RICHARD
HEAD
LONGBOWS have over 30 years experience in
making and selling English Longbows and
arrows. Richard is a founder member
of the Craft Guild of Traditional Bowyers
and Fletchers and together with his son
Philip Head have built up a world wide
reputation for providing quality archery
equipment.
Among
the Founder Members of The
Craft Guild of Traditional Bowyers and
Fletchers
Tel (01225) 790452 headbow@hotmail.com 405 The Spa, Melksham,
Wiltshire. SN12 6QL
WE ARE NOT
A HIGH STREET SHOP, PLEASE ARRANGE AN
APPOINTMENT
In the UK Richard and Philip can
count amongst their customers members of The
Royal Toxophilite Society and the Royal
Company of Archers. However no Royal
connection is required to ensure that your
commission receives the same care and
attention to detail to ensure that the
finest bow or set of arrows possible is
crafted from the best materials
available. Whether they be for
Victorian style target, clout or field
shooting or Dark age/Medieval re-enactment.
Bow making demonstrations,
lectures and seminars are undertaken,
contact us for details.
LONGBOWS All
our Longbows are carefully hand made in the time
tested traditional manner using the finest
materials that we can obtain. Timber for the
best Longbows is becoming more difficult to
source, however we take great care and
considerable time in selecting timber that we
are confident will make excellent bows. The
stock is then air dried and using our many years
of experience is seasoned to ensure the finished
bow has good cast and guaranteed reliability, all
our bows come with a 12 month guarantee.
Tournament quality Longbows made in the
Victorian style and complying with the rules of
the various Archery Societies. CURRENT
WAITING TIME FOR BOWS IS APPROX 5 MONTHS
Triple laminate
Longbow with exotic hardwood
core, click image to see more..
£550
If Lemonwood has any failings it
is its tendency to follow the string. This
tendency can be overcome to a large extent by
the addition of a centre lamination sandwiched
between the Hickory or Bamboo and Lemonwood we
taper the centre lamination to ensure the ratio
between the different woods remain the same
throughout the length of the bow. The timbers
used for the centre lamination can vary with
availability but tends to be either Purpleheart
which has a striking purple/red colour or
Greenheart, one time used for making fishing
rods. The handle can either be woollen braid or
leather, both are trimmed with leather decorated
gold leaf in a variety of patterns produced from
original Victorian pattern wheels. Click
above image to see more. CURRENT
WAITING TIME FOR BOWS IS APPROX 5 MONTHS
ALL OUR BOWS COME
WITH A 12 MONTH GUARANTEE
Triple laminate
with Yew or Osage Orange core
£650
Any league table of bow wood would
have Yew and Osage Orange vying for first place.
We can include either of these in our triple
laminate bows as a centre lamination. CURRENT
WAITING TIME FOR BOWS IS APPROX 5 MONTHS ALL OUR BOWS COME
WITH A 12 MONTH GUARANTEE
Self Yew
Longbow click image to see more..
£ (call for availability, price in
the region of £950)
Yew has long been regarded as
natures most perfect bow material having natural
elasticity, sweetness of draw and cast second to
none. Bows are made from matched pairs of
billets, spliced together at the handle, perfect
pairs of billets are extremely rare,
consequently no two self yew bows will look the
same as the skill of the Bowyer is used to
follow the undulations of the sap wood and the
heartwood, raise pins as necessary and produce a
bow of character and beauty. We import all our
Yew from Oregon where it is harvested from the
Cascade Mountains for us by one of Americas
leading traditional archery experts. click
image to see more.. Materials are becoming
increasingly difficult to obtain for this
type of bow, therefore delivery times and
availability can vary, we are curently not
taking orders for this type of bow at
present.. ALL OUR BOWS
COME WITH A 12 MONTH GUARANTEE
Backed Yew
£ (call for availability, price in
the region of £750)
From time to time we obtain Yew
billets that has damaged or brittle sapwood and
thus unsuitable for self bows. We back this with
suitable Hickory or Bamboo to make excellent
bows. These make good bows for field shooting as
the Hickory/Bamboo backing does not dent as
easily as Yew sapwood when lent against trees,
targets etc. The bow can be made slightly
shorter than a self bow, useful in dense
woodland and of course the bows have tremendous
cast. Materials are
becoming increasingly difficult to obtain
for this type of bow, therefore delivery
times and availability can vary, please
phone if interested in this bow. ALL OUR BOWS
COME WITH A 12 MONTH GUARANTEE
Backed Osage
Orange
£800
Osage Orange is indigenous to the
southern part of the USA, is a very tough wood,
one old timer even made a set of false teeth out
of it. Considered by many people to be at least
the equal if not better than Yew. It is a very
heavy dense wood bright yellow in colour when
first cut but on exposure to the air turning a
golden brown colour, eventually a chocolate
brown after many years. Because of its density
it makes a heavy draw weight bow for slimmer
than usual dimensions with very good cast.
CURRENT WAITING TIME FOR BOWS IS APPROX 5 MONTHS
Materials are becoming
increasingly difficult to obtain for this
type of bow, therefore delivery times and
availability can vary, please phone if
interested in this bow. ALL OUR BOWS
COME WITH A 12 MONTH GUARANTEE
Other bow woods
If you require a specific
species of wood incorporated in to your bow
please give us a call to discuss the
possibility.
All our Longbows come
complete with a cloth bag and 12 months guarantee.
Arrows
All our arrows are made from the best pine or
cedar (as available) shafts.
We are currently using shafts made by Boyton
Archery, these are of Red Deal used by the
Victorian Fletchers and recommended by the
remarkable Horace Ford, 12 times champion of
England between 1849 and 1867. The shafts are
pale in colour when first cut but with the
passing of time darken to the rich shade
associated with the Victorian arrows.
The raw material comes from the vast Northern
European forests which are well managed with
the timber being grown at a greater rate than
it is being harvested. Using high rejection
rates both in the selection of the timber and
in the production process, top quality
straight grain shafts with smooth finish are
the result.
We hand straighten the shafts as necessary,
fit nocks checking for straightness of fit and
proper alignment and then apply two coats of
polyurethane varnish. Arrows are fletched with
the best quality Trueflight feathers with the
leading edge of the quill trimmed and glued.
The arrows are then cut to length and brass
piles fitted (using
Araldite). Our deluxe
and footed
arrows have hand applied fine line accentuated
cresting to add that touch of
distinction. We recommend a Tassle to
keep your Arrows clean when in the
field. For details on keeping your new
set of Arrows straight see our F.A.Q.
page
Sets of tournament quality arrows are
supplied in purpose made cardboard arrow
boxes.
Target
and field arrows
STANDARD TARGET
ARROWS
With no frills, varnished shaft,
21/2" feather fletches, plastic nocks and
brass piles. (if you require 3"
feathers an additional charge of £1.50 will
be made)
Set of 12 £91.99
STANDARD FIELD
ARROWS with no frills, varnished
shaft, 4" feather fletches, plastic nocks
and brass piles.
We recommend a Tassle to
keep your Arrows clean when in the
field.
DELUXE TOURNAMENT
ARROWS
Shafts are carefully selected for grain and
accurately matched for spine and weight, your
choice of fletching colour (price based on 2
1/2" fletch), shafts are crested with a
complimentary colour to a Victorian pattern,
Bhoning Classic nocks are fitted and there is
a choice of brass pile weights, the piles are
pinned on with brass pins to prevent them
coming off in the target. Click picture
for more. For details on keeping your
new set of Arrows straight see our F.A.Q.
page
Set of 12 £129.99
FOOTED CLOUT ARROWS if
you are having difficulty reaching the clout
particularly with a light weight Longbow you may
find that our clout arrows will give you those
vital extra few yards. The arrows are footed,
barrelled and fitted with 1/4" diameter 20 grain
piles, the fletches are hand Cut to a low
profile to reduce drag. CLICK
HERE
FOR PICTURE
Set of 4
£125
Set of 8
£250
Re-enactment
bows
Medieval
style Longbow Made from Lemonwood and Bamboo
for reliability and performance. The bow works
through the handle and is made to "come round
compass" the handle is left bare but with the
arrow pass marked with the Bowyers mark. The
bow is fitted with simple Buffalo horn nocks
(cow is extra), a string and comes with a
protective white bag. CURRENT WAITING TIME FOR
BOWS IS APPROX 5 MONTHS
These bows are intended for
Re-enactment. We cannot be held responsible
for the conduct of the customer in the field
or in Re-enactment battles/public displays.
Bows/arrows must be used safely.
Re-enactment
and collectable arrows
GENERAL SHOOTING
QUALITY and suitable for many different
periods made with a quality pine shaft fletched
with 5" white fletches, self nocked and
fitted with steel bullets shaped piles. CLICK
HERE
FOR PICTURE
£85 a doz
FLU-FLU
arrows, with plastic nock and rubber
blunt. Please be aware arrows
should not be shot at or in the direction of
people/animals, all arrows can kill/injur.
MEDIEVAL ARROW
provided with 6" hand cut triangular shape
fletches goose Grey and white, bound on
with linen thread, horn reinforced nocks
on a 3/8 Poplar shaft. Click image for
more...
FINISHED HORN
NOCKS ready to use, can be
supplied with grooves as pic, or
without. (fit these with Araldite)
£18.99 with grooves
£12.99 without
MOTHER OF PEARL
for arrow plate, rough cut for you to fashion as
you wish
£3.59 per piece
Bow strings
and materials
BOW STRING
laid in single loop, let us know the
length of your bow, nock slot to nock slot
unbraced, when ordering
£15.50
B-50 bow
string material, black or white
£10.50 ¼ lb
SERVING TOOL
£7.99
SOFT TWIST SERVING
THREAD 1oz spool available in
various colours
£5.50
BLOCK OF BEESWAX
(large)
£3.99
Arrow making materials
PREMIUM SHAFTS
1/4+9/32 + 5/16 + 11/32 inch diameter 32 inch
long in spine weights from 15 to 65lbs in 5 lb
increments.(Up to 50lb in 5/16) Lee Ankers
Pine.
PINE £25.99
doz
Matched shafts spined +/- 1lb and weight matched
within +/- a silver 3d (25 grains), stock
permiting, we will obviously inform you on
ordering if this is not possible, 5/16 ONLY
£31.99 doz in
PINE
ASH
SHAFTS
3/8 click button for details
POPLAR shafts shooting quality
great finish, just over 3/8" (13/32") for
Medieval arrows etc...
.
£2.70 each
POPLAR shafts shooting quality
great finish, 1/2" for Medieval arrows
etc...
£3.99 each
POPLAR
BOBTAILED
shafts shooting quality great
finish, just over 3/8" at one end up to 1/2"
at the other for Medieval arrows etc...
The BIG jig
This handmade jig is perfect for fletching large
feathers, Medieval arrows etc.. Will do 8"
feathers with ease, made of wood and brass,
looks perfect for RE-ENACTMENT
use, yet still accurate
