched, and, as has already been said, if they become serious, a new
belly must be added. This will not be a serious disfigurement, even to a
self-yew bow. A splinter should be glued and lapped at once, but no one
nowadays seems to care to have the covering patch painted as formerly,
to represent as nearly as possible the colours of the different parts of
the bow. Care should be taken not to stab the belly of the bow with the
point of the arrow when nocking it; and the dents in the back of the bow
made with the arrow as it is carelessly pulled out of the target should
be avoided. A glove-button will often injure the back of the bow whilst
it is being strung. As other ornaments--buttons, buckles, &c.--may also
inflict disfigurements, it is better to avoid their presence as far as
possible. Breakages from a bad style of drawing, or from dwelling too
long on the aim, can only be avoided by adopting a better and more
rational method. In order to avoid fracture through the breaking of
strings, any string that shows signs of failure from too much wear or
otherwise should be discarded; and strings that are too stiff, too hard,
and too thin should be avoided. If a string break when the arrow is
fully or almost drawn, there is but little hope for the bow; but if it
break in the recoil after the arrow is shot, which fortunately is more
frequently the case, the bow will seldom suffer. Yet if after the bow is
strung the archer should observe that the string is no longer
trustworthy, and decide to discard it, he should on no account cut it
whilst the bow is braced, as the result of so doing will be an almost
certain fracture. If the string be looped at both ends and the loop at
either end be made too large, so that it slip off the nock in stringing,
the bow may break, so that an archer who makes his own loops at the
lower end of the string must be careful not to make them too loose.
Breakage from damp is little to be feared in self-bows, except in
localities where it is exceptionally moist, or, after long neglect,
when damp has taken possession of the joint in the handle. In these
cases single staves only are safe. Amongst backed bows there is much
mortality from this cause. Commonly, it will be the lower limb that will
fail, as that is most exposed to damp, arising either from the ground
whilst shooting, or from the floor when put away. If the bow has been
used in damp weather it should be carefully dried and rubbed with waxed
flannel or cloth. A waterproof case, an 'Ascham' raised an inch or so
above the floor in a dry room, and the bow hung up, not resting on its
lower horn, are the best-known precautions. Half an inch of lapping,
glued and varnished, above and below the joint of the horn is also a
safe precaution against damp; also an occasional narrow lap in the
course of the limb will assist to 'fast bind, fast find.' As regards the
danger of carelessness, bows have been broken through attempts to string
them the wrong way, or by using them upside down; and thoughtlessness
will lead the inexperienced to attempt to bring a bow that follows the
string upright, to its infinite peril. In such cases the verdict of
'Serve him right' should be brought against the offender if he be the
owner. In weighing a bow on the steelyard care must be taken to see that
the peg indicating the length to be drawn be at the right point;
otherwise a lady's bow, for instance, may be destroyed in the mistaken
attempt to pull it up twenty-eight inches, or three inches too much.
It has already been stated that a belly much injured by chrysals may be
replaced by a new belly; any incurable failure of the back may also be
cured by its renewal. A weak bow or limb may also be strengthened by
these means. Also, if either limb be broken or irretrievably damaged,
and the remaining one be sound, and worth the expense, another limb may
be successfully grafted on to the old one. If possible, let this be an
old limb also, as the combination of new and old wood is not always
satisfactory; the former (though well seasoned, being unseasoned by
use), being more yielding, is apt after a little use to lose its
relative strength, and so spoil the proper balance of the bow. This
grafting of one broken limb upon another may be carried to the length of
grafting together two limbs of different sorts. Mr. P. Muir, who was as
good a bowyer as he was an accurate shot, had a favourite bow, that did
him good service in 1865 at Clifton, when he took the third place at the
Grand National Archery Meeting. This bow in one limb was yew-backed yew,
and in the other lance backed with hickory. A bow that is weak in the
centre, and not sufficiently strong to allow of the ends being further
reduced, may be brought to the required shape, and strengthened by the
addition of a short belly.
With regard to unstringing the bow during the shooting, say, of a York
Round of 144 arrows, at the three distances, a good bow will not need
it, if the shooting be moderately quick, excepting at the end of each of
the distances. If there happen to be many shooters, or very slow ones,
it may be unstrung after every three or four double ends; and of course
it should be unstrung whenever an interruption of the shooting may occur
from rain, or any other cause; but it certainly appears unnecessary to
unstring the bow after each three shots, as this is an equally
uncalled-for strain upon the muscles of the archer and relief to the
grain of the wood. In a discussion on this subject, however, between Mr.
James Spedding and Mr. P. Muir, the latter maintained that to be
unstrung at each end was as agreeable to the bow as to rest on a
camp-stool was to the archer. Some archers contend that it is better to
have the bow strung some few minutes before the commencement of the
shooting.
All that has been said respecting men's bows, with the exception of
strength and length, applies equally to those used by ladies. The usual
strength of these latter varies from 24 lbs. to 30 lbs. In length they
should not be less than five feet. The usual length of a lady's arrow
being twenty-five inches, whilst that of a gentleman is twenty-eight
inches, it appears that, when fully drawn, a lady's bow must be bent
more in proportion to its length than that of a gentleman. The
proportion between the bows being as 5 to 6, whilst that of the arrows
is as 6-1/4 to 7; yet ladies' bows appear to be quite capable of bearing
this extra strain safely.
As bows of three pieces are seldom to be met with manufactured for the
use of ladies, their choice of weapons is limited to self-yews,
yew-backed yews, yew backed with hickory, and lance backed with hickory;
also self-lance bows for beginners, &c. Ladies' bows of snake and other
hard woods are still to be met with; but they are so vastly inferior to
those above-mentioned that it is scarcely necessary to refer to them.
It is too common a practice amongst archers to throw the consequences of
their own faults upon the bowmakers, accusing the weapon of being the
cause of their failures, instead of blaming their own carelessness or
want of skill. But, before this can be justly done, let each be quite
certain that he has chosen his bow with care, and kept it with care; if
otherwise, any accidents occurring are, ten to one, more likely to be
the result of his own fault than that of the bowmaker.