STL All Sports

Yew is the traditional wood for making bows. It now is somewhat scarce. As a result, manufacturers in the United States have been using lemon wood in general. Some also use orange and hickory.

The bow string is made of flax, which is waxed. From 30 to 60 strands of flax are used, according to size of bow and the strength needed in the string.

The outside of the bow is called the "back"; the inside is the "belly." A bow that is made of one piece of wood is a "self bow"; if of two pieces glued together, it is known as a "backed bow."

Men usually use a 6-foot bow; women 5'h. The bows are of different strength. The average man's bow requires a pull of about 45 pounds to take the string back the length of the arrow; the required pull for a woman's bow is about 30 pounds. In technical language, the pull is called "the weight of the bow."

Arrows generally are made of pine, birch or yew dowels. The spine of the wood must have both resiliency and stiffness. The feathers used chiefly are those from turkeys or geese. The shafts of the arrows are highly painted so that, if shot into brush, they can be easily located.

The men's arrows average 28 inches long; the women's 25 inches. However, the length of the arrow is optional with the archer. Those with short arms use a shorter arrow than the average; those with long arms use one somewhat larger.

Quite a few bowmen make a hobby of fashioning their own bows and arrows. The pioneer American "hobbyist" was Maurice Thompson, who, in 1879, using bows and arrows of his own creation, conducted numerous experiments and wrote at length on the sport.

The target is made usually with straw as the basic material, over which is stretched an oilcloth or canvas covering. On this covering is a series of concentric rings. The inner ring, or the bullseye, has a diameter of 9,6 inches; the four other circles all are a trifle less than 5 inches in diameter.

The center ring is painted gold. Receding from it, in succession, are red, blue, black and white. The archer scores 9 points for hitting the gold, 7 for red, 5 for blue, 3 for black, and 1 for white.

The target is placed on an easel, with the exact center being 48 inches from the ground.