Crab bow (documentation)

4 posts2012live thread

KviljoSat May 12, 2012 6:12 pm

Last winter I was fortunate enough to find a Mughal / Crab / Indo-Persian bow among a lot of other very interesting bows in the magazine of the Ethnographical section at Bergen Museum, Norway. I took some photos and measurements that may be helpful for those wanting to make a similar bow. The outer end of the "sal" on the right side has delaminated a little, it shows as a little thicker part. I find it especially interesting to see how the laquer has flaked off in a rather short area close to the handle, indicating where this bow has bent the most. The little scale with red and black rectangles are 5 centimeters in total.

[external image]

Alessi FrancescoMon May 14, 2012 9:03 am

Very interesting and useful.How long is it?Thanks for sharing.

UliMon May 14, 2012 9:48 am

Wow thank you for sharing ! There is relatively few information on this type of bow for replicas.

KviljoTue May 15, 2012 3:27 pm

Thanks, this is the bow I am currently trying to copy. I will put sinew on it the next weekend. I will see if I can find it's length too, although it is possible to do by laying a string along the bow in the picture and comparing it to the 5cm scale. The upper picture is taken from a high photo-tower using a 55mm lens, so it should be quite "square on" ie. like putting the bow in a big scanner.