[Archers] More on PVC Bows

[Garth Groff]

Noble friends of the Bow,

Instead of being at Coronation last weekend, Lady Sarah were celebrating 
our anniversary at Colonial Williamsburg and taking in the Williamsburg 
Celtic festival. To my surprise, I met a fellow at the Celtic fest who 
had a dozen or so PVC bows on display. His name is Ben Dunham, and 
normally he builds and sells harps.  The harps are definitely NOT made 
from PVC. :~) He also has experience as a bowyer working in wood.

The bows he had on display were all about four feet in length. They 
ranged in draw weight from 10 to 40 pounds. Their styles included simple 
sticks, recurves and even a reflex/deflex. All were designed to be shot 
off the hand, but he said he was working a series that would include 
right and left arrow rests. I drew one of his bows of about 37 pounds, 
and found it very easy to handle. No, I wasn't able to shoot it. The 
bows were all painted in bright colors to appeal to children, but that's 
no different from the red, yellow and green camp bows many of us have in 
our loaner kits. I was not wild about his strings, which appeared to be 
nylon doubled back on themselves with fixed loops at the ends.

With his experience as a bowyer, and the number of PVC bows he has 
built, I am inclined to guardedly trust his products and experience, 
though I still want more data. The bows appeared to be well made, and 
would be great for beginning archers. He has a web site for his harp 
business, and plans to add a section on his bows in the future. Ben 
promised to let me know when the bow portion is up, and I will share the 
URL with the group then. I intend to keep in touch with him to learn 
more about his experiences with the bows, and may even buy one to 
evaluate. Ben was very pleased at my interest, glad to meet an SCA 
marshal for obvious reasons, and would welcome further contact any of 
us. His web site is www.dunhamharps.com .

Yours Aye,


Mungo