Chit Chat

Had a great day out at the Aurora field shoot yesterday, glorious weather. I didn't shoot very well and seemed to be sniffing and sneezing a lot of the time but it was just great to be out in the woods all day in good company. I came last in our group of 4 scoring 402 over 36 targets, mind I've not shot since about early November. I was shooting Twister and found it a bit heavy by the end of the day.
I woke this morning feeling physically and mentally much brighter than I have for ages... maybe spring really is getting here.

There were 4 of my bows being shot and the Yew Molle' I made last year was there with its owner and it drawing plenty of comment from other archers.
 http://bowyersdiary.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/yew-molle-full-draw.html
The course was challenging with some long shots and one target was a real arrow breaker with a hard old dead tree horizontal just above the target, guaranteed to snap the points off if you glanced off the underside. Any grumpiness over broken arrows was soon dispelled with copious tea a sausage egg and bacon bap and some delicious apple cake.
Thanks to all at Aurora for their hospitality... sorry no pics, but plenty on their site.

Meanwhile back at the bow making I've been having a nightmare trying get the limb alignment right on the heartwood Yew primitive. I under corrected it, over corrected it, over corrected the over correction and now I'm back about where I started.... like I say, easy to make a bow... hard to make a good one! I was looking at trying to control the heat a bit better and spotted Wickes have a temperature adjustable hot air gun for £9.99 ! I checked the stock at the local branch and went and got one this morning. It's only analogue controlled with no temperature indication, but I should be able to find a cheap cooking thermometer. I used to have a fancy digital one but it got melted when I left it lying on its side after switching it off, those are about £35, so I think £9.99 is a bargain.
On the plus side the tiller of the bow is looking better and I've got it at a low brace. I may take an inch off each end.