Author Archives: Rob Jones

Jan 16 2015

Making and doing archery madness

I firmly believe that a successful club is more than just a field or wood and group of people who shoot there.
A good club supports its members, nurturing and developing their skills and interests. I believe it should also be somewhat of a social gathering.

It is very easy for a newbie archer to get lost and confused with friendly offers of advice or to be too nervous or embarrassed to ask for help. Ideally you want new members to be intimidated as little as possible but not everyone has the confidence to ask questions or seek advice.

Learn from the past
Many years ago, I was a member of the Black Arrow club in Derby. In fact it was the  first ever archery club we joined. Kevin the club chairman and Cherrie the Secretary organised a making and doing session for all the new members who had joined. It gave all present the opportunity to learn the basics of arrow making, string making and how to serve strings. It proved a great success being both instructional and social with Cherrie and Pete (her partner) providing food for all.
Over the Christmas holiday of 2014 Sharon and I organised a similar event at our house, with the objective of giving a few of the newbies some guidance on making or repairing arrows and a variety of other topics.
It proved to be a very sociable afternoon  and evening, helped by the contributions of everyone who came and Sharon’s expert cooking. Yes, not only is she a cracking shot but also a great cook.

Nigel showing his expertise on straightening wooden arrows.

Nigel showing his expertise on straightening wooden arrows.

We covered topics of how to make wooden arrows including fletching arrows, attaching piles and nocks. Having a number of experienced archers there proved really useful as each explained how their technique was slightly different from each other enabling a great spectrum of knowledge to be displayed and discussed.  The discussion on whether to varnish the arrow prior to fletching or fletch then varnish was one hotly debated topic. An equally debated topic was the merits of different glues for attaching piles to wooden shafts with some preferring  hot melt over epoxy glues. All the advice and comments were provided freely and in a relaxed atmosphere.

Jason showing how to use fletching tape

Jason showing how to use fletching tape

Whilst arrow making was going on in one room, arrow straightening of aluminium arrows using our straightening jig was being demonstrated in another. There was also just enough space to demonstrate applying serving to a bow string.

Discussions went on long into the night on different techniques and it was a very sociable evening. Our thanks to all who contributed their time and advice.

Greta making her first arrows

Greta making her first arrows

With everyone at the wood the following day even more discussions took place, this time with archers showing off their arrows they had made previously and again citing the merits of varnishing first or other such topics.

So if you have the opportunity to run something similar to this at your club go for it. It doesn’t take much planning and benefits can be huge.

Thanks for reading and to all those that attended. Special thanks to Kevin and Cherrie who set the bar so high all those years ago.
Oh, Kevin if you are reading this remember the glue.

Jan 5 2015

Literature Review – Bow International Issue 96

So here is a literature review with a slight  difference, rather than a book, this time I’m writing a review of an archery related magazine. Bow International.
Bow International

Bow International

I picked up a copy of this magazine as I was curious about its content. It had always struck me as a magazine targeting non field archers. I know a number of friends who shoot both target and field who read it, but I had never picked up a copy of my own. I’ve only thumbed through their copies. As is the norm now with such publications and  the internet I  had  viewed their website looking at some of their archive material.
The magazine itself is available via mail order or from the larger newsagents being full colour and a very professional appearing publication.
In this issue I knew that Alex Tyler  had written a review of the NFAS Nationals and Jim Kent had also written an article.
I enjoyed Jims article ‘A kind of magic’ (page 44), being a thought provoking one on instinctive archery, which goes a long way to capture what some of us instinctive archers feel when shooting.
Readers of this blog and others might have heard of Jim as he presents Merlin Archery Adventures.

Instinctive archery

Instinctive archery

Alex is a great photographer and is well known as the official NFAS photographer for all the national championships. She is also a good author, see page 48 for proof of this in her very easy to read article on the National Championships.

National Champship article

National Championship article

Whereas the magazine covers more than field archery I found it an interesting read as a field archer.  I think those interested in the latest developments with archery related technology and international tournaments will find it an interesting read. Personally I would like to see more on field archery, possibly reviews of field bows and equipment or 3D targets.
In all though I found it an interesting read and  I’ve purchased a 12 months subscription as a bit of a Christmas gift to myself.

As always thanks reading and happy new year to all.

Dec 30 2014

2014 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2014 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

The concert hall at the Sydney Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 14,000 times in 2014. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 5 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.