'reloading'bow by heating
Hi there, this is about my experiences of 'recharging' a Korean Bow:
When I have shot my Korean for a couple of hours in a warm climate and
I unstring it, it suffers from a kind of stringfollow.When I hang it in my
shop(20? C) and let it rest for some days it will certainly gain some reflex.
Instead of that I heat it carefully with a hot-air-pistol(correct word?) until I
can bend it to circle,fix it in that position and let it rest for about an hour.
When I string it than,the poundage has come up to the max.again:
the bow is reloaded.It seams to be that the bow has stored the energy I
gave it! Iknow that the koreans keep their bows in special boxes with 25?C
to achieve the same result.My method is rather a bit rough but while I?ve
done so for about a year now, I still can?t see any harm to the bow.
Anyway,I wouldn?t treat a strong turkish bow that way! greetings Stefan
When I have shot my Korean for a couple of hours in a warm climate and
I unstring it, it suffers from a kind of stringfollow.When I hang it in my
shop(20? C) and let it rest for some days it will certainly gain some reflex.
Instead of that I heat it carefully with a hot-air-pistol(correct word?) until I
can bend it to circle,fix it in that position and let it rest for about an hour.
When I string it than,the poundage has come up to the max.again:
the bow is reloaded.It seams to be that the bow has stored the energy I
gave it! Iknow that the koreans keep their bows in special boxes with 25?C
to achieve the same result.My method is rather a bit rough but while I?ve
done so for about a year now, I still can?t see any harm to the bow.
Anyway,I wouldn?t treat a strong turkish bow that way! greetings Stefan
Stefan,
I assume you are talking about your horn, wood, sinew reconstructions of Korean bows. The process you are using was similar to what was seen in the Far East in the 1920s where an archer or a bow maker would suspend a bow belly up in the sun for several hours. The reflex increased gradually until it approached the original reflex that the bow was built with. The bow behaves better if you let it cool down before you re-brace it.
I have done this for years and it always works. It requires no equipment and you are not blowing hot dry air onto your bow. The bow heats up uniformly with no hot spots.
I assume you are talking about your horn, wood, sinew reconstructions of Korean bows. The process you are using was similar to what was seen in the Far East in the 1920s where an archer or a bow maker would suspend a bow belly up in the sun for several hours. The reflex increased gradually until it approached the original reflex that the bow was built with. The bow behaves better if you let it cool down before you re-brace it.
I have done this for years and it always works. It requires no equipment and you are not blowing hot dry air onto your bow. The bow heats up uniformly with no hot spots.
hello Bede,
you?re right again and I?m aware about the solar-method!Unfortunatly we
have wintertime now for at least 6 month! So all I can do is hanging my
bow over the kitchen heater or give it some nice hot air to get the best
result! Stefan
you?re right again and I?m aware about the solar-method!Unfortunatly we
have wintertime now for at least 6 month! So all I can do is hanging my
bow over the kitchen heater or give it some nice hot air to get the best
result! Stefan
You could move it back and forth above an electric element that was hot enough to be felt by you but not hot enough to burn. Always keep the horn facing the element and keep the bow moving back and forth.