Persian horn bow

Ah..that's my kind of post...

I find it so frustrating when I see Turkish Flight Bows in stately homes and I can't play with them....

I don't have any modern alternatives to offer, sorry, except the conventional fibreglass/rockmaple composite bow.

I have played with Water Buffalo horn...funny stuff, very much like working with plastic.
The glues they used in horn/wood/ sinew bows were pretty amazing too. I believe the bows needed 'warming up' by being gradually flexed to work them up to full draw.

The distances achieved with these bows is phenomenal. In 1795 Mahmoud Effendi, secretary to the Turkish Ambasdor in London shot a flight arrow 480 yards (over ¼ of a mile, this is however nowhere near the record for such a bow which is somwhere nearer 800 yards)

I've read accounts of Ishi the last Yana Indian who made a Native American indian bow backed with chewed sinew applied using glue made from fish skin.

Any pictures of the bows?

I've made my own Yew Longbow, it wouldn't compete with a composite bow , it was a formidibale weapon in it's day, but mainly due to the number of archers, their training from a young age and the discipline they fought with.

My guess is you won't out-perform horn and sinew as these are uniquely tuned by nature for elasticity and power.
It will be a craftsman of the highest order who can master these materials in this day and age when the techniques used are probably lost.

I would love to hear more of your friends bows.

Regards

Del

The Water Buffalo horn/wood/sinew bows used fish glue that took 18 months to dry properly. (seen a show on it tonight) The scientist on the show said there is no modern equivalent. Even Carbon fiber FRP don't compare.

So swints maybe?

Brad

Uh why doesn't he just use water buffalo? It is not like they are endangered. I am sure just a google or two will tirn up a supplier...