What tools did bowyers use in the middle ages?

Answer 1

A medieval bowyer used various simple carpentry tools to shape bows from staves of wood - the best staves were of straight-grained Spanish or German yew wood imported to England, since English yew is too full of knots and twists in its grain.

If the stave were much too thick it might be split along the grain using wedges, or roughly carved to shape using a side-axe.

The stave would then be held in a "shave-horse", a kind of wooden bench with a clamp operated by the bowyer's feet to leave both hands free. He would then use a draw-knife to shave the wood away, cutting towards himself and turning the wood regularly. These tools need both hands.

The bowyer would always "follow the grain" of the piece of wood, finding a layer of the timber and not cutting through that layer to avoid creating weak spots in the wood. This often resulted in a knobbly, lumpy-looking bow which would still work very well. The bow would be tested often until the correct "draw-weight" was achieved - taking away too much wood resulted in a weak bow.

The ends of the bow were sometimes fitted with knocks of cow horn, which is very dense and hard material that must be shaped with files. These knocks had the grooves for the string to be attached. If there were no cow horn knocks, these grooves would simply be carved into the wood with a small knife.

The finished bow would be rubbed over with linseed oil to waterproof it and keep the wood supple.

Strings were made from linen or hemp - or fine silk if it was available. Short pieces of linen or hemp were twisted together, with more pieces added and the string "corded" by folding and twisting until the right length is achieved. The string would then be rubbed all over with beeswax, since it would quickly rot if allowed to become wet.

The link below takes you to an image of a modern re-enactor shaping a bow on a shave-horse, plus an image of a draw knife: