First go at a Mollegabet

[hunterguy1991]

Evening all,

Just wanted to show you my latest work. A friend of mine is very much into Danish medieval and dark age history so when I told him about this bow he was immediately interested in it. So I suggested I help him make one... but I just had to have a crack first as a prototype.

What kind of engineer would I be if I didn't make a prototype!! haha

Bow is made of a Brazilian Teak decking board, 68" ntn and pretty much the same design as Daryl's Lemonwood version (although I crowned the back on mine and backed it with linen). Came out 55lb@ 26 which was pretty much bang on what I was looking for.

Rushed the construction a little and the handle block popped off when I braced it the first time... so I bound it on with some left over Fast Flight and I think it came up looking pretty cool. Nice to hold as a grip too!!

Brace profile

Mollegabet 1 Brace 68 ntn.jpg (77.49 KiB) Viewed 4187 times

Limb profile

Mollegabet 1 profile 55@26.jpg (83.65 KiB) Viewed 4187 times

Needs a Fast Flight string now and it'll be a good little shooter I reckon. Lots of fun to make and a definite go to for a beginner, total work time was about 5 hours and cost maybe 30 bucks all up.

Colin

[cmoore]

Lovin it Colin ... lovin the look of the linen backing opposite the teak, handle looks a treat to, has a really authentic look about it, good work mate!

[perry]

Good Stuff Colin, always liked this profile. I reckon a Rawhide String is just right for these. A Mate of mine Glenn Newell is coming Hunting with us next weekend. Glenn would be a good Fella to introduce you to as he was making this Profile and similar like the African Paddle type Bows back in the 90's from Crows Ash and Wattle [ exact variety I can't remember ]

regards Jacko

[hunterguy1991]

Thanks guys,


Cam, that's the only colour linen I had left haha. Does seem to look ok but I think the binding around the handle makes it. My mate got some dark Brown silk for his backing. Should look nice I think will do black binding on it even if the handle stays on when I glue it.

Perry, I have to thank Daryl for the profile on this bow. Same dimensions he stated with a couple of little assumptions, tiller took about 10 minutes to get right.

Would love to meet him mate. You'll have to come out to my place for some shots one day.

Colin

[Gringa Bows]

Looking good

[bigbob]

gee that looks great col. Love to see a full draw shot later, but you're powering on !

[hunterguy1991]

Thanks Bob!

Will try and get one for you to have a look at.

[greybeard]

Colin, good result on the bow.

I think that style of bow could be a candidate for a nice billet of red ash.

Daryl.

[hunterguy1991]

Thanks Daryl!

Had a few shots with it just before and unfortunately its lifted a few splinters under the Linen, but it still shoots fine. Think I drew it a tad too far that's why they pulled up. I will make a new one eventually for myself with longer limbs and a better timber.

Im sure the ash would work well but I think it may set a fair bit... Only one way to find out tho I guess, need more Red Ash!! Or I could even try some Chinese Elm.

Colin

[Dennis La Varenne]

Colin.

Just whip over the splinters and keep shooting it. People were doing that for centuries and it worked fine. It still works.

By the way, those bows were long gone by the dark ages in Europe. They were from the early European Neolithic and seemed to endure for about 4000 years until around 8000 BP.

By the time of the dark ages, the Danes were making bows which were the forebears of the later English Long bow with the same cross sectional profile. They were also making a similarly cross sectioned bow but with the last 4 or 5 inches steeply deflexed. These are the so-called Hedeby bows which were braced with the string loops in a single nock at the bottom of the upper deflexed tip and tied onto the sampe position on the lower limb.

None of the archaeologists has mentioned any reason for this phenomenon, but my own thoughts are that they were simply used as bracing handles - the upper one pulled around the shooter's buttocks and the lower one resting on the shooter's instep in just the same way that we use the 'step-though' method of bracing a bow. Here is a picture of a Hedeby bow. The first diagramme on the left shows that the bow has taken a cast to its left whilst buried.

The diagrams show that the pith of the stave was still present at the time that the bow was made indicating that it was split from a rather small Yew tree, probably a sapling. The sapwood is still present but in a degraded state. There is no scale shown in this picture, but the width is approximately 40 - 42 mm and 25 - 30mm thick, and the length is close to 6 feet or a tad longer.

Does your mate know about the Hedeby bows?

Hedeby (Haithabu) bow.jpg (271.6 KiB) Viewed 4078 times

[hunterguy1991]

Cheers Dennis,

I have seen a few lads that have made these in Europe on facebook... cant say the deflexed tips really appeal to me.

Still a pretty unique bow and piece of history.

Colin

[Dennis La Varenne]

Colin,

They would obviously have suited their purpose, but imagine the hand shock from the overmassive tips. Good grief!!! Not the most efficient of designs I think.

[rodlonq]

Nice works as always Colin.

Cheers... Rod