<![CDATA[Ravenbeak Natureworks

<![CDATA[Ravenbeak Natureworks - Shop Blog]]>Mon, 18 May 2026 01:53:24 -0700Weebly<![CDATA[Note]]>Thu, 04 Sep 2025 06:05:37 GMThttps://www.ravenbeak.com/shop-blog/noteThese writings are part of our earlier journey with yew bows and the craft that surrounds them. Though we no longer update this space, we've kept it here as an archive for those who enjoy glimpsing the path that brought us here. For our current work, please check out the Highlights or Bows.]]><![CDATA[Jesus & the Yew Tree]]>Sun, 16 Apr 2017 16:56:03 GMThttps://www.ravenbeak.com/shop-blog/jesus-the-yew-tree

My disclaimer here is that I have no religious affiliation. I do however love history and stories. A couple years ago I purchased a book for Jamie's birthday and it is a most interesting read. "The God Tree" by Janis Fry & Allen Meredith.

It is a history of the yew tree and its connection to legends and actual events throughout our past. And definitely has a different perspective on some stories that we take for granted.

One of these is the story of when Jesus was killed and of his resurrection. Please note that this book has extensive references and you almost have to read the whole book as so much relates to one another. (For instance they spend a couple chapters explaining why the Tree of Life is a Yew tree, then this is the understanding for the rest of the book.)

The first glaringly different idea that they present (though not the first to do so) is that Jesus was hung on a Yew tree - not nailed to a cross.

Apparently, the original scriptures of the old testament state that to fulfill the phropecies the Messiah was to hang on the tree. Interesting note here is from Gerald Massey in his book "Ancient Egypt. The Light of the World". In it he states that in Hebrew, Messiah is actually MesIah. Mes is from the Babylonion texts for Tree of Life and Iah is a short name for God.

There is a legend that when Adam was buried three seed were placed in his mouth and a branch was planted on his grave. This branch grew into the tree at Golgatha (Gagultâ) where Jesus was hung. And that this was a yew tree and also the tree (or one of them) that Moses took his burning branch from.

These prophecies were in reference as to how the original sin/curse of Adam & Eve taking the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge was to be lifted. It is stated that the ritual Jesus chose - to be hung on a tree - was to lift the original curse (sin) . The authors reference the Dead Sea Scrolls (150BC - 200 AD) "for he who is hanged on the tree is accursed of God and men...". Meaning that Jesus was making this ultimate sacrifice to be seen as accursed to lift the curse off mankind (not to die for their future sins).

There is also a move from the known story in the suggestion that it was actually the Sanhedrin (Jewish priesthood) were the ones to oversee and carryout this ritual hanging, in accordance with Jewish law. Jesus was considered guilty of treason by the Sanhedrin, as he refused to follow some of the Jewish laws (like the stoning of women), was guilty of blasphemy by claiming to be the son of God and was seen to be working against their religion.

From the Qumran Temple Scrolls (200BC)
"If a man guilty of a capital offence is put to death and his body is hung on a tee, you must not leave his body on the tree overnight."

Joseph of Aramathea - who had knowledge of medicinal plants - and Nicodemus - who was a physician - were part of the Sanhedrin. One or both of them were involved in the removal of his body and taking it to the tomb. The authors suggest that it is very likely Jesus was given 'soma' or an elixir of life, made from the flesh of the yew tree berries (the only non-toxic part of the tree) and the sap of the yew and that this would have given him "the appearance of death, that is to say, it would induce the pulse to slow down so that any signs of lie would be indiscernible". And therefor his resurrection days later would have been known to Jesus and his helpers.

Peter: "Why must you go, they will surely have you pout to death"
Jesus: "Have you not heard, have you not understood Moses and the burning bush? Have you not understood the story of Jonah and the Whale?

The authors put forward that it was during the of the Roman Constantine that the story of Jesus being hung on a tree was changed to a crucifixion on a piece of wood. This was because of the powerful connection to other gods hung in trees. References to other Gods hung on trees and resurrected - Nommo (God of Ancient Egypt); Esus (God of Gauls); Odin (Norse God); Tammuz (Babylonian & Sumerian God); Ninhursag (Summerian Goddess); Attis (Phrygian God). And that this is also the time the cross as a symbol for Christianity was introduced.

A couple interesting references. The first from "The Dream of the Holy Rood":
He who once suffered on the gallows tree
Declare in words 'this is the tree of glory'
And heavens King exalted me above all the other trees,
Just as almighty God
I lay there watching the Saviour's tree.

And from "The Leaves of Light" (a ballad for oral tradition):
All under the leaves and the leaves of light, I met with virgins seven,
And one of them was Mary mild, our Lord's first Mother in Heaven
Oh where are you going you seven pretty maids, all under the leaves of light?
Oh we are going, Thomas they said - Seeking for a friend of thine
And they went down into yonder town - And sat in the gallery
And there they saw sweet Jesus Christ hanging from a big Yew Tree.

There is so much more to this book that is so very intriguing - the Secrets of the Grail, origins of Gods, staff carriers, and how these (and much more) connect to the Yew tree. If you can find a copy, worth a read!

]]><![CDATA[New Batch of Arrows]]>Thu, 09 Mar 2017 04:06:06 GMThttps://www.ravenbeak.com/shop-blog/new-batch-of-arrowsA few years back we decided to stop taking custom orders for arrows. We were so focused on keeping up with the crafting of our traditional longbows, that the arrows unfortunately had to take a back seat. There are only so many hours in the day for a small family business and we decided to focus on what we most enjoyed.

Luckily for us, we met a great local Fletcher named Blayne Prowse, who owns and operates Beaufort Traditional, a small business specializing in custom made wooden arrow and archery supplies. After a few back and forths and some test batches of arrows, we were very pleased with the quality of the arrows being produced and put in a good sized order to provide some fresh stock for our website.

Just recently we took possession of our newest batch of arrows and they are lovely. 14 dozen in total and.we have all of the spine weights covered between 30 and 70 lbs.

The arrows are made of Japanese arrow bamboo which is incredibly strong and straight, often called "Nature's Carbon". The fletchings are 3.5 inch straight cut turkey feathers silk wrapped at the leading edge of the fletch. All shafts are self nocked as we never could stand plastic glue on nocks and are reinforced with a silk wrap. The bamboo seems to shoot really well out of a variety of bow weights and doesn't seem to be as sensitive as other wooden arrows in finding the exact right spine weight combination.

Through our discussions with Blayne, we also learned about a new shafting manufacturer producing high quality wooden shafts on the Island of Haida Gwaii here in British Columbia. I have been especially interested in the Sitka Spruce shafting as I know the legendary strength to weight ratio that made the wood so famous in the production of airplanes.

Blayne is making us up a few dozen sets of Sitka spruce arrows to test out and sell through the website and we are very excited to get our hands on them.

So, if you are in need of some new arrows for this upcoming shooting season, take a look and see if we have some ready made arrows to fit your current bow.

]]><![CDATA[Stock & Custom Bows]]>Mon, 30 Jan 2017 21:39:20 GMThttps://www.ravenbeak.com/shop-blog/stock-custom-bowsWe've had a good month working in the shop. Jamie had a solid week to himself when I took off with the kids to go visit a friend down in the US. Upon our return I've been working to finish up these beauties (oiling, handles, strings).

So here they are...Lots of longbows, some flatbows. Mostly custom & some to go up for sale in our stock bow pile.

Here's the list that's coming up for sale:
Longbows
Idan 35# @ 28" (all yew heartwood)
Solent 52# @ 28" (selfbow)

Flatbows
Balto: 48# @ 28" (silk backed yew)
Raksha 53" @ 28" (silk back yew)
Aldaron 45# @ 27" (yew/bamboo laminate)

]]><![CDATA[Wood Burning Journey]]>Mon, 05 Dec 2016 08:00:00 GMThttps://www.ravenbeak.com/shop-blog/wood-burning-journey

I have never thought of myself as an artist. I was one of the kids in school with straight A's and a D in art (which I think I received only because an F would probably have made the teacher look questionable). But outside of school I enjoyed calligraphy. I liked the order to it, that there was a system to it, and that it looked beautiful. And throughout the years I have doodled with Celtic knot work as well (for the same reasons of order & beauty).

About 4 years ago Jamie was teaching a workshop in Vancouver and I was there (helping a little, but mostly keeping our then almost 1 year old out from under hatchets). Near the end of the workshop one of the participants pulled out a wood burning kit and burned some knot work onto the back of his bow. Jamie had some concerns about violating the back of the bow (where there is tension placed), but I was thinking how cool it looked, and that maybe I could do something like it.

So I went ahead and purchased a pyrography set (wood burner and pen with interchangeable tips). And started playing around with the burning. I took a basic knot design and customized the ends, with one looking a little like an arrow tip.

The first couple bows I did, I put the knot work on the back of the bow. The back of the bow is under tension, being stretched when shot so ideally there are no "violations" on it. But, sometimes you have to learn the hard way, eh? So we had a bow lift a splinter while shooting, before we sent it off to a customer. (And luckily the other bow hadn't left the shop either.) The bow had to be sanded down, reburned on the belly and restained. And now, all the burning is done on the belly, which is under compression.

We also ordered a wood burning stamp with our raven logo on it. I really liked the idea of having our signature be our logo. The one we purchased you heat up with a blow torch and then basically roll it on to the wood. I think it looks great and it works pretty well on the flatbows. But we've stopped using it for a couple reasons. 1 - Jamie's building a lot of longbows now and it's pretty tricky to get the stamp to role evenly over the rounded belly. 2 - It's really a lot of pressure. I (Jenna) do this part and it's done when the bow is completely finished (except for oiling) and I find it quite stressful. To come at a finished bow with a burning hot piece of metal and only get one shot to do it perfectly. You can't touch it up or move it after.

As I burned more bows, I had the opportunity to play with the knot work some more and also started getting custom requests. I remember one that came from Kuwait and the customer asked for some detailed Islamic writing to be placed on the bow. My reaction was definitely not, too complicated and I was too nervous to do it. This is where it's sure nice to be doing this work with your partner. Jamie was super positive and basically said, don't worry about, you'll be fine. So I did some test pieces and to date, it's still one of the pieces I like the best.

The designs some times come from folks themselves, other times I design them. I still get nervous (and excited) when someone has an idea, but gives me artistic license. Sometimes I put some knot work on a stock bow. Sometimes there is just a little burned symbol as the arrow pass (usually an old rune meaning Yew or bow). All the work gets drawn on paper first. Then I transfer (trace) it to the bow using graphite paper. Then I burn on the design. I have found the specific pen that works best for me. I have 3 of them, because I melt the tips and need to send them back and have them replaced regularly (which the company does for $5 charge - amazing).

I've also started using calligraphy (at least on the first letter) on the bow names, which I think really adds a little something. And also connects me way back to the little kid who liked to make something look nice, but needed a bit of order to get there.

I still get nervous when Jamie passes off a stunning bow, ready for me to take a red hot pen to it. But at a time when most of my contributions are behind the scenes or with our amazing children, I like that I have one tangible piece of this process that is visible.

]]><![CDATA[Leeds Armoury]]>Sat, 05 Nov 2016 07:00:00 GMThttps://www.ravenbeak.com/shop-blog/leeds-armoury

On my first trip to the UK (October 2015) I was fortunate enough to visit the Leeds Armoury in Leeds, UK. I had a few days off between bow making workshops and I decided to take a day trip north to visit one of England's three royal armouries.

The trip started out a bit hectic, despite my best efforts to figure out the train times online to make the journey as smooth as possible. My first train from Birkenhead to Liverpool was stopped mid journey for mechanical issues. After a twenty minute wait we boarded a different train to complete the Journey into Liverpool. After running down the tunnels and up the escalator I arrived just in time to watch my train pull away from the platform. After an hour wait and a cup of coffee I was on the next express train heading north to Leeds. The train seemed to travel really fast so I asked the conductor just how fast we were going and I was suprised to hear that we were clipping along at 90 mph.

Once in Leeds I hopped in a taxi to the armoury to make up for lost time and I arrived in a few minutes. Once at the armoury I was instantly impressed by the size of of the building and the collections. One really cool thing about many of the UK museums is there is free admission. I thought that was a great way to get people out to enjoy the collections.

For my visit I was mostly interested in the medieval period and was hoping to get to see some authentic suits of plate armour as well as old archery equipment. I was certainly not dissappointed. The first room I walked into had a tremendous display of tournament armour and went through great detail in describing the different styles and uses of the armour. There were suits that were specific to jousting, being set up for carrying a lance and shield as well as heavily reinforced on the side of impact. I found this all so interesting.

Near the end of the first room there were two incredible suits of armour both of which belong to King Henry the 5th. The first was his tournament suit which was 100 percent enclosed. It was fully articulated and there was no place that a blade could be slid between any of the the joints. Wow! It turns out that the scientists from NASA studied this suit when they were dsigning the articulations on the space suit. If my memory serves me correct, the suit weighed about 90 pounds, which was about double to a standard suit of armour from that period.

I was very interested to see the development over time from wrought iron armour into the much thinner and stronger tempered steel. This was one of the major developments that eventually led to the decline of the longbow. The armoury had many examples of suits over time that showed this very important transition. It was also very interesting to see the styles of armour developed to glance off the arrows rather than taking their hit straight on, the most dramatic of these being the 'pig snout" helmets.

There was one suit of armour that has still stuck with me strongly and that is a special suit know as the lion suit. It was absolutley incredible. If I recall correctly it had 17 lions formed into the suit at all of the major articulations. The detail was incredible and amazing to think that it was fully functional as well. The informational signs said that they don't actually know who the suit was made for, but it shows up several times through history in different tapestries. The suit was gilded in gold and it would have been quite the sight to see the wearer strutting down the street looking much like a peacock! But the suit was definitely used in some combat as you can clearly see where a sword or other sharp object hit the wearer above the left eye.

On display were many cross bows spanning a few hundred years of development. It was fascinating to see the development of the cocking mechanisms and how complicated they became. It was also very impressive to see what incredible draw weights they were able to achieve. No wonder they could punch through even the best armour.

The collections also included an impressive display of true japanese katana swords with the "billowing clouds" profile along the cutting edge. These are amazing creations that required thousands of hours and centuries of trial and error to perfect. The collections also housed true authentic horn bows as well as a replica elephant in a full suit of combat armour!

At the time of my visit a good number of the archery related items were on loan to the Tower of London for the agincourt 600 display. But there were a few remaining authentic arrow heads on display.

There was one interactive display that grabbed my attention, it had cross sections of yew wood and described the properties of the heartwood and sapwood and how they are relevant to the english longbow. There was also a display where a yew bow had been but was missing. As I got towards the end of the tour there were several examples of self yew target bows built in the Victorian style, but I was suprised to see no true examples or recreations of the infamous "yew warbow".

Around three o'clock in the afternoon I attended an interactive presentation on medieval hand to hand combat. Basically it was two guys in full plate armour practicing a routine they would be performing in London in a few weeks. They described the armour they were wearing as well as the different weapons that each was using. They also went through their "fight scene" several times both in slow motion with explanations and again at full speed. It was amazing to see how tired and hot they were after only a few minutes of combat. I can only imagine that the warriors of the past must have been absolutely exhausted after hours of fighting in close fitting steel armour.

After the presentation I introduced myself to the performers and mentioned that I was a bowyer from Canada who specialized in yew longbows. They were very interested and immediately walked me over to the display with the yew wood description that I had seen earlier. They said that there had been a yew longbow as part of the display but it had been broken by a museum visitor and the museum might be interested in a nice yew warbow to fill its place. That made me think about a bow I was working on at home in the shop that would be a perfect fit. I thanked them for their time and gave them a business card and told them to check out the website.

A few days later I followed up with the museum and complemented them on the fine collection. I also mentioned the yew warbow I had on the go and how it could be a good fit. The museum took a while to get back to me, but when they did they were very interested in the bow as it turned out they were in the process of revamping the interactive display pods and were hoping to find a yew warbow. After a few emails back and forth and some photos of bow on the go it was confirmed that it was gonna head to Leeds to be on display!

It was a lovely piece of yew, 80 inches long with real tight grain and super sharp colours to the heartwood and sapwood. It had a few front to back wiggles along the length but nothing major. It was capped with black buffalo horn nocks. The only things not totally authentic about the bow were the wood being pacific yew instead of European yew and that the string grooves were cut along the back of the horn rather than on the side as we've seen on the Mary Rose bows. The bow was signed with a small RN burned into the side of the bow at the centre. This is known as the bowyers mark and is the where the old bows were signed by the bowyers. The museum asked if I would also be able to make a separate bow tip with the traditional side nock to be displayed alongside for comparison purposes. I thought that was a great idea.

Jump ahead one year, to October 2016.

I stopped in to the Leeds armoury again this year on my journey down from Scotland to Birkenhead to see my bow on display. It was right where I thought it was going to be and it was looking very sharp all polished and in its new home. I had to snap a few photos and it was pretty cool to watch other visitors looking at it and touching it. All in all, I felt pretty proud to have one of my bows on display.

Jamie MacDonald

]]><![CDATA[Ravenbeak Rendezvous]]>Wed, 03 Aug 2016 07:00:00 GMThttps://www.ravenbeak.com/shop-blog/ravenbeak-rendezvous

When I started first building yew selfbows over 10 years ago I was motivated entirely by my own interests in the yew tree and my desire to create a hunting bow using local natural materials. I set a personal goal to build my own gear and eventually harvest a deer with it, which still to date remains incomplete. At the time I did not know anyone else interested in this form of natural archery and my first teachers were the authors of the first volume of the Traditional Bowyers Bible (TBB). I read the book cover to cover and sucked up as much info and wisdom as I could. Over time I met two other local guys who were also playing around with yew wood bows and we we were happy to share our secrets around what has worked for us and what has not. Those get togethers were where I first tried out the farriers rasp, which changed my whole perspective on wood removal and I also picked up the tricks to the Flemish twist bow string. Looking back, they were my only in person teachers as I got started. I also picked up a lot of knowledge through the strong community support on the Primitive Archer forum boards, as well as the the 4 volumes of the Bowyers Bibles. All of my other techniques and theories have been hard earned through trial and error, with nearly as much error as trial.

I did attend one bow making workshop with John Strunk of Tilamook Oregon a few years ago at the North American Longbow Safari in Comox, B.C. It was a great opportunity to spend some time with a man who has been doing this a lot longer than I have and I was all eyes and ears to pick up as may of his techniques as I could. I can still remember one tool of his that I adopted and have used on basically every bow to date. It was to use a long string with weights on both ends to run a straight line down the stave. I had always struggled about how to establish a straight line on a wiggly stick and he had this simple, wonderful solution.

When I first started teaching my bow making workshops, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that others were interested and passionate about these bows as well! All of a sudden my bow making journey did not seem so lonely. I have been fortunate enough to meet nearly 400 great people during my workshops and it has been wonderful to connect with others who share this passion for wooden bows. There have been a number of workshop attendees who do have some bow making experience under their belts, but for the most part it has been me passing on my skills and processes to help others create their own first bow. I must admit that I have learned far more teaching these workshops than I ever could have through building only my own bows.

There are a few wooden bow get togethers in the United states that I have always wanted to attend, but the long driving times as well as a busy young family and business it has just never come together. One day I will do a road trip down to the Tennessee classic and Mojam to get a chance to work alongside some of the fine bowyers from Primitive Archer but for the meantime I have always felt there must been space in Canada to run a similar event. We had this gathering on our schedule last year but as the summer filled up we it didn't feel like we had the time or energy to dedicate to it and so it was dropped. This year Jenna put together the events website and we have made the commitment to try and make it happen. It will be called the Ravenbeak Rendezvous and we are hoping to make it an annual event with your help!

Our vision for the Ravenbeak Rendezvous is to open it up to all past workshop participants (nearly 400 strong) as well as any others who share the passion for wooden bows. The gathering is a weekend get together at a beautiful lakeside campground on Comox Lake just outside of Cumberland B.C. It will be a mostly unstructured weekend where we encouraging sharing and offering support among participants. We are hoping to come together to celebrate the art of wooden bow making, so bring any completed bows you would like to show off and also projects you are currently working on. The campground is in a lovely location and there are many large mature yew trees within a short walking distance. We will have an arrow station set up to build arrows for a small materials fee. We will also bring some character yew staves as well. So bring your tools and staves and let's make some shavings together!

There will be some targets set up on site to practice your aim and try out any new bows. We are hoping to do some aerial shooting known as bow birds as well, where discs are thrown into the air and stray arrows end up in the lake to be collected after via a canoe. We all shoot wooden arrows anyways so the arrows float.

This get together of bowyers has been a dream of mine for many years and I am very excited that it will all come together soon. So if you can make it, we would love to see you there and work on our projects together.

]]><![CDATA[July Bow Immersion]]>Mon, 01 Aug 2016 04:14:51 GMThttps://www.ravenbeak.com/shop-blog/july-bow-immersion7279206Just finished off a great week with 5 great folks. Here's the video showing the bows. 3 flatbows & 2 longbows in the batch..

The week started off a little funny as the ferries were very delayed coming up from Vancouver, so 3 of the folks were late arriving. Nevertheless everyone got going on there bows the first day, working on debarking and laying out the dimensions of their bows.

The day got everyone comfortable with the hatchets and spoke shaves as they worked down to the outline of their bows. Day 3 was more of this - working on getting to a brace height (where you can string your bow). Also worked on some heat bending with both steam and the heat gun.

Day 4 everyone worked on their tips - either overlays or horn caps. This takes a bit of practice (on some scrap wood) and it's great to see the personalities of the folks coming out in their design choices. Also spent some time on recurving this day.

The next day was more wood removal, focusing on working at a slow and steady pace, getting the bows up to the correct draw length. Also adding arrow rests for those that wanted them. And starting to oil the bows. Sure look sharp once you get the oil on - makes the colours really pop out. Managed to squeeze in a little break at a local swimming hole with a zunga (rope swing to those not living in Powell River).

Day 6 was all about arrows. Lots of time spent cutting, chopping, & gluing on the fletching. And lots of silk wrapping. Adding tips too. And more oiling...

This was a day for focusing on wrapping up all the projects (some folks had been working on side projects in the evening as well). More arrow work. And oiling. We also got to take a drive up into to the bush to see an amazing yew forest nearby. We also got to enjoy the hard work put into the bows and arrows as we spent a good couple hours shooting our bows into the big old growth stumps in the area. We only lost one arrow in total and there were some great bulls eyes.

The final day we focused on leather handles and any other wrapping up that needed doing. Before taking the quick video and wishing the folks well as they raced off to catch their ferries home.

]]><![CDATA[Laminate English Longbow Review]]>Thu, 21 Jul 2016 21:43:48 GMThttps://www.ravenbeak.com/shop-blog/laminate-english-longbow-review

By Steve Nicholson
This is a review by Steve from Archers Review. It was published on his website in April 2015. Unfortunately there was a system crash and they lost over 2 years worth of reviews. Lucky enough, we had a copy and Steve agreed to us posting it here.

Ravenbeak Laminate Bamboo Backed Yew English Longbow by Jamie MacDonald

Tradition has always been interesting to me, often we look around the world and see things that we consider have been around for time immemorial, however that often isn't the case. Food is a big one, many of the staples we see in diets across the globe were completely unheard of only a few hundred years ago, go back a little further and tomatoes and potatoes simply didn't exist in Europe before the discovery of the Americas.

Who could envisage a Christmas without a Christmas tree, yet they have only been popular for the last 150 years or so. You might be wondering what the point of this is and I can promise it's archery related, you see there has been a few ruffled feathers of late in the various English Longbow divisions, 10-15 years ago we all thought we knew what a traditional English longbow was, a combination of two or three traditional woods, chosen for their specific properties of stength and power, combined to make a bow which was on the whole a rather large beast which drew heavily and shot slowly.

Then we started to see a change, people started to push the boundaries of what was possible, using ever increasingly exotic woods to produce bows which conformed perfectly to the various standards applied to the English Longbow in the large archery organisations but bore very little in common with their old more traditional counter parts. They were thinner and so less prone to arrow spine issues, lighter in both physical and draw weight and so easier to shoot for longer periods. They certainly looked similar but were a very different animal, the issue of course is that anybody claiming they were not a traditional English Longbow were both right but equally very wrong. For the most part the naysayers were using bows that were equally untraditional, they were shooting what were effectively whip ended target bows, which had as much in common with a traditional bow as they ones they were against. So traditional is a matter of perspective, while most bows we shoot today conform to a traditional design that tradition is less than 200 years old, when it comes to longbows we need to be talking in far longer terms than that.

So on to the review and the point of that initial opening section is that this bow falls very much in to this new breed of bow, traditional looks but with modern methods and a willingness to nudge the boundaries of what has gone before. But in fact, it may surprise you to know that this bow has more in common with bows of the 14th and 15th century than most being made today- and certainly less in common than the bows I was using 10 or 15 years ago.

Some while ago we reviewed a Ravenbeak Self Yew by Jamie MacDonald, at that time he specialized in self bows - in the intervening time he has not only become widely acknowledged as a superb craftsman of self bows but has now moved into the construction of laminate bows.

It tends to be the case that many bowyers, especially in the English longbow field produce small quantities of bows and so by their very nature they are individual items and one produced by one bowyer can be very different from that produced by another bowyer, however often each bowyers bows display their individuality based purely on the wood choice and simply because of natural differences in the wood itself.

With Jamie's' huge experience in making self bows he is in a perfect position to see into the wood and understand the possibilities in terms of bows that this stave might deliver. Being tied to using just that single stave will often mean that in search of excellence only the very finest staves are used - Jamie is the kind of chap that wants to produce the very best bows that he and the stave are capable of producing. On occasion this means that a very fine piece of wood is left unutilised.
Jamie is something of a rarity when it comes to making bows, any bowyer will tell you that making a self bow is a labour of love and requires expertise that is hard won.
This insight and Jamie's' affinity with wood means that when he sees a great piece of wood with a minor flaw that couldn't make a perfect self bow - he actually sees how it might make part of a superb bow. All that is required is another top class piece to fashion a bow that will be the equal and oftentimes exceed the performance of a single stave self bow.

Meet Atalante - she is 53#@28" at 70" nock groove to nock groove, she is slender, sleek, smooth and has a sheen that brings out the richness of the 4 laminates of Yew and backing of bamboo. The nocks are rounded and short - just how I like 'em. What I also like are the stringing grooves on both nocks - talking of which, with the bow comes a stringer - not some knotted bit of left over string but a stringer made from string material, with proper loops.... oh... and a spare string..ah... and a soft bow bag of fleece. In fact everything you need to "just start shooting".

She is light in the hand and very pointable. I have strung a lot of Longbows, even that stringing of the bow will tell something of the character of the bow and as I pull up just those few inches required to bring her to brace I can sense something of the core of this bow.

Most of the recurve bows I have ever loved and almost all of the longbows that have shown themselves to be performers deliver early weight. Atalante has early weight, a beautiful feeling of muscular tension right from the off, a springiness and elasticity that is working from the first inch. I have often wondered if it is the skill of the bowyer that instills that responsiveness, as if the bow itself is possessed of tendons and sinew. Or, if it is his ability to sense in the wood the potential to coax these from it. Either way, there is something special that great bowyers enjoy that gives them the insight and skill to work with wood and bring out its best...this bow is a demonstration of not just bowmaking but the very art of bowmaking.

That early delivery of weight continues in a smooth progression which eases as the draw lengthens - if ever there were such thing as anti-stack then here is its finest example - this isn't a bow that requires you to fight it and impose your will, this bow can almost sense what is required of it and it works with you - from the very first arrow I knew this was a singularly unprecedented Longbow experience. No more shock than a high end recurve - no noise, no fuss, no messing as the arrow leaves the bow.

As with the other Ravenbeak bow we reviewed - Ravenbeak self yew - the finish is phenomenal. Jamie knows how to put a bow together, this isn't just a wood sandwich but a bow which has had a considerable amount of time put in to it at the development stage, for me the layering of the laminates both in terms of thickness and orientation have been carefully thought out and as I examine each in turn it becomes clear to me that the bowyer understands not just the wood working element of bowyery but also the practical application of the bow from an archery perspective.

It's as if Jamie has reconstructed an astounding bow that might possibly have existed in nature under strange, remarkable and uncommon circumstance...that I guess is the experience you acquire when you work so much with self bows.
Upon closer inspection I notice something I have seen on few bows, the main body of the bow is somewhat flatter than the customary and ubiquitous "D" profile - it puts me in mind of a collection of bows I saw a few years ago, in fact it was that same experience which made me re-think my whole arrow philosophy and opened my eyes to what would have been common knowledge in times past but had been "misplaced" rather than forgotten. As I scrutinize further the limbs and the careful taper I catch myself smiling - the limbs transition from the flattened lozenge shape into a rounded more delicate orbicular taper finishing in the short stubby nocks.. I smile because the last time I saw a profile like this was on the Mary Rose bows down at the trust in Portsmouth.

Longbow archery for me has been based on the fact that those craftsmen of the 12th to 15th century were producing a weapon, they didn't design in features just for the hell of it - the bow didn't evolve by chance or through luck. The makers refined the design through necessity of producing the most effective tool they could so any design arrived at through centuries of development represented the pinnacle of longbow achievement. Before we can drive forward we need to understand the reasons for the shape and design of the bows of the past to see what they teach us...
My first inspection of the Mary Rose bows left me feeling that they didn't look like I expected them to look.. they didn't look like the bows I was using and I wondered how the composition and construction made them different from the bows I did know.

As I look at this bow I start to feel very excited as though I am about to discover what it was like to shoot a bow made in this style..

The early weight I have already mentioned, but the feeling is compounded by the fact that I can feel the bow working right in my hand - the whole bow in involved in this draw.. everything I had seen thus far led me to believe it would be fast but I was still surprised by how fast, I did say it was as smooth as a recurve and even by eye I can tell it is faster than many recurves I have shot. Almost as an afterthought I see that it shoots straight - this is how a longbow should shoot - this is how a real longbow should feel - this is a proper bow. I don't know whether Jamie has seen photos of the Mary Rose bows - I do know he certainly hasn't seen one in real life. Perhaps he didn't need to, perhaps his innate knowledge and understanding of the bow led him to rediscover the architecture and profile of what an English Longbow should be.. and so we come full circle, a traditional English Longbow in the truest sense, we know that because it looks just like the oldest surviving bows of it's kind - it doesn't need permission from organisation "X" or "Y" to call itself a longbow because it has its' own stamp of authenticity - but to remove any doubt - it actually does conform to all major organisations definition of an English Longbow. Before you see just how fast let me put the following into some kind of perspective.... a friend owns a top end recurve - it draws 47# and shoots the same arrow 173fps - in his hands it has won almost every field shoot he has entered with it and he now possesses more tin than Cornwall - this same bow won Olympic Gold at the last Olympics.
This is what Jamies laminate 53# stick can do...
450 grain arrow 28" draw 8.5grns/# 180fps

The bow is a masterpeice - the bow is a cannon - it is the smoothest, fastest most wonderful english Longbow I have shot...................click below if you feel the need to check out Jamies website
Ravenbeak Website

Features & Design
This is a "REAL" English Longbow- it doesn't just look like one, it actually performs in a way that modern longbows never have - I am I the only person who smells coffee andfinds it instantly desirable - I imagine how good it will taste but it never delivers - longbows have always felt a little like that. I love the idea of them and the history but they mostly fall short - this one however looks and smells the part and then it delivers- in every imaginable way.

Performance
Quite simply the fastest, smoothestLongbow this enthusiast has ever shot.

Value for Money
I purposely haven't mentioned the cost - it's Can $800 or US$666 ( that figure brought another smile to my lips as it was either Ironic or symbolic - I don't know which)

Overall
Quite possibly the best longbow since 1415

]]><![CDATA[The First Bow]]>Sat, 21 May 2016 04:11:40 GMThttps://www.ravenbeak.com/shop-blog/the-first-bowThis question has come up a lot and I thought this might be a good opportunity to write it down so others can read it.

Archery has always been a part of my life. As a small boy I can clearly remember watching my father shoot the very first arrow from his 55lb recurve. I had been playing with his bow for some time and was trying hopelessly to pull the thing, in fact I thought it was impossible. One day we hopped in the truck and drove out to a farm to pick up a few straw bales, once home he set them up in the yard and told me to stand back. As the first arrow hissed across the yard I was mesmerized by the speed and that image has been forever burned into my mind.

To be honest I fell in love with the yew tree before I was ever into bow making. From the moment I was first able to identify Taxus Brevifola (Pacific Yew) there was a deep and unignorable connection between myself and the tree, some thing I had never felt with any other plant. I became borderline obsessed with trying to spot them in the forest and along the edges of roads while driving. I also felt compelled to care take them where I could. There was one forest in particular, where I spent quite a bit of time and looking back I spent countless hours pulling and cutting back the Ivy that was over taking the forest floor and choking out the yew trees.

At the age of twenty five I had decided that I was ready to start hunting. I was becoming interested in traditional hide tanning and I wanted to source local wild meat. I also knew that I did not want to just go get a gun and shoot something. I was looking for the full circle connection and to me this meant building my own equipment and most certainly my bow would be made of yew. Once I had made up my mind about hunting and building my bow the tree quickly presented itself to me. I could not bring myself to cut a living tree - it just did not sit well with me. As it would turn out there would be no need to.

I was walking through a mature second growth forest on Vancouver Island on the day following a big wind storm. I came across a large Douglas fir that had come down in the storm, on its way down it had smashed the whole top clean off of a small yew tree. As I came around the corner on the trail I almost walked into my piece. There it was and I knew it instantly. It was about six feet tall with a broken off top and it was quite clean on three of the four faces. I knew basically nothing about bow making at this point but I knew this was the one. I came back the next day with a small handsaw and cut the tree off close to the ground. I plucked a few hairs to leave in its place to hold up my end of the exchange. I also searched through and cut a few of the larger straighter branches to practice on. I packed the small log onto my shoulder and started heading for home

I really didn't know what I was getting into, but I had always been a carver so I figured to start I could easily carve out something that looked like a bow and worry about the bending later. I was also recommended a book by a good friend called the Traditional Bowyers Bible, which I immediately ordered through a local book store. Once my book arrived I eagerly read it cover to cover and soaked up as much information as I could. I quickly learned it was best to split the log lengthwise to follow the longitudinal flow of the grain. I was also amazed to learn that knots and defects in the wood could be worked with and functional bows still produced. In fact wooden bowyers seemed to embrace this and referred to irregularities as "character". I thought that was just too cool.

My intial tools were relatively crude, mostly a razor blade knife and a mill bastard file. I worked wherever I could, mostly in the back of a parking lot or tucked away in the forest. My progress was very slow but that was good becasue I didn't really know where I was going. I had the goal of a 55 lb pull bow at 28 inches to be my hunting bow. I decided to make it 68 inches long as recommended by the book. I learned a trememdous amount with that first bow. I learned about stiff handles and fades, about limb tapers and string nocks. I built myself a tiller stick and started to try and read the shape of the bend. Figuring out where it was working and where it was still stiff. I learned how to measure draw weight and mostly I learned that I loved to transform a tree into a useful tool which was both artistic and fully functional.

I was hooked and by the time I was shooting my first self made bow I was already planning the next one. What I could do different and how I could make it better. I also learned that every piece of wood was different and therefore every bow was unique. It only made sense that my new bow deserved a name to reflect its uniqueness so I asked a young friend what he thought would be a good name. "Sam" he replied immediately and so it stuck. I never did hunt with Sam. Once open season came around I was recovering from a shoulder surgery and was not at full strength. I used a lighter recurve bow which I had shot for a long time and I did manage to shoot a deer near the end of my first season.

In hindsight the handle section was way too long, the tips were too large and there was a mild hinge in the upper limb. But it shot an arrow fast and I made it myself with natural materials, the way it has always been done. I was hooked and I have never looked at a tree the same way again.

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