Chinese/Mongolian
I worked hard (and had fun) in the last
year to make some reproductions. I ended up with three working bows but
all have some faults. The main problem with the two first bows was, that
during sinewing the angle of the ears increased. I was not able to
reduce it after the bows were ready. It is not so bad with the first one
(Turkish -like).This bow is covered by raw goat skin. To tell the truth
the second bow was intended to be a big Chinese bow. Originally the
angle of the ear was 60 degree but it increased so strongly that the bow
became unstable. I had to cut from the ears 10 cm. I got a bow, which is
similar to a larger Tartar bow. I think this angle increase is because
on these bows a tried to increase strongly the reflex during sinewing
and made the joints thinner to reduce weight. How to avoid this mistake.
The third bow is my first attempt to make extreme reflex, although I
could not reach the stage that the ears touches each other. It works
well but it is very sensitive. Now I understand why it the Koreans take
such a great care when stringing their hornbows. It can be tillered by
simply by hand. This bow looks like a mixture of a Korean and a Turkish
flight bow.
Data:
1st bow length:125 cm, width: 3.3 cm, thickness:1.1 cm, core: ash, pound
65 at 28"
2nd bow length:144 cm, width: 3.5 cm, thickness: 1.2 cm, core: ash,
pound 65
3rd bow length:126 cm, width:2,6 cm, thickness1.0 cm, core: bamboo,
pound 48 |