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strange korean bow

9 posts2009live thread
ginni
I found this on internet.
Who knows what type is this bow?
Is shorter that a regular bow?

[external image]
Dusan
No , its only in maximum draw, i mean. Beatifull pic.
Bede
Ginni,
I can't see your original image, but if it is related to the others I can tell you something about it.

Milan Elott was in the US forces in Korea. He was an archer and became very interested in Korean archery. He wrote several articles for archery magazines and included photographs of Korean archers in his book called Why We Miss. He learned how to shoot Korean style and there are photographs of him shooting a Korean bow with a thumb ring.

I think there were only horn and sinew bows when he was in Korea. This was before the start of the modern Korean archery industry. He was very impressed by the low elevation that good Korean archers needed for long distance shots. I think he attempted to introduce bow hunting, but there was no game except chickens.
Dusan
Thank you Bede. I dont know nothing about M. Elott. I show tis pics (vith article) only for demonstration , how deep can draw Korean bow.
If i understand , you wrote , that 80 years ago korean hornbow was only from horn and sinew? No bamboo core ???
Bede
Dusan,
I was using a shortcut in naming the bow. It was a full horn, wood and sinew composite bow. In his articles Elott described the bows.

Ginni,
I can see the picture now. The flattening out of the setback of the handle is common with Korean bows at full draw as is the straightening out of the siyahs. Many of the photographs from the 1950s and 1960s show bows like this. Thomas may know better whether some bows were more flexible in the setback than others.
Dusan
Ok , Bede your shortcut litlle surprise me :lol:
Bede
Sometimes phrases get used that are confusing. The term, horn and sinew bow, came about in discussions among people who only had to distinguish between modern composites (fibreglass/wood/fibreglass) and traditional composites (horn/wood/sinew). We called the first fibreglass bows dropping the wood because it was common and did the same to horn/wood/sinew bows. Later, people became more aware antler/sinew bows and horn/sinew bows without cores. As a result, horn and sinew bow became a term not used as much. Later on, people started using the term horn bow. It was the same kind of small community problem. They did not think that pure, horn-only bows were a possibility. Of course in Java and parts of India such bows were being made.

I do try not to be confusing, but old habits die hard.