MAINTENANCE OF GEAR

by Erik Roth

Ascham places great importance on the rubbing down of the bow with a waxed woollen cloth.  This practice fell into disuse along with the old archery, When you have brought your bow to such a pointe, as I spake of, then you must have a harden or wullen cloth waxed.  Wherewith everye daye you must rubbe and chafe your bowe, till it shyne and glitter withal.  Which thinge shall cause it both to be cleane, well favoured, goodlye of coloure, and shall also bringe, as it were, a cruste over it, that is to say, shall make it everye where on the outsyde, so slipperye and hard, that neyther anye weete or weather can enter to hurt it; nor yet any freat or pynche, be able to byte upon it: but that you shal do it great wrong before you breake it.  This must be done oftentimes but specially when you come from shootynge.  Arrows were varnished but bows were not. 

Smythe tells us that archers did temper with fire a convenient quantity of wax, rosin and fine tallow, and rubbing their bows with very little of it, and also that bows were to be rubbed with linseed oil, about once a year, but sparingly, especially with yew which is more absorbent than other woods.

A square of coarse woolen cloth can be prepared by melting a bit of the wax in a flat pan and laying the cloth on it.

In preparation for shooting, the archer must choose, prepare, and affix a string to the bow.  The thickness of the string varied according to its use. Great stringes and little stringes be for divers purposes the great string is more surer for the bowe, more stable to prick withall, but slower for the cast.  The little string is clean contrarye, not so sure, therefore to be taken heede of, lest with long taryinge on, it break your bowe, more fit to shoote farre, than apt to prick neare.  Therefore when you know the nature of both bigge and little you must fit your bowe according to the occasion of your shootinge.  For flight shooting a thin string at a low brace height gave the farthest cast but a thicker string gave greater accuracy.

A noted Saracen warrior’s arrows penetrated any armor that his foemen could devise.  A perplexed erstwhile enemy rented a room in the warrior’s house after cessation of hostilities and his wife revealed that the secret was a heavy arrowhead and a thick string.

A new string must be adjusted as to length and whipped.  A double loop string can be only minimally adjusted by twisting tighter to shorten and untwisting to lengthen.  In the case of a single loop string,  LARTDARCHERIE advises the loop to be first placed in the upper nock and stretch the string down the bow.  At three finger widths from the lower nock make a timber hitch with as few turns as possible, making sure that the timber hitch can be made in the reinforced tail.  Ascham calls this knot the bending and cautions the archer to form it with more than one wap.  The end of the rattail projects toward the end of the bow.  The string must be so positioned that it will be centered on the braced bow, you must mark also to set your string streight on or els the one end shall wrieth contrarye to the other and so break your bowe.  On Viking bows there was no lower nock and the string was tied off, probably in a series of half hitches just below a bend near the bow tip.  Archers, especially military ones, always had a couple of redie whipt and fitted strings ready to clap on the bow.

The method of bending the bow to fix the upper loop in its nock, now called bracing, has undergone changes.  Nowadays the step through method is usual.  Formerly, a common method was to rest the lower bowtip against the ground to the left, belly up.  The left hand presses down on the middle of the bow while the fingers of the right hand pressing against the upper limb slide the loop into the upper nock.  More recently, this method has been reversed with the lower bowtip placed against the instep of the left foot, and the left hand pulling up on the handgrip, probably to avoid damaging fancy horn bowtips, but a few bowmen in Ford’s time still used the older method, which is pictured in Froissart’s CHRONICLES and in the fourteenth century TICKHILL PSALTERY.  The bowhand being already in position, the archer can nock and shoot instantly.  This method is much easier with the nocks cut in only one side as with most mediaeval and Renaissance bows, the upper left and lower right sides as seen from the belly side.  To release the string, the archer twists the loop clockwise so that the V portion of the loop can easily pass over the nock.  If the bowtips extend past the nock as with early longbows, the heel of the hand presses against the tip while the downward pointing fingers pull the loop to the nock.

Another method was called treading the bow.  The archer presses down the bow’s middle with his foot, thus freeing both hands, one pulling up the bowtip, the other adjusting the loop. Variations of bow treading given by Elmer consist of resting the upper tip against a tree and the lower tip against the ground, or resting the bow horizontally between two logs while pressing down with the foot. These variations would be a poor way to treat a bow.  Some archers bent the bow by holding it upright with the lower end against the ground, belly toward the archer who presses against the middle with the knee while pulling on the upper bowtip with one hand and setting the loop with the other.  This method is shown in a painting in Ingham church, in a Belgian manuscript and mentioned in mediaeval Scandinavian poetry; He bent the bow before his knee.

Bending up a very strong war bow by the above methods is difficult.  Some Mary Rose bows show grooves of two nocks in one bow tip which may indicate the use of a stringer or ‘bastard string’.  This is a longer string tied at the lower nock, the loop in the outer groove.  The archer places a foot on the string and pulls up on the bow handle with one hand, setting the loop of his string into the inner groove with the other hand.

Having bent the bow, the bowman checks for desired string height.  How much bend to have in a bow is the bowman’s choice.  The space between bow and string of a palm and two fingers as recommended in ROI MODUS is about the minimum.  Its use in hunting is to reduce strain on a bow that is bent for long periods of time.  Each inch added to string height strains the bow about as much as three inches of draw.  A low string height also gives maximum cast to the arrow.  LARTDARCHERIE advises a little less than half a foot, with more or less depending on string follow or reflex.  Ascham writes: The onlye commodotie of a low strung bow is fast and farre shootynge.  Ascham suggests a greater string height, pointing out that the high strung bow is more easily drawn, being half drawen before, shoots more accurately, doesn’t cause damage to the fletching which is clear of the bow during the draw, is easier on the bow at the loose, and reduces the need for a bracer.  It is best by my judgemente to give the bowe so much bent that the strynge neede never touche a mannes arme, and so a man neede no bracer as I know manye good archers, whyche occupye none.  So let your bow have a good bigge bende, a shaftment and two fingers at the least.  The shaftment was the measure of the fist and outstretched thumb, the measurement that is nowadays called a fistmele and is now the standard longbow string height.  One of the Mary Rose bows had apparently been bent up and the remaining curvature matches this string height.  This is already a good bigge bend.  The part of the arrow to which the feathers are attatched is also called the shaftment.

The new string having been adjusted to provide the desired bend, it should be waxed.  A lump of plain beeswax can be used, and some modern bowmen have melted it together with resin and suet like the mixture Smythe suggested for use on bows.  The waxed string is rubbed briskly with a folded square of thin leather to work the wax into the fibers and to round the string.

Six or seven arrows should be shot to stretch and set a linen or hemp string, more to stretch a silk string.  The string height must then be readjusted and the string is, as Smythe tells us, whipped by the archers themselves with fine thread.  The whipping, or serving, is to prevent chafing of the string, to make it the proper size for the arrow nock, and to permit the arrow to slip off readily.  It also helps keep the string round and makes it thicker, easier on the fingers at the loose.   Ascham felt that the nock should be just tight enough to hold the string, not more, and that rule remains today.  If the loosed string comes out of contact with the arrow at the loose, the bow could be irreparably damaged.

Silk embroidery thread, size D, is about the right thickness for this purpose, traditional colors being green, white or red.  Linen thread may also be used.  It is wound on as shown in the diagram.  We first determine at what point the arrow nock will come against the string.  Mediaeval bows had no clearly marked handgrip.  LARTDARCHERIE tells us that the archer preparing to shoot balances the bow on the thumb of his bowhand, then grips the bow.  The arrow being nocked a little above a right angle to the string, the point of contact can be marked.  The archer might consider the possibility of nocking higher or lower for a long shot as was sometimes done.

The string is then marked about an inch and a half above the nocking point and several inches below it.  Markham specifies the width of four fingers.  Tie a heavy cord or leather thong through the hole of the spool and around it to prevent the thread from unwinding by itself.  Pass the end of the thread between strands of the string at the upper point pointing right, and begin winding the thread around the string and the end of the thread.  After about six turns, pull the end tight and cut it off, being careful not to cut anything else.  Continue winding until you reach a point 1/4 inch above the lower point.  Make a large loop and wind inside it as shown, with enough turns to fill the remaining space.  Now take hold of the upper­most loop and continue winding with that.  When you reach the end of the loops, pull the end up tight and cut it close to the whipping.  The whipping should be firm. but not too tight, or it may cut into the string.

Nock the arrow again.  If it fits too loosely, you will have to add more whipping at the nocking point.  The proper fit for the nock, as also given by Ascham, is that the arrow should hang from the string but be dislodged by a slight tap or the string.  In Roberts’ time, in 1800, the whipping at the nocking point was of a different color than the rest.  In a short section like this, the ends of the thread should be threaded on a needle and passed through the string, or they will not hold well.  This may have been an ancient practice, but I suspect that mediaeval whippings were of one color, without bumps.  As Smythe advised, the upper loop should be whipped as well, a good yard and a half or two yards of thread being needed.  Start it with a larkspur knot in the middle of the loop and finish one side at a time as shown.  The whipping is now waxed as the string was, and the string is ready for use.  Since an archer should never be without spare strings, he would prepare two or three more at this time and keep them ready to put on the bow.  A string must be mercilessly discarded as soon as it shows signs of wear, separation of fibers or uneven stretching.  If it breaks during the draw, it can cause the destruction of your bow, as Ascham points out.  Military archers kept spare strings under their helmets to protect them from the rain.

The bow should be unbent when not in use.  Some archers unbent their bows when walking or running from one butt to another.  This was considered extreme, although the distance between butts in mediaeval times could be considerable.  At any rate the bow must be unbent over­night.  There is no need to pass the upper loop over the end of the bow except when setting on a new string.