Recreating Legolas's Iconic Bow: DIY Project

[@chrishall7543]

Fun fact: Legolas’ bow is supposed to have a draw weight of 150#. Your comment about the bow’s thickness equaling out to a ridiculous draw weight is spot on. Beautiful work as always, Kramer!

[@Scario45]

How do we know how powerful is Legolas's Bow, is it specified by Tolkien at some point? I've never read the LOTR nor Tolkien's letters

[@westpsmity]

@@Scario45 We don't, it's never specified by Tolkien. He does say of Legolas though, "He was tall as a young tree, lithe, immensely strong, able swiftly to draw a great war-bow and shoot down a Nazgûl, endowed with the tremendous vitality of Elvish bodies, so hard and resistant to hurt that he went only in light shoes over rock or through snow, the most tireless of all the Fellowship." Given that warbows (especially in the context of english long bows, which Tolkien would likely be very familiar with) often had draw weights in excess of 100#, you can make your own estimates about what Tolkien might have imagined an "immesnsley strong" super human, immortal elf character to be pulling.

[@Scario45]

@@westpsmity Yeah I get the idea. He is at least drawing a 100+ lbs bow without difficulty or a 300 lbs bow enough to go through a low quality plate armor

[@BruceEEvans1]

I have been following you for a few years. You have come a long way since you only used a broken hacksaw blade to make a bow. It's great to see you successful.

[@dumpster_drake8]

Stumbled upon this by complete accident and my stars the nostalgia bomb. These movies, the weaponry that came with them, and in particular this character, were a major part of my childhood. Seeing this wonderful piece of functional art come to life scratches a long forgotten nerd itch in my brain. Fantastic.

[@jaketheripper7385]

The bows were not PVC, they were cast resin around a fiberglass core and had a draw weight around 10# to 12# max. They could launch arrows but not very far. A majority of the arrows fired in the films were added in post save for a number of practical arrows that were fired in some wide shots for the "Battle of Helm's Deep" sequence. They were launched from pneumatic rotating gatling-style air cannons that were positioned just out of frame and manually operated. Very cool indeed but frankly dangerous as hell if you ask me lol. There's a brief shot of this contraption being fired in some special featurette I watched years ago that I believe came as part of a bonus "behind the scenes" feature on one of the Playstation 2 games based on the TT and RotK films. Anyhow almost all of the arrows you see actually fired from a bow onscreen are CGI...

[@brightantwerp]

You are a real bow artist!

[@LoganKearsley]

Legolas should be superhumanly strong, so the roundness of the movie bow implying a ridiculous poundage if it were made out of the proper materials actually feels spot on!

[@groosbro1]

Well, he is an elf...

[@davidvarnes7708]

I was gonna say, considering that his arrows punched through orc armor easily and most of his shots, even distance shots, come off as laser beam straight, a hundred plus pound bow seems rather spot on, maybe even a little light to what he does

[@Dannyboyefc]

His bow was basically an English war bow 140-50lb

[@cleanixx5343]

@@DannyboyefcI think it’s been estimated to closer to 210. which indeed especially with his form is superhuman. Joe Gibbs does go as high as that but not in that frequency fluidity etc obviously

[@Dannyboyefc]

@@cleanixx5343 wouldn’t surprise me 👍🏻

[@tsdamole]

Very cool, do more like this. your a true madman to carve into the wood. I need this bow

[@RangerIV]

That bow is cool as hell.

[@billquillin1952]

That is simply EXCELLENT!

[@vaulthecreator]

22 years?!?! Has it really been THAT long? Jesus, where the hell did that go? 😳

[@spencerbrotherson9061]

Ignore that other guy... If you're not a Christian, then it doesn't matter. Even if you are a Christian, that only applies to swearing. You weren't swearing that anything was a fact there, you were just using it as an expletive for emphasis, so that doesn't apply. (My father was a minister, and I had access to everything from the original Hebrew, Greek, Aramaic, and Latin texts to the modern translations, and every concordance based on all of them. Fight me on that if you want to.) And yeah, we're getting old. I still don't feel like it most days, but the numbers don't lie. You get used to it after a while, but some things like still hit when you're not expecting it

[@RangerIV]

I love that the thumbnail points out "Legolas" and "me" as if there may be some confusion. I got a little laugh out of that haha

[@RichardT2112]

It likely was 100+ pound draw bow, after all it was an eleven magical weapon. Terrific job!!

[@Shadesniper59]

Love this channel, it is so relaxing to watch

[@brandonhead7414]

You do things the right way. I really hope that this channel blows up for you. You’ve definitely earned it.

[@mickusable]

That looks awesome Kramer, great effort

[@SkunkworksProps]

Great job man. As a propmaker and archer this is something I've wanted to make, but it would have to be functional and I just had no idea how. It's awesome to see someone else do it.

[@Eric-gi9kg]

I've been watching you from the start, and to see how far you've come is mind-blowing. But what has never changed is your enthusiasm in building bows... seeking the 'will it bow' has been awh inspiring. I hope someday I will be able to get back into archery. And when I do.. the first thing will be to buy a few of your strings and possibly a bow... (I have 4, but you can't have too many).

[@thenogoodniks8673]

Thanks for always being so thorough with your projects, designs and builds. I love watching your channel and you have inspired me to build my own bow / string building hobby shop. Thanks for all the great inspirational videos.

[@bigDbigDbigD]

Love watching you build lots of crazy bows.

[@JTin-p3k]

That thing is cool man, thanks for all the ideas brother

[@chuckburroughs6427]

The bow Galadriel gave to Legolas is Mallorn wood. Mallorn is white.

[@JohnyG29]

Have you ever made a proper medieval yew longbow? If not, I'd be very interested to watch you make one.

[@Alias_of_Alias]

Have you thought about including horn in your bows? Your bow looks awsome by the way.

[@fleigmichael1986]

Just awesome bow. Looks really really nice 🙂

[@mikecole658]

Work of Art Kramer!!! Good on you😁

[@SeacryBlastsAloT]

Just awesome.

[@sp-nj9le]

Beautiful bow I wish I could own it

[@rfailing1]

Nice work Kramer. as always. Amazing patience and talent.

[@LSZ71F4Ucorsair]

this is sweet. also if you wrap saran around stuff as a lam clamp or just to bundle lumber its way easier to take it off with sandpaper than a knife. first time someone showed me my jaw dropped, just find a corner and one swipe down it with a sanding block, the plastic pops right off.

[@santibouphavong]

"Archery in movies need to look cool and not work properly" that sounds very true lol

[@SimoneNicolini93]

Mate congrats, really amazing content, this was one of my dream since I was a child. All the best from Italy 🇮🇹

[@ellipsis9573]

Man, you are starting to go full Ilya. Good luck with the business.

[@kn6vbw]

Looks good. What poundage and speed were you able to get, with that design?

[@jeremybays]

I have made a few bows that have ended up in movies. The biggest one was NEW WORLD. They wanted lightweight bows (20 pounds or less) and by the time the props crew gets ahold of them, they don't even look like the bow you made. I can tell you for certain that Orlando Bloom was using some prop bows that were made of rubber. Thanks for your videos and hard work.

[@scottg6799]

Excellent video, keep it up!!!!!

[@yellowjello4450]

Hell yeah! Do you think you can make a recreation of the bow used in the hunger games? It’s a cool chrome metal piece, which I think it’ll be an interesting challenge. Anyways I love your work, amazing skills! 😄

[@richardbauer2045]

Absolutely great!

[@conradobillan]

Exelent job a work of art!!

[@ModernKnight]

Enjoyed this build, thanks. Looking at movie weapons is always odd in that they have to be safe and easy, plus look good, not work as actual weapons at all.

[@SeanBlader]

Hey Kramer, can I suggest hanging a roll of craft paper off the end of your workbench to pull over and keep it from getting too gross with adhesive?

[@NuggetUnit]

I would love to see you make the bow of faerdhinen from old school runescape

[@mikemacleod9427]

Wow. Just.......wow😯👏. ps..🤣 The explosive release "imitation shot". almost as hilarious as the Hawkeye "no look bullseye".😂

[@jerrybarker9789]

Very nice.

[@lancedawe5540]

Love your work!

[@caseysmith544]

I would have used descriptions in Books to help me, similar to the hunger games. However, in doing a Legolas bow I would have used a stain on the wood in a dark gray and done a modern polyurethane where properties are similar to an old lacquer where finish dries quickly and could be watered down if need be if too thick for my current use.

[@jasonthulen]

Another GREAT VIDEO keep them coming. STAY SHATTERPROOF ❤

[@monokheros5373]

amazing what pvc and surgical tubing will do for a movie prop!

[@rockinHurley777]

The bow was a resin cast over a fiberglass core. It wasn't pvc

[@henrivirolainen5994]

Do an uruk hai Bow next 🤩

[@Gamerdude535]

Using a light draw weight prop for the movie aside. These bows would canonically be a heavy draw weight for sure.

[@matammu8248]

Awesome!

[@jasonwatson2679]

Nice job

[@hawkssight3086]

Love the bow . What poundage did it turn out to have ?

[@L4ftyOne]

3:30 Pls make a video where you made 2 exact same standart bows, with all the same and try to get the same wood etc, but with one you spread all the glue epoxy resin etc and with one just like here. I dont think there is a difference in poundage and or stability but maybe slightly. Would be a nice litfle experiment

[@DironMc]

Nice Bow. I hve long wanted to ask, i wanted to try making laminated recurve bow, but I don't hve access to EA40 or anything similar, what kind of glue should i go for?

[@reapergrim76]

Awesome! 😊

[@naturalfreq]

What was the laminate stack up? From back to belly? Bamboo, bamboo, hickory, hickory?

[@donwaldroopoutdoors3665]

What draw weight

[@chiliboom6140]

This is awesome. Thank you for making this. How long did you keep it on the form? And what did the poundage end up being?

[@jonathanbennison9220]

13:21 A Druids Bow. All Natural. Textured, aged, but hiding power beneath it...

[@JokerInk-CustomBuilds]

If you don't already know about him: Look up Lars Andersen here on youtube if you wanna see some awesome ways of using your bow even faster than Legolas!

[@emiliolozano6581]

Just wondering how much a bow would cost being made by you yourself I live in Australia and I love your show now back to the bow id love a rcurve for hunting my full draw length is 27 inches thank you for your time and i hope your show stay unreal for a long time to come thank you Emilio

[@NDFlyFisher]

Great video. Looks like fun to make a bow. What is the draw weight?

[@schuster7213]

I want to have that... give it to me !!! My Bow !!! My Treasure !!!!

[@josephcasanova9346]

Hey can you please build the bow green arrow uses in season 1 of arrow?

[@markoneil6562]

That's sweet! I had an idea the other day, do you think you could make a bow out of wood shavings and saw dust from previous projects mixed with wood glue?

[@hanelyp1]

Tensile strength would be a problem.

[@DanielJAudette]

Have you tried creating a mollgebit bow?

[@zollsica]

I would love to see you make a version of Atreus's bow from God of War (2018) I was always intrigued by the design because the strings are held on by brass hooks.

[@FPSWildlifeAngler]

will it bow leaf spring ?

[@Ace-zb5xr]

3:56 are you trying to tell me you got a 90° edge using a jigsaw?

[@MagoDrayk]

hey do you think the serpent bow form elden ring is doable?

[@caseysmith544]

I love this idea of bow from movies and next up could be bow from Brave or as close as one could make. Now no, bow in Brave is not an Asiatic bow in design but rather an early recurve/semi recurve bow using a mini longbow design in a flat limb longbow style.

[@frankphillips7436]

You sir are amazing but can I just say, you look just like Rickety Cricket! Lol Great video!

[@VSci_]

I tried to make this bow out of osage in high school with a D cross-section like an english longbow... it came out at about 110 lb and it exploded after a few shots lol. Its my opinion that the design in the movie probably wouldn't work out of one piece of wood haha. My bow failed under compression. Maybe yew with a hickory or bamboo backing would survive.

[@dannykempka7200]

You should make bar the Bowman's bow

[@ryanmatsko4135]

Why do you not include specific measurements?

[@sprk11]

LOL with all the layers of paint you're starting to look like one of my arrow projects only I add layers of rubber cement to mask out layers of paint. I rub the glue off after it dries to show the layers

[@davidt1621]

I'm really into those Arab "Saracen" recurve bows, like the ones used by Jamie Foxx and Taron Egerton in Robin Hood. They were trained by Lars Andersen (@larsandersen23), and I like his ideas concerning historic paintings and shooting from the same side of the bow as your draw hand for "war archery." Have you ever tried that style of shooting? Also, do you cringe when they say, "Fire," instead of, "Loose," in films and cheer when they get it correct? I do, but I'm a literary and history geek.

[@boedimaulana5640]

Keren Brooo

[@a_mustache_of_great_repute]

A lot of people use cherry bark as a backing. Think I could just... Leave it on the cherry wood?

[@zacharyfodge2575]

If you put fire next to it, it says, "one bow to string them all".

[@blitzkriegfritz2779]

nice thing, maybe you should produce fantasy inspired bows for cosplayers who want functional bows.

[@claytonphila]

What's your draw length? Everyone knows you like a 40lb bow. But is that a 40lb bow at 28 inches or 40lbs at your draw length. What is your RD Bone bow poundage at your draw length.?

[@hawkhunter3256]

I actually think tho that this bow would look even better if it was a heavier one. Still probably very difficult to get close to the original one that is still functional.

[@marksteven6116]

Great is if l can make one myself. Live in the UK labour my bring in laws against bows hope not

[@raducuflorin5234]

If you want a real-life LOTR bow, go pick up a Bodnik Redman. Just hold it in your hands and shoot it! It's the closest thing to an elven now I ever shot in my life!

[@alexandrugajin763]

Donate this bow to Orlando Bloom

[@rab46290]

LOtR is the only movie franchise where the sequals are better. Two Towers is the best followed by return to the king. Im talking about script as well as the acting. The first movie was great and a huge stepping stone. But for action and comedy the sequals blew it out of the water.

[@SpryGuy289]

Epic how you used the most hated cring scene of Legolas as your entry point lol.

[@rockinHurley777]

Uh.. what? Hated by whom? If anything, it'll be the running up falling rocks in the hobbit BotFA

[@Dariet88]

why does he look scared?

[@jimf1964]

If you can’t shoot through an Orc's armour, you didn’t make his bow. 🤨

[@froggycellis007]

Would have been cool for you to jump on a moving skateboard while shooting it.

[@boedimaulana5640]

Maen panahan ( busur ) adalah sunah Rosul

[@kinguin7]

Well, in filming it needs to work *prop*erly.

[@Steve-fe3vt]

Legoland isn't real you know that?

[@rockinHurley777]

Legoland is in fact real. Legolas however.. debatable

[@Steve-fe3vt]

@@rockinHurley777 lol quite right

[@rockinHurley777]

Doesnt even look like his bow.