Bulgarian horn bow 7-9 centry

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Total length 135 sm. thickness for limb 17 mm.

Very interesting what are you using for a string?

Todd

Flax,three parts.

Stilian

I really like it, is this composite bow specific to your region? Its the first one i see, wonder if they could be using this model of a bow in Romania also.
Tiller looks great, the handle a little big i think. How does it shoot? Anyway excelent work :).

Bone plates handles this period ranged from 27 - 35 cm. I think that this design covers much of eastern Europe and western Asia. I strive for an objective and correct reconstruction, and use scientific articles. And sorry for my English.

very interesting replica.
only few bowyers have made bone-plated composite replicas.
:wink:

Very intresting bow. Can you show picture unstrung? I think in this design possible is selfbow tillering without tepeliks. Long handle should increase arrow speed in this model.

You have made a very fine bow!

The handle-antlerplates remember me on the hunnic ones, the siya plates on the early avar bows. This particulary style was used somewhere in the time of Asparu, wasn't it?

Didn't you have trouble with the antlers? I made recently two bows (just for an exhibition, in 3 weeks), and the cutting and grinding of the antler-pieces was a torture.

How many plates have you used? 6, 7, 11?

Do you have that relative new bulgarian book dealing with the nomadic weapon-finds from the 7-11 th Century?

The handle is typical Bulgarian (very long). Yes, the bow is Khan Asparuh period. Built with 9 bone plates (now I understand why this type of bow rarely reconstruct) beef bone. The book is difficult to use in archeology on E. V. Kruglov 2005

Beautiful bow, congratulations!

But where exactly are the 9 bone plates? I guess 4 in the tips - and the other 5?

I guess 3 on the handle and the other 3-3 on the siyahs, 2 on the sides and one on the belly? The avar bows had 4 on the siyas.

Nice to see the one piece wood core, probably the weaker kasan needed the + antler plates. That would make sence on bows with not too wide arms, I think.

Not sure if i am getting this , but it seems like horn on back sinew on belly am i right

Hi! Could you please upload some photos of preparing ram horn (If you have)?

ram horn is really nice to work with.
unfortunately I have not furthered this project yet.
final horn strip: ca. 35cm usable length, 5cm wide and up to 1.5 cm thick

there is a whole article at Tirendaz:
http://www.tirendaz.com/en/?page_id=322

Thanks for reply!
As I can see It must be staightened sideway too. Wont it be curved again by time? That could be horrible if it happens on a bow.
Now I started to prepare moufflon horn. That is similar to ram horn but easier to prepare.
Next time I would like to try ram horn too.

there will be some "hook" in the end as it is not possible to straighten it sideways, you can only flatten it by "unrolling". anyways there is enough material left.

yes if heated it it will curl up again to some degree. however this can be a positive effect for the bow, because the reflex is supported (if you glue it the right way round of course). I imagine that with strongly curled horn like this the effect of the "timar" process could be stronger.

What kind of ram was this? We have (here in Hungary) merino sheep, but most of them doesn't have a horn anymore (selection). It must be a really huge one to get big enough horn plate for bow making.

DICTUM sheep :D

Actually I don't know what dictum is, but I guess not a kind of sheep. :)

hehe, yes dictum is a german craftsmen mailorder company with that sort of ram-horn in stock. http://www.mehr-als-werkzeug.de/product ... n-Paar.htm

according to the text its from half wild sheep from the pyrenees.

Mine were 75 cm in length. Of them did 45 cm plates. Very easy to manipulate with steam. And fixed easily. Much more elastic of the other horns.

Thanks all of you for replies. Now I'm a bit smarter. :)
Now I'm trying to use this...[/img]

wow .. that makes me yealous :wink:

The only problem with mouflon horn is there are some (about 4) veins in external edge, that must be burnished off. I was really surprised when I found them after some burnish.

Because of the battles of the males, 10 inches of horn cracks.