"Arakhor"

"Protector of the Forest"

When I made “Forward Scout”, my first forward riser bow, I was really intrigued with how it went together and shot and I knew I would be making at least one more, for myself. I started out to make a locust and ebony bow, but found I didn’t like the grain in my piece of locust and my ebony blank was 1 1⁄2”, while the forward riser requires 2” of depth. I changed gears and used yew and my remaining piece of laminated Mesquite. (See “Foxy Lady”)

Layup:

.040 clear glass
.104 parallel
.100 tapered .0015
.100parallel
.040 glass

Total wood stack: .304
Total glass: .080
Total stack: .384

Riser: 18” Argentine Mesquite, mounted forward (Note: Argentine Mesquite is not the same species as American Mesquite. It's a very heavy wood, sometimes called Argentine Ebony.)

67” 30@28

Width at Shoulder: 1.100
Width at Tips: .600

Building thoughts: I knew that using the forward riser would create the effect of a string follow bow, losing a few fps. I was also looking for a full length bow. For that reason I upped the wood stack a bit from Raven… by .034, but but that was mitigated by the extra length. I was hoping for 25@25 as opposed to Raven’s 23@25. I actually ended up hitting that right on the head. However, I didn’t allow for the fact that the forward riser actually extends your draw. I gained a bit more than an inch of draw with this bow, so I’m actually shooting 27#. It should also be noted that the forward riser increases the brace height correspondingly.

The forward riser design also seems to provide a very natural adaptation of grip, placing the pressure point exactly below the thumb joint. You don’t have to think about maintaining the D bow low wrist grip, it’s right there.

The bow seems to be a natural shooter. When I had the blank roughed in and ready for final sanding to form, I took it out to shoot. My first shot, with the first arrow ever put on its string, was kill on my javelina at 17 yards! The next five were all additional kill zones. I need to play with this design some more. It seems to have a lot going for it.

About the name… While I was making this bow, I was spending my evenings re-watching “Lord of the Rings”. Somehow, the bow told me that it wanted its name to be Guardian of the Forest, but in Sindarin, the Elven language of Rivendell. With the aid of friends I was able to explore some of the language and the forest and hunting lore of Rivendell and ended up with Arakhor, which is more of a job title than a name and means “Protector of the Forest” or, when referring to Ents, “Grandfather Tree”. Arakhors would be like forest rangers, possibly assisting Solonor Thelandira, God of hunting and archery, or Raful, The Hunter. Solinor Thelandria is a lesser god who seeks to punish those who seek his animals for sport rather than for life. On rare occasions he has been known to give a worthy hunter an arrow of slaying in their time of need.

Raful the Hunter was a son of High King Elf who fought against those who would harm the Forest. He learned how to follow tracks and navigate by star-light from Yelorna, how to use the yew bow from his father and how to see in the dark from Yelmalio. He travelled beyond the forests and learned from the hunter deities how to shoot well and how to command the animals that harmed the forests. He hunted dinosaurs, deer, things of Chaos and insects. Now, his followers, Arakhors, hunt harmful beasts and protect the ecology of the Forests.

Learning to write enough in Sindarin to put the name on the bow was a little challenge all in itself.

Dick