Turkish Horn Bow Ingredients

The below is a list of ingredients along with any specially tools I used for construction of a Turkish bow. Material prices and availability are listed as of fall 2010. All items were shipped into the United States. I am not sure about shipping to other countries.
I hope this list is of some help, Brad.

Wood Core: I contacted Smith Lumber from Pennsylvania, United States (www.smith-lumber.com). Dan has worked with bowyers in the past and was able to provide hard sugar maple that had a very straight grain. Most importantly the lumber was still green, when it arrived you could feel the moisture in the wood. Cost was 86.00 USD with shipping for 8 staves 30? x 2? x 4?, probably enough lumber for 16 bows. Vendor accepted PayPal.

Horn: I purchased water buffalo horn from Highland Horn located in Ross-Shire, Scotland (www.highlandhorn.com). I would recommend getting the 75 - 80cm length. Highland Horn will cut the back strip from the horn to save cost on shipping if you like, the price per horn is 20.00 Pounds (31.15 USD approx). I used the 65 - 70cm length horns and was able to cut 3mm horn strips easily but only 16.5? long. I used a 1.5 inch strip in the handle to gain some length. Note the horn lengths I am recommending is for a 44? bow. Vendor accepted PayPal.

Sinew: I purchased sinew from Moscow Hide and Fur, Idaho, United States (www.hideandfur.com). I used rear leg elk sinew. Depending on their stock they have two sizes of elk sinew. I ordered 10 of the longer sinew at 4.25 USD each. I found the sinew very tough to process and was left with about 50% scraps. This may have been to my inexperience. I will use the sinew scraps for glue in other projects. Vendor accepted Visa.

Glue: I purchased sturgeon air bladder glue from Denis Betoulle, he is located in Sorges, France (www.ginellames.fr/us/creations/colle/colle.php). I ordered 500 grams for 115,00 Euros (150 USD approx) but only used approx 130 grams. Note I wasted some glue when applying the sinew as I wanted to make sure I didn?t run out of heated glue. Vendor accepted PayPal.

Camel Bone: I purchased bleached camel bone from Highland Horn located in Ross-Shire, Scotland (www.highlandhorn.com). You can get a single 90 x 12 x 10mm piece of bone for the celik for 2.75 Pounds (4.30 USD approx). One piece of bone is enough for several bows. Vendor accepted PayPal.

Water pan: I fabricated a pan out of aluminum roofing flashing found at most any hardware store. I was able to simply bend the corners to make the pan, I was careful not to cause any cracks in the bends. I used the pan for first soaking the green maple and then for boiling the maple core strips. It was cheap to build and held up to the heat for boiling. It did take quite a bit of heat to get the pan boiling. I used two camp cook stoves, this allowed the pan to balance across 4 burners. It also helped to make a crude lid to help hold the heat in.
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Wood core forms: After studying many pictures I drew up form templates and them cut out four ?? plywood forms and screwed two each together. This allowed for two forms. Note the hole and cutouts on the bottom, this allowed for clamping. During the bending process I did have someone help me, I Held everything in place and my assistant tightened all of the clamps. I used small curved wood blocks under the clamps but I did still have some splinters pull up on the bends, Next time I wonder if I used a metal backing strip if that would prevent the wood from splinting.
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Wood & horn scraper: I had a lot of trouble making consistent grooves and settled on a tool with only 3 teeth. This seemed to work the best for me. The teeth are filed out of a scrap piece of bandsaw blade, I used osage orange for the handle.
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Glue pot: I found a small kitchen hot water pot that has a variable temp control knob on it which worked best for me. I drilled a small hole in it to hold a thermometer which then allowed me to keep the glue at just the right temp. The pot I have is a Rival Hot Pot Express, the important feature that you want to look for is a pot that has a variable temp control knob and not just a keep warm, low, and high setting. The pot I am using I found on Ebay for under 20.00 USD.
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Miscellaneous tools: Other tools I used included a band saw, handsaw, files, belt sander, rulers, sandpaper, mixing bowls for glue, a scale for accurate measurement of materials, and lots of clamps.