THG Formulations

Archery played a large role in human daily life for thousands of years from prehistoric times until about 1750, when the gun began to supplant it for hunting and warfare very quickly. Societies all over Europe, north Africa, like Egypt, Persia (Iran), India, China and Japan celebrate their most skillful archers. I am sure that other countries do too.

Wales produced Twm Sion Catty; England had Robin Hood and Switzerland had William Tell. Greek and Trojan archers are told of by name in Homer’s ‘Iliad’. Archers all over the world were thought of as popular heroes like footballers are today.

It seems that bows were first invented in different parts of the world almost at the same time in the late Paleolithic Age or the early Mesolithic Age. It is remarkable that different forms of bows were developed by the different societies around the world and each type of bow was developed to match the style of warfare that that people conducted and to the environment in which they hunted.

There are too many varieties of bow to explain them all here, but some of the most conventional archery bows are: the longbow, flatbow, shortbow, recurve bow, compound bow and crossbow.

The longbow and the flatbow are similar in size, both can be six feet or more in length, but the cross section of the longbow is ‘D’ shaped, whereas that of a flatbow is rectangular. A flatbow is usually wider than a longbow. Both can shoot heavy 36 inch arrows long distances with great force – enough to penetrate the armour of the Middle Ages from 250-300 yards.

The shortbow is shorter, as you might conclude from its name. It is a short range bow, used for hunting small animals in regions where a large bow would be too unwieldy such as in woods or forests.

The compound bow is also a shorter bow, but it is extremely powerful because the limbs are not very supple. In order to flex the limbs, use is made of a system of pulleys or cams.

This gives the compound bow sufficient power (more than 50 pound draw weight) to enable it to be used to hunt larger game such as deer or bear. The compound bow is a new style, which was only invented in 1966.

Recurve bows have tips that ‘point the wrong way’ when the bow is unstrung. This gives the recurve more power inch for inch than the long or flatbow, enabling it to be used as an effective weapon for warfare or hunting from horseback.

Crossbows are specialized bows, which can be pre-loaded like a gun and shot later. In general, it requires less skill and physical strength to soot a crossbow.

The arrows are very influential too. Arrows can be interchangeable between the bows to a limited extent, but the length should suit the draw of the bow. Crossbow bolts are normally very short.

There are two kinds or shooting: instinctive and sight shooting. Sight shooting means using sights of some kind to aim, either by looking down the arrow or using optical fibre sights. Instinctive shooting is more demanding because it is intuitive. It cannot be learned, you have either got it or you ain’t.

Owen Jones, the writer of this piece writes on several subjects, but is presently involved with compound hunting bows. If you would like to know more or for special deals, please go to our website at Kids Archery Set.

No one really knows when stained glass was first invented because it happened before people started recording history. However, some historians reckon that it was first used as an extravagance in the homes of affluent Romans in the first century AD. Stained glass was eventually acclaimed as an art form in the fourth century as Christians began to worship candidly and to construct elaborate churches in which to celebrate their religion.

On the other hand, some historians demonstrate that there are signs in pre-Christian ruins that suggest that pagans used stained glass in their rites. Although we will probably never really know the start of stained glass, it is fairly clear that the spread of Christianity is directly related to the spread of use of stained glass.

The Gothic Era commenced in the 12th Century and stained glass windows became an essential element in the design of cathedrals. It really all started with the pioneering style of the St. Denis, France, where stained glass windows were used to convey light into the church itself and into the minds of its worshipers. Sadly, most of the stained glass in the St. Denis Cathedral was destroyed in the course of the French Revolution, but there are a few pieces left and even some complete windows on exhibit in Europe.

Gothic style stained glass was composed of strong lines, but these increasingly went out of style as the Renaissance began. During the Renaissance, artisans depicted greater detail and more subtle colouring in order to add to the realism. Stained glass windows became more like paintings on glass than architectural elements and some of the notable elements such as lead lines vanished. Because of the difficulties in showing the great detail required by the Renaissance era, the old style, which was original stained glass almost died out.

Since stained glass was used by and large by the Catholic Church, much of the work was smashed during the reign of King Henry VIII after his split with the Pope. However, not only old stained glass windows were damaged, but many of the glass making works were sabotaged too. However, religious strife was not the only cause of the decline of stained glass.

The style of the Baroque period was for more detailed murals, which necessitated the use of clear glass. Therefore, many of the remaining stained glass windows were permitted to decay, and furthermore not many new stained glass windows were produced. In the late 17th century, the public mood returned to the Gothic style of architecture, which produced a renewed interest in stained glass windows.

Artisans continued to paint directly onto the glass at first, but later tried to imitate the old leaden frames of medieval times. However, since the original techniques had not been used for such a long time, they had become forgotten and the artisans of the period were unable to recreate the exact styles prevailing in Gothic stained glass.

During the 19th century, La Farge and Tiffany created new variations of stained glass. La Farge was interested in window designs, while Tiffany went into new areas like the Tiffany lamp shade.

These days, stained glass artists are not constricted by religious styles, although much of the work they do involves refurbishment. Modern stained glass is also used as the centre pane in front doors, especially uPVC doors, by rich and poor equally in the West.

Owen Jones, the writer of this piece, writes on many subjects, but is currently involved with Waterford crystal vases. If you have an interest in Irish crystal or wedding rings, please go to our website now at White Gold Claddagh Ring

If you are American and you like archery, you will probably have heard of Three Rivers Archery products. In Europe and the rest of the world, you probably have not heard of them. Three Rivers Archery products are some of the finest in the world. In their own words, they specialize in longbows and recurve bows.

Three Rivers Archery also offers arrows and other archery equipment such as the resources to construct or refurbish your own arrows. These resources include carbon fibre, wooden and aluminium arrow shafts, arrow heads, feathers and nocks. They also supply quivers, arrow rests, bow strings and everything else to do with archery.

The cost of these superb quality products is reasonable and professional archers, hunters, hobbyists and sports people all use Three Rivers Archery goods. There are models of archery equipment to suit every purpose and every pocket.

The paraphernalia sold by Three Rivers Archery is of Olympic standard. That is to say that their recurve bows match up to the requirements set by the Olympic committee. Their traditional selfbows are authentic replicas of original longbows.

The arrows are constructed of modern materials as well as timber. The modern composite arrows are usually better because modern carbon fibre and aluminium alloys are more durable for making arrow shafts than wood. That is difficult to confess for a traditionalist, but modern carbon fibre and aluminium alloy arrows do not splinter like a wooden arrow can if shot from a heavy-duty longbow.

The steel arrow tips that Three Rivers Archery has are far better than the old brass arrow tips as well. The old brass arrow points would often buckle or dent, whereas these new steel points are practically unbreakable. They sell whistling steel tips too, although I am not sure why anyone would ask for a whistling arrow point. What is the point?

If you are not certain where you can get hold of Three Rivers Archery products, go online. They have an outstanding web site which is massive although still easy to navigate. If you are interested in archery, then I am sure that you could easily spend an hour or more just browsing the web site.

Their web site is very carefully set out with distinct sections for every facet of archery including ready-made items such as bows, arrows, paraphernalia and clothing; there are additional web pages on targets, quivers, accessories, books, DVD’s and adolescent archery. There are further web pages on medieval archery, hunting and bow making. There are even special offers only available to their web site visitors.

If that is not impressive, then there is a forum, an email service and an off-line catalogue. Three Rivers Archery will of course deliver your order to your door. You can order by post, by telephone or over the Internet.

Owen Jones, the writer of this piece writes on various subjects, but is presently concerned with archery recurve bows. If you would like to know more or for special deals, please go to our website at Kids Archery Set.

Archery is now a very widespread sport and hobby all over the planet, but once, long ago, it was even more widespread. Every army had bowmen and men hunted with bows for food. Every country or every territory invented its own particular design of bow and therefore, even nowadays, there are many different styles of archery bows. Modern technology has meant that new types of archery bows are still being developed.

Some bows were invented by people who rode horses a lot. These bows were shorter, other bows were intended for long range shooting and these bows were longer. I will list some of the main varieties of archery bows below with a short explanation of each

The traditional Welsh or English longbow was made from a single length of yew (or other wood) at least the size of the bowman, but up to about six feet six inches (two metres). It was ‘D’ shaped in profile with the flat, bark side, facing away from the string. The rounded inner side followed the natural growth rings of the branch. The timber itself was seasoned for two years.

The draw weight of a longbow was between 160-180 pounds, which is difficult to achieve by modern man. In the days of the longbow, in the Middle Ages, men and boys were required by law to carry out target practice with longbows at the village butts every Sunday. The target range for a man was to be no less than 220 yards by order of king Henry VIII.

The longbow was used to devastating effect as long range (400 yards) artillery by the British army at Crecy in 1346 and Agincourt in 1415, raining deadly three ounce, three foot long arrows down on the enemy. As the armies drew closer the longbow could be used accurately to aim at individual targets. Not long after these great victories, which can be attributed to the archers and their longbows, bows were superseded as military weapons by guns.

Flat bows, just as the longbow, can be over six feet long, are not recurved and can be made out of a single piece of wood. However, they are rectangular in outline, not ‘D’ shaped.

Short bows are comparable to longbows or flat bows in every detail except size and because they are shorter, they do not have the potential or the distance of the other bows. Sort bows are easy to carry and easier to use in cramped situations like woods or a forest, so they were used by and large for hunting small animals.

Recurve bows are more powerful that any other bow inch for inch of length. The tips of a recurve point frontward when the bow is unstrung and look odd to the inexperienced. The recurve was very popular from the Mediterranean to the Far East from about 2000 BC until 1700 AD. Nowadays, the recurve is the only kind of bow permitted to be used in the Olympic Games.

Compound bows use very stiff materials in their assembly so have pulleys or cams to help bend or draw the bow. This mechanical aid to drawing the bow to the best distance means less physical force on behalf of the archer, which means that the archer con concentrate on the target more.

Crossbows have the limbs mounted crossways on a piece of timber and the draw string is held by mechanical means until it is let loose with a trigger. The arrow, or bolt, is a great deal shorter. They are practically half-way houses to guns.

Owen Jones, the author of this piece writes on various subjects, but is currently involved with archery recurve bows. If you would like to know more or for special deals, please go to our website at Kids Archery Set.

People have been involved with archery for a minimum of four thousand years, but very nearly certainly for a lot longer than that. Sections of composite recurve bows have been found dating back to the second millennium BC, but the parts that were found were the non-wooden, composite parts, usually of horn.

The wooden sections ordinarily rotted away thousands of years before, but a wooden longbow from the same period was discovered in Somerset. Presumably, people had been using all wooden, single piece bows long before they started constructing complicated composite recurve bows.

The skill of archery has always enthralled mankind and, in spite of the fact that guns have made archery obsolete, it still fascinates people today, although nowadays archery is practically exclusively used for sporting purposes. It is a thriving sport and hobby and is the national sport of the Kingdom of Bhutan.

If you are interested in practising archery, you will first have to make your mind up which kind of bow you prefer. Among other varieties, there are the longbow, recurve bow, reflex and decurve bows, deflex bow, pyramid bow and crossbow.

To a certain extent, the arrows are not interchangeable either. For instance, a longbow can cast a three foot, heavy-gauge arrow, whereas a crossbow shoots a six inch bolt. The bows also had distinctive uses although there was a certain degree of overlap.

For example, longbows were the heavy, rapid-firing artillery of their day, being able to lob a heavy, armour-piercing arrow hundreds of yards; whereas a short recurve bow was perfect for attack from horseback. Crossbows took less ability to operate but were slower than a bow.

There are different types of arrow as well. Historically, arrows were made of wood with a sharp metal tip, but these days arrows can be made of aluminium or carbon fibre. The arrowheads are distinctive for different applications as well. A simple brass tip is adequate for everyday shooting whereas a vicious, slashing broadhead is used for killing.

The majority of people who take archery seriously use carbon fibre arrows these days which is the typical arrow shaft in use at the Olympic games. The flights are usually of bird feathers and are used to stabilize the arrow in flight to reduce wobble. Plastic flights are also available as they are less susceptible to damage.

The Welsh (and English) longbow was perhaps the most powerful hand bow widely used. These longbows were typically six feet or more in length and made of one piece of seasoned yew (or other woods). The draw weight of a Welsh longbow at the time of Henry VIII was between 160 -180 lbf and that would cast a heavy three ounce arrow up to about 280 yards.

An account of the damage that one of these arrows could inflict was given by Gerald of Wales in the 12th century:

“… in the war against the Welsh, one of the men of arms was struck by an arrow shot at him by a Welshman. It went right through his thigh, high up, where it was protected inside and outside the leg by his iron cuirasses, and then through the skirt of his leather tunic; next it penetrated that part of the saddle which is called the alva or seat; and finally it lodged in his horse, driving so deep that it killed the animal”.

It took years of practice to draw and shoot one of these longbows bows accurately.

Owen Jones, the writer of this article writes on several topics, but is currently concerned with archery recurve bows. If you would like to know more or for special deals, please go to our website at Kids Archery Set.