Manchu Bow
Hi, guys, I havent posted for a while so I thought I'd post some pics of my latest efforts and stay in touch! I was gonna wait till it was all finnished, but these bows take so loooong!! This is my version of a Chinese 'manchu' bow, I hope all you historian types will forgive me,I'm not too up on exact historical bow types and I dont really like making 'replicas', so it may not be historically acurate, I like to modify things according to time and circumstance . My main concern is that it shoots well, I guess I'll find out in 6-12 months when the sinew is seaoned. It is 48" ntn, buffalo horn belly, lemonwood core and scottish red deer stag sinew, which I luckily managed to get out in 12" lengths with carefull treatment. Oh,and local white oak sahiyas taken from a natural bent branch. Hope you like it, I'll post more when finnished . The sinew has to be filled smooth, but I'm aiming for around 70lbs. ( thats all I can pull) I'd also like to thank Adam Kaporwicz for his help and inspiration via his book and emails
Any advice and comments appreciated as this is my first bow of this type.
thanks for looking. David
Any advice and comments appreciated as this is my first bow of this type.
thanks for looking. David
This may turn out to be a seriously heavy bow.
For Manchu bows, I suggest that you don't worry too much about the unstrung profile being very recurved. Beijing makers were happy with bow limbs that were almost straight. If you end up with a bow that's near impossible to string because it comes "so far around compass", you may end up breaking it soon.
For Manchu bows, I suggest that you don't worry too much about the unstrung profile being very recurved. Beijing makers were happy with bow limbs that were almost straight. If you end up with a bow that's near impossible to string because it comes "so far around compass", you may end up breaking it soon.
Good looking reflex. I like you go to the short 48. But why Manchu ? Maybe worst shooter from all composite disains...
In this disain you lost working kasan or evan advantage another angel in kasan -bash / like Yuan, Mughal/. This - like Stephen said - probably cause short draw, stacking and maybe - broken limb. Maybe not.If you instal big string bridge... I wish you all best.
In this disain you lost working kasan or evan advantage another angel in kasan -bash / like Yuan, Mughal/. This - like Stephen said - probably cause short draw, stacking and maybe - broken limb. Maybe not.If you instal big string bridge... I wish you all best.
Thanks Stephen and Dusan. Like I said , Its not a proper manchu, but the constuction of the one piece core and spliced sahiyas, is i believe? more akin to the chinese style. I know its much shorter than manchu bows, but I believe they where too long to be efficient.I guess it is a hybrid design really. I've a lot to learn on the historical and traditional styles of the various countries, I was hoping for some imput in this regard too. It should, i think bend out of the kasan , if not I'll tiller it to do so. . Pictures may be deceptive, I've used extra thick 3rd layer of sinew, so I can file down to a smooth finnish and get tillering options removing some sinew. These bows need to be fairly heavy to be efficient and I dont like weak bows, so I,m guessing 70-80lbs final weight, but I could be wrong you guys have seen more of these bows than me.
Do you mean that you have made the main part of the core in one piece and spliced the siyahs into it or do you mean that the main part of the core has a riser glued on like a Manchu bow?
Hi Bede, the core does have a riser glued on to it, and the sahiyas are natural curves taken side by side from a curved oak branch.then spliced to the core. By one part I meant that there was not 2 seperate limbs glued to a seperate handle like the Turks did. One question ; did the Turks also, sometimes splice on seperate sahiyas in this way too?
Great to see somebody in the UK making hornbows. How thick was your core when you bent it? How long did you steam it for?
Hope it turns out well for you.
Hope it turns out well for you.
Hi Mike, There are probably others out there somewhere!
The core was around 1/4" thick when I steamed it for about 45 mins to 1 hour. then I took it down to about 3/16" after steaming. I didnt steam in too much of a bend, just the same shape as the natural curve of the horn, the majority of the reflex in the pics was done by the shrinking sinew
The core was around 1/4" thick when I steamed it for about 45 mins to 1 hour. then I took it down to about 3/16" after steaming. I didnt steam in too much of a bend, just the same shape as the natural curve of the horn, the majority of the reflex in the pics was done by the shrinking sinew
How thick is the horn? I was thinking much the same as Stephen, it looks a bit of a beast. Very impressive.
wow nice bow !
for a manchu its too short or ? - well, this one will have better cast
yep it looks a bit beasty - if you cant draw it just send it to me :lol:
for a manchu its too short or ? - well, this one will have better cast
yep it looks a bit beasty - if you cant draw it just send it to me :lol:
Orda, the horn isnt so thick, just under 4mm in the bending section and about 34mm wide.
So around 12mm through the limb? Such a good, even reflex shape too, I hope it turns out well.