FH Ayres longbow

[bohuntr]

A friend of mine has the opportunity to buy a longbow that was evidently made in 1944 in London by FH Ayres. He is wanting to know any info about the bow or bowyer and what may be a fair value for the bow. I am attaching the pictures he sent me along with this thread. Any input would be appreciated.

 

 

 

 

 

[wadde]

I have several of these and they are not shooters. They were prone to break and are strictly collectors items. The bowyer was better known for making rocking horses and not bows. Poor wood selection caused failure in the bows. Value wise 100.00 to 200.00 is about it. They make nice wall hangers for the collection.

[d. ward]

I would not say to buy it as a shooter but I have shot several different F.H.Ayres(yew and black palm I beleave)bows with Joe a couple times and they are actualy rather good shooters smooth shooters.But can also be turned into a handful of splinters in about a second too.F.H.Aryes bow broadheads all their archery tackle is somewhat collectable.Reallly cool bow and pretty collectable but value ? yikes my 401 is only worth half as much as it was a couple years ago ? bd

[Larry m]

OooooooHHHHHH!!!!!!
 Nice looking wallhanger. For sure one I would want hanging with the others but not a shooter. As long as it's not to pricey.

[hardbern]

Couple of months late - i've just joined so I can comment on this thread.
I have an Fred Ayres longbow, #45, degame, which I shoot from time-to-time, mostly targets & "wand".... I don't think it would like clout.
It is a sweet, smooth shooting bow.
I was warned not to shoot it but....
I got it 2nd hand a year or so ago & taught it to bend again before shooting it.
See it action here:
 
I'm the 2nd one in with green shirt & troosers.

[Santiago Arango]

Hi Bern. I have a F Ayres that hasnt been used for many years and I would love to shoot it. I need some advice to do so. Somebody told me that it needs to be soak vegetable oit for some time in order to recover flexilility of the wood.

[hardbern]

I don't think that is a good idea.
The flexibility in the wood is from from itself (species) & it's moisture content - perhaps ~10-12%.
Oil will not replace that if has dried out .... but I am not a bowyer!
I got lucky with my FH Ayres bow, but didn't do as much due diligence on the the nocks
as I should have, ultimately leading to a nock coming off at full draw & the bow breaking :-(

With these old (long)bows you really do need to do your "due diligence"
- examine it carefully: sight; touch/feel; the wood & the nocks - I believe horn dries out too/dessicates & splits,
as happened to mine :-(
- secureness of the nocks - old glues deteriorate, I reglued one of my nocks, the one that came off.
Wrong glue most probably, slow drying epoxy might've been better that whatever I used ;-)
Once all seems ok, you'll need to teach it to bend again .... just like it was tillered in the beginning
- nice "soft" Dacron B55 string .... go slowly ....

....or maybe just keep as wall hanger?

How do you know date? To me looks like pre-1906 as it doesn't have the "Ltd." after "F.H. Ayres" when co. passed
from father to son ....

[Santiago Arango]

Thanks fot your reply.
I guess the bow is circa 1910. It was of my grandfather who lived in London at that time and he practised archery. As a matter of fact I have two bows. The second one was of my grandmather.
I will be a good idea to leave them as wall hangers but I would love to shoot it.