Recently eilonnwy asked: I have a question I was hoping you might answer. Alec's Black Radley, is the basic design like a longbow or more curved, kind of like this one?, or a Flatbow?

I know you mentioned in the book it's shorter than the average longbow but I was just wondering about the general shape.

The Black Radley is a "carriage" or "demountable" bow. It is the same shape as a long bow, but the two limbs are detachable at the grip so that it can be stowed if necessary. I discovered this design in my favorite archery reference, The Archer's Craft published by Adrian Eliot Hodgkin in 1951.


From pg. 103:



From pg. 102


Hodgkin writes: "It is a fact that it is quite practicable, and at times most convenient, to have a bow which can come apart at the handgrip and be packed in a small compass. It is practicable, that is to say, for bows up to about 60 pounds in weight, but not, I think, above that: and it is intended to be applied to the longbow type. The principle is that the butt end of each of the two limbs fits into a metal ferule; and these in turn slide into, and are there locked into, a larger sheath which holds them both; exactly like a large double joint on a fishing-rod." Pg 102

The 60 pounds refers to the bow's "draw weight". The higher the number, the more force it exerts, and the more strength it requires of the archer to draw.

To put that in perspective, Alaska state hunting regulations have the following minimum draw weight requirements:

*40 pounds peak draw weight when hunting black-tailed deer, wolf, wolverine, black bear, Dall sheep, and caribou;

*50 pounds peak draw weight when hunting mountain goat, moose, elk, brown/grizzly bear, musk ox, and bison;

*only use arrows tipped with a broadhead and is at least 20 inches in overall length and 300 grains in total weight

I haven't done any archery in years, but my recurve has a 35 lb. draw, and that was about as much as I could manage and still shoot straight, but my upper body strength is not great.

All in all, I don't think Alec would have any problem killing a man, if his bow could also take down a moose. Any armor geeks here? What kind of armor could that punch through? I believe the English longbow could pierce armor, and changed war technology thereafter?


Added:
Here's an interesting show in Youtube on the subject of longbows:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=JaZ6pQiYclo&feature=related