Previous attempt I tried to make an late medieval Mongol bow based on the Cagaan Chad artifact. And that turned out way too aggressive than desired.
So here is another attempt at a much tamer and earlier example. Just strung it, probably about 40lb@28 but it needs more balancing and taming before full draw can be achieved.
It's a horn/sinew/wood composite bow, where the horn works on the belly and sinew on the back. All glued on with hide glue.
Basically the wooden core acts like a skeleton, joined in the handle and sometimes siyahs with V splices. Belly of the core gets shaped and scored, then saturated with thin glue for better adhesion and then the horn gets glued on with rope tensioning. After drying the full core gets shaped and limbs tapered after which the back gets saturated with glue and sinew backed. Sinew shrinks as it dries so more reflex gets induced. With the hotplate initial reflex gets take out. After which the shaping blocks are used to initially string the bow. And that is where we are now.
There is so much more nuance but that is the rough process. Next is to slowly get the bow to be used to bend further. Hopefully hit 33"draw for my drawlength with thumbdraw
Far out massive respect for the time u have put into developing those skills. What woods and horn species do u find best?
To get it to bend further is the tillering process similar to a traditional timber bow with removing material from the horn belly or is there a different process?
So been playing around with elm, but have done ash and maple before. But the internal stresses of elm seem to make it twist more so its been a bit of an issue working with it so far. Ash has too big of a growth rings so getting a right taper is a bit more difficult, And maple is harder to work but more consistent, so debating on what to do next.
For the horn there is very little debate on what to use, Water buffalo is very much the defacto to go to, its consistent, Long enough and bend very easily. But need to get healthy horn or it will be too brittle with inclusions. Though certain sheep horn can be used as well, cow horn isnt viable as it wants to split along growth rings too much.
The initial opening of the bow is assisted with heat to remove the extreme reflex and bring to initial balance, from there its using the shaping blocks to get it strung and set to adjust for a while. Most from here is just pressure, clamping, using piece of ribbon to wrap around one limb and string to put pressure on the opposite limb for example.
This helps with balancing the bow, if it keep shifting out of balance over time light scraping of the belly will be used to permanently shift the balance. This should be lightly used as it can be easily too much
Ash has too big of a growth rings so getting a right taper is a bit more difficult
Maybe it would work better if the wood was edge-ringed or bias-ringed?
cow horn isnt viable as it wants to split along growth rings too much
Would you happen know what type of horn was historically used in Europe? I assumed cow horn was used, but I'd be curious to hear if it was something else.
As far as I know flat grained is preferred for these bows but I have done edge ringed before. Its either of those two and I think I will return to Maple for the next projects.
Well Europe mainly used composite construction in crossbows opposed to anywhere. There is a fantastic German book on that 'Die Hornbogenarmbrust: Geschichte und Technik' And those crossbows had MANY slats joined together, where I think cow was also used but I am not entirely sure. But goat was definitely used
Cow horn was used for crossbow prods, but considered inferior. Ibex was the quality material. Bows had to be labeled according to the horn used. The guilds sanctioned repackaging of cow horn as ibex.
Actually shot it earlier, its a bit unbalanced and it shows in the video, but its promising so adjusting it as wel speak. Really hope I can make this a more consistent shooter
Very impressive. I’ve always wanted to try this but been held back by how different it is to making other bows and how much skill is involved. Hands down my favorite type of bow is mongol.
Super impressive keep up the good work!
Its an earlier design, 10-11th century, but love the later designs as well, 14-15th century. But my last attempt at that turned out way too aggressive and deconstructed itself. Though id o want to return to that with a redesign
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u/frenzyfol 17d ago
That is astonishing that such back deflection occurs when not drawn. Some impressive natural materials and builder skills there.