Construction of a Korean Hornbow
I decided to remove this as I feel it will affect Thomas because he might not sell as many movies. If it can pass by him that I may put my notes back up here than I will. :)
SW
Yellow croaker air bladder glue is the only kind the Koreans will use. They will only use cow oxen backstrap sinew. The croaker air bladders are first hammered, and then soaked overnight. The newly hydrated bladders are put through a meat grinder and are taken to the texture of hamburgers. They are put back in the water and boiled. This makes them melt down. They then remelt the hardened glue with the correct amount of heat and water to maintain consistency.
Acacia (Korean for black locust) is used on the siyahs. And they prefer to work with the green wood, and let it dry after it has been mostly shaped. The Korean has about an 7" diameter log that is about 20 inches long. Then he splits it so the siyahs are a little over 1 inch wide.
Then he takes his adze tool, and begins to rough out the siyah blanks. He takes the bark off, and then flattens the other side. The siyahs are taken to near finished dimensions, about 1/2" thick throughout most of the wood. The V splice at the bottom is also roughed in to a correct size.
The bamboo for the core is then prepared. To start out, he takes a 3-4" diameter log with one node in the middle, about 27-28 inches long. Then he splits it so the cores are a little over 1 inch wide the whole length. The inside of the node is cleared out with the adze. And then it is scored with a knife so it can flatten out when dried. The scoring is not very deep, and it is done in a cross hatching way. The bamboo is soaked in water for some time. Then heated so the reflex can be added to it. The outside of the bamboo becomes the belly side of the bow.
The bamboo strips are placed over hot coals and heated. Good bamboo will bend smoothly and evenly when heated and then bent. The colors on the back of the strips should be even and the same tone when heated also. If you overheat the bamboo, it will break. After bending into a U shape, they must be sun dried. If it isn't sun dried it won't have the right bend and it won't be usable. The bamboo is placed into rolls and left in the sun to dry. The bamboo, once dry, is reheated and the alignment fixed.
Oak is used for the handle part of the bow. Green wood is again preferred. The handles average around 6 inches long, 1/2 inch thick, and have a curve to them that tapers toward the tips.
The horn strips, going on the belly of the bow, must now be sanded. The bowyer uses an electric disc sander. The horn strips are dragged across to make the sides straight. The thickest end of the horn goes on the handle of the bow, the thinner ends go toward the nocks. The horn strips right now are flat, with no reflex/deflex. And they are also very flexible, so the bowyer can taper the thickness on the sander to make them bend correctly with the right thickness.
The siyahs are then soaked overnight. Boiled and put into a form.
More info on this coming later. After the siyahs are bent to the correct shape, they are allowed to dry. Then they are marked out to their final shape. A bow saw is used to trim off extra material (on the back side). A groove on the belly side, is left in the top 4 inches. At the other end, the V splice is cut to final shape and is now ready to glue.
Now that most parts are finished, it is time to get ready to glue the pieces together. The bamboo core, now unrolled, is ready to accept siyahs. The bowyer picks 2 siyahs for every core, and marks top/bottom on them. The core is then marked with a felt tip pen using the siyah as a tracing guide. V splices are then cut into either end of the core. Checking the fit, the bowyer may make any changes now before the pieces are glued up. If they are cut correctly, then the siyahs will be held in place by the splice without any glue.
Before the glue up, however, there are two more thing to do to the core. And that is grooving it with a specialized tool. The bowyer uses a file that he cut triangular grooves into. Now the core is heated for a second time, and bent into the correct reflex after the splices are cut. He bends the strips by stepping on it and then dragging it under his foot. He gets an even reflex on both sides of the bamboo. The handle section stays fairly flat, while each end gets curved dramatically. The bowyer also looks for twists and corrects them at this point.
Now the siyahs are glued on. The bowyer uses fish air bladder glue of his own making. He will apply it to the splice on the siyah using a brush.. The siyah is pushed into the core and is quickly bound with fine twine. The siyahs are minutely adjusted to make it straight and correct.
As with the core, the horn is also grooved. The horn is grooved with the same tool and same procedure as the bamboo is. Horn strips should then be soaked overnight in water. It shouldn't be soaked to long as the strips may become water logged. After they have completely dried, the horn is lightly sanded down. After smoothing, it is soaked in water again. This time when the bowyer takes them out, he looks for the 'tiger-tail' pattern in the grain. This helps him find matching pairs for the bow.
After the strips are chosen, they are sized with the glue. It takes 10 sizings a day, for one week straight. He starts with thinned down glue, and works up to thicker glue in the last few layers. He uses a large brush and brushes the glue smoothly back and forth. It will look like there is no glue on it. And it is like water. Strange info needs to be verified: The horn must be heated before sizing to give it the warped appearance. The bowyer also says not to go slow and do everything one by one as that will take to long (unless you are building 1 bow). The bowyer also sizes the belly and back of the core and siyahs for the sinew and horn. The color will change on the wood so you know that it has been glued up. And you can see the pattern lines in the we glued horn, they look like the tiger's tail.
Now once dried, the horn is ready to be glued on. At first a new layer of thick glue is applied. The horn is heated over a small stove, to make the glue liquid and not gel up. Horn strips are first tied on by hand at the handle to give a foundation to work from.. Then the bowyer uses his specialized tool to tightly tie down the rest of the horn. The bow is constantly put over the stove to liquefy the jelled up glue.
Now the bow is set aside for a few days to fully dry. Once dried, the sides of the bow are trimmed with the adze to their finished width. The horn and core are now ready for sinew. The bowyer goes around the outside of the bow to take it down to final width. Wood and horn is taken off of both sides. He uses his adze to quickly shape them. Also, the thickness of the bow is adjusted at the base of the recurve, and at the recurve and nock area.
After that the oak handle is attached. Need more information here.The center of the bow is thinner than the rest, and is also about 1/2" thicker (once sinew is added). A wood rasp is then used on the sides to get a finished edge on the bow. The horn is further taken down like it was before on the sander. He uses a tape measure often to make sure the thickness is correct. He also works a bit on shaping the siyahs to a more finished level. A lot of care must be taken to make sure you don't remove too much horn or wood. It is easy to remove, but you can't make it grow back.
The bow's nocks are tied together before the sinewing. The back of the bow if filed, and may have been at an earlier time. . All of the grinding and filing is now finished exempt for tillering. The bowyer uses backstrap sinews. They are kept fresh and moist until ready for glue up. Question: Does the bowyer ever pound and separate the fibers, or does he just glue the backstrap on like it came off of the animal? The glue is made and the consistency corrected with water, or evaporation.
The sinew fibers are laid out on a piece of wood. Glue is brushed onto the sinew, and then the wet sinew is combed to make sure all of the fibers are parallel. Then the glue must be allowed to set up into the strips. The board is wetted with water and squeegeed off. The sinew strips are combed and more glue is applied to it. The bowyer continues for a few times, brushing in more and more glue. Then he may scrape off any extra glue that isn't needed and puts it back in his pot to be used later.
There are many back and forth motions. To continue adding glue and water to the board and sinew. The glue must have a perfect texture for the sinew. It mustn't be to thick nor too thick. Make sure you have enough glue in the sinew so that it can be worked in well. The combing spreads the glue in evenly. After the sinew is soaked, it is then rubbed and ringed well. There can't be any greasy feeling. The bow's back is made with 4 separate sinew layers. The bow is then wetted with the water. The bow and sinew are both held over the hot plate. Gently, the sinew is laid on, starting at the very tip and then going as far as that bundle reaches (going toward handle). He continually wets it gently and combs or pushes the sinew over the sides of the bow. A comb may be used to make sure all of the fibers are straight.
After all 8 or more pieces have been applied, the bow is set aside in a warmed closet to dry. The closet is around 33-36 degrees Celsius. It may take weeks or months to have all of the sinew dry. Then through a process of bracing, filing, scraping, and heating, the bow is tillered. The horn is filed to a thickness to adjust the weight of the bow. Then the bowyer makes sure after scraping or filing, that the bow bends evenly where it is supposed to. At this stage the bow also gets the correct profile shape.
Before tillering, the bowyer needs to finish carving the recurve and nocks of the bow. The nock itself is made with the assistance of many tools, including fluted chisels. He does more adze work on the ears, shaping the middle ridge, and the thickness. Then file work is done to fully shape and finish the thickness. The correct taper change from limb to ear is important. The bowyer needs to balance the two so that they are equally thick and wide.
After that, the base of the ear is worked on with fluted chisels. To make a perfect transaction between limb and tip the bowyer slowly works both sides. The fluting then goes all of the way to the tip (the very tip, it doesn't stop for the nock). The fluted chisel clears out the areas beside the middle groove. Then a small knife is used to detail the edges of the ears and nocks. Also, he shapes the tips and side where the string rests. An important note: The bowyer always wears gloves when he touches the bow. This keeps the thing clean, as before gluing he needs clean materials for the glue to work his best. Nothing is done to the back of the ear, only the belly side. At this point, leather string pads are attached at the very base of the ear, between the transition and the horn ending. It is around 1/4" thick and covered with red fabric. Then Birch bark strips are applied to the back with contact cement thinned with Benzene. They are soaked in sea water for 1 year prior to use. They are imported from a north east part of China. It covers all of the back, from the tip to the handle on both limbs. It evens rides down over the sides, laying on the horn. Scissors are used first to trim it at the bottom of the nock. Then a knife is used on the belly to trim off extra width.
Then a string is made. It is made with a center piece that would stretch from string bridge to string bridge. It is made in endless loop style. At either end, separate sections are tied on to make loops that are about 4 inches in length. The string is made with white Dacron, about 18-20 strands. It is served by hand where the arrow goes, an area of about 2 inches.
Proper balancing and bracing is crucial before a bow is ever used. The bow is strung using a unique way. Once the string is on, each side of the bow is alternately heated and worked. Both sides are checked for straightness and for balance. But before it can be strung, a new hornbow must have 2 more things used on it first. The first tool is a long pole, with a U shape at either end. This is placed at the base of the ear on the back of one nock. Then the bow is stretched out, and the other end of the pole is placed on the bow. After this is in place, the bow has tepliks added to it. They are tied at either end of the handle on the belly side. The bow is then stretched further and the ends of the tepliks are tied down. They end a few inches before the base of the ear.
After these are in place, the pole will come off and the bow will be in near braced shape. I have even heard that the laminated versions of Korean bows have the profile of a hornbow with the tepliks applied. With the tepliks on, the bow is checked for balance. The limbs are slowly warmed and then the bow is stretched even further to be able to add a regular sized string on the bow. Once the bow is strung, then the tepliks can be untied and removed. Now what the bowyer will do is heat a misaligned limb or section and bend it out with the force from his foot and the floor. Sometimes he won't use his foot but will pull up one limb with his hands while holding the other limb on the floor. This itself brings the bow into a ore correct profile. It doesn't change the draw weight.
Then small leather braces, looking like rubber bands, are placed over the end of the bow. They help balance the bow and are removed after just a few seconds. You must get an initial feel for the bow. Then you balance the bow by feel and filing. The bowyer constantly feels the bend of the bow, and files any parts that are too strong. After the weight is adjusted some, the bow is placed on the floor. The bowyer will step on the handle and pull up both limbs from the base of the ear. He brings them parallel. After he has seen what the bow looks like with drawn limbs. He will go back and pull up only one limb this time.
On this one limb, he checks the balance and also scrapes where it is too strong. He uses a knife parallel to the surface of the horn to remove small amounts of material. He does this to both limbs, bringing the bow into its final draw weight. Then the bowyer will grasp the bow as if he is about to unstring it (or he just got finished stringing it). Then he will draw the bow with his hand and check the balance again. If it looks good, then he will draw the bow normally to check for weak or strong areas. These would be corrected by heat. Then the leather braces are put back on, and the bow may have a sock tied onto it to hold the new shape until it cools. This process of heating the bow and changing the shape must be done before every shooting round.
SW
Yellow croaker air bladder glue is the only kind the Koreans will use. They will only use cow oxen backstrap sinew. The croaker air bladders are first hammered, and then soaked overnight. The newly hydrated bladders are put through a meat grinder and are taken to the texture of hamburgers. They are put back in the water and boiled. This makes them melt down. They then remelt the hardened glue with the correct amount of heat and water to maintain consistency.
Acacia (Korean for black locust) is used on the siyahs. And they prefer to work with the green wood, and let it dry after it has been mostly shaped. The Korean has about an 7" diameter log that is about 20 inches long. Then he splits it so the siyahs are a little over 1 inch wide.
Then he takes his adze tool, and begins to rough out the siyah blanks. He takes the bark off, and then flattens the other side. The siyahs are taken to near finished dimensions, about 1/2" thick throughout most of the wood. The V splice at the bottom is also roughed in to a correct size.
The bamboo for the core is then prepared. To start out, he takes a 3-4" diameter log with one node in the middle, about 27-28 inches long. Then he splits it so the cores are a little over 1 inch wide the whole length. The inside of the node is cleared out with the adze. And then it is scored with a knife so it can flatten out when dried. The scoring is not very deep, and it is done in a cross hatching way. The bamboo is soaked in water for some time. Then heated so the reflex can be added to it. The outside of the bamboo becomes the belly side of the bow.
The bamboo strips are placed over hot coals and heated. Good bamboo will bend smoothly and evenly when heated and then bent. The colors on the back of the strips should be even and the same tone when heated also. If you overheat the bamboo, it will break. After bending into a U shape, they must be sun dried. If it isn't sun dried it won't have the right bend and it won't be usable. The bamboo is placed into rolls and left in the sun to dry. The bamboo, once dry, is reheated and the alignment fixed.
Oak is used for the handle part of the bow. Green wood is again preferred. The handles average around 6 inches long, 1/2 inch thick, and have a curve to them that tapers toward the tips.
The horn strips, going on the belly of the bow, must now be sanded. The bowyer uses an electric disc sander. The horn strips are dragged across to make the sides straight. The thickest end of the horn goes on the handle of the bow, the thinner ends go toward the nocks. The horn strips right now are flat, with no reflex/deflex. And they are also very flexible, so the bowyer can taper the thickness on the sander to make them bend correctly with the right thickness.
The siyahs are then soaked overnight. Boiled and put into a form.
More info on this coming later. After the siyahs are bent to the correct shape, they are allowed to dry. Then they are marked out to their final shape. A bow saw is used to trim off extra material (on the back side). A groove on the belly side, is left in the top 4 inches. At the other end, the V splice is cut to final shape and is now ready to glue.
Now that most parts are finished, it is time to get ready to glue the pieces together. The bamboo core, now unrolled, is ready to accept siyahs. The bowyer picks 2 siyahs for every core, and marks top/bottom on them. The core is then marked with a felt tip pen using the siyah as a tracing guide. V splices are then cut into either end of the core. Checking the fit, the bowyer may make any changes now before the pieces are glued up. If they are cut correctly, then the siyahs will be held in place by the splice without any glue.
Before the glue up, however, there are two more thing to do to the core. And that is grooving it with a specialized tool. The bowyer uses a file that he cut triangular grooves into. Now the core is heated for a second time, and bent into the correct reflex after the splices are cut. He bends the strips by stepping on it and then dragging it under his foot. He gets an even reflex on both sides of the bamboo. The handle section stays fairly flat, while each end gets curved dramatically. The bowyer also looks for twists and corrects them at this point.
Now the siyahs are glued on. The bowyer uses fish air bladder glue of his own making. He will apply it to the splice on the siyah using a brush.. The siyah is pushed into the core and is quickly bound with fine twine. The siyahs are minutely adjusted to make it straight and correct.
As with the core, the horn is also grooved. The horn is grooved with the same tool and same procedure as the bamboo is. Horn strips should then be soaked overnight in water. It shouldn't be soaked to long as the strips may become water logged. After they have completely dried, the horn is lightly sanded down. After smoothing, it is soaked in water again. This time when the bowyer takes them out, he looks for the 'tiger-tail' pattern in the grain. This helps him find matching pairs for the bow.
After the strips are chosen, they are sized with the glue. It takes 10 sizings a day, for one week straight. He starts with thinned down glue, and works up to thicker glue in the last few layers. He uses a large brush and brushes the glue smoothly back and forth. It will look like there is no glue on it. And it is like water. Strange info needs to be verified: The horn must be heated before sizing to give it the warped appearance. The bowyer also says not to go slow and do everything one by one as that will take to long (unless you are building 1 bow). The bowyer also sizes the belly and back of the core and siyahs for the sinew and horn. The color will change on the wood so you know that it has been glued up. And you can see the pattern lines in the we glued horn, they look like the tiger's tail.
Now once dried, the horn is ready to be glued on. At first a new layer of thick glue is applied. The horn is heated over a small stove, to make the glue liquid and not gel up. Horn strips are first tied on by hand at the handle to give a foundation to work from.. Then the bowyer uses his specialized tool to tightly tie down the rest of the horn. The bow is constantly put over the stove to liquefy the jelled up glue.
Now the bow is set aside for a few days to fully dry. Once dried, the sides of the bow are trimmed with the adze to their finished width. The horn and core are now ready for sinew. The bowyer goes around the outside of the bow to take it down to final width. Wood and horn is taken off of both sides. He uses his adze to quickly shape them. Also, the thickness of the bow is adjusted at the base of the recurve, and at the recurve and nock area.
After that the oak handle is attached. Need more information here.The center of the bow is thinner than the rest, and is also about 1/2" thicker (once sinew is added). A wood rasp is then used on the sides to get a finished edge on the bow. The horn is further taken down like it was before on the sander. He uses a tape measure often to make sure the thickness is correct. He also works a bit on shaping the siyahs to a more finished level. A lot of care must be taken to make sure you don't remove too much horn or wood. It is easy to remove, but you can't make it grow back.
The bow's nocks are tied together before the sinewing. The back of the bow if filed, and may have been at an earlier time. . All of the grinding and filing is now finished exempt for tillering. The bowyer uses backstrap sinews. They are kept fresh and moist until ready for glue up. Question: Does the bowyer ever pound and separate the fibers, or does he just glue the backstrap on like it came off of the animal? The glue is made and the consistency corrected with water, or evaporation.
The sinew fibers are laid out on a piece of wood. Glue is brushed onto the sinew, and then the wet sinew is combed to make sure all of the fibers are parallel. Then the glue must be allowed to set up into the strips. The board is wetted with water and squeegeed off. The sinew strips are combed and more glue is applied to it. The bowyer continues for a few times, brushing in more and more glue. Then he may scrape off any extra glue that isn't needed and puts it back in his pot to be used later.
There are many back and forth motions. To continue adding glue and water to the board and sinew. The glue must have a perfect texture for the sinew. It mustn't be to thick nor too thick. Make sure you have enough glue in the sinew so that it can be worked in well. The combing spreads the glue in evenly. After the sinew is soaked, it is then rubbed and ringed well. There can't be any greasy feeling. The bow's back is made with 4 separate sinew layers. The bow is then wetted with the water. The bow and sinew are both held over the hot plate. Gently, the sinew is laid on, starting at the very tip and then going as far as that bundle reaches (going toward handle). He continually wets it gently and combs or pushes the sinew over the sides of the bow. A comb may be used to make sure all of the fibers are straight.
After all 8 or more pieces have been applied, the bow is set aside in a warmed closet to dry. The closet is around 33-36 degrees Celsius. It may take weeks or months to have all of the sinew dry. Then through a process of bracing, filing, scraping, and heating, the bow is tillered. The horn is filed to a thickness to adjust the weight of the bow. Then the bowyer makes sure after scraping or filing, that the bow bends evenly where it is supposed to. At this stage the bow also gets the correct profile shape.
Before tillering, the bowyer needs to finish carving the recurve and nocks of the bow. The nock itself is made with the assistance of many tools, including fluted chisels. He does more adze work on the ears, shaping the middle ridge, and the thickness. Then file work is done to fully shape and finish the thickness. The correct taper change from limb to ear is important. The bowyer needs to balance the two so that they are equally thick and wide.
After that, the base of the ear is worked on with fluted chisels. To make a perfect transaction between limb and tip the bowyer slowly works both sides. The fluting then goes all of the way to the tip (the very tip, it doesn't stop for the nock). The fluted chisel clears out the areas beside the middle groove. Then a small knife is used to detail the edges of the ears and nocks. Also, he shapes the tips and side where the string rests. An important note: The bowyer always wears gloves when he touches the bow. This keeps the thing clean, as before gluing he needs clean materials for the glue to work his best. Nothing is done to the back of the ear, only the belly side. At this point, leather string pads are attached at the very base of the ear, between the transition and the horn ending. It is around 1/4" thick and covered with red fabric. Then Birch bark strips are applied to the back with contact cement thinned with Benzene. They are soaked in sea water for 1 year prior to use. They are imported from a north east part of China. It covers all of the back, from the tip to the handle on both limbs. It evens rides down over the sides, laying on the horn. Scissors are used first to trim it at the bottom of the nock. Then a knife is used on the belly to trim off extra width.
Then a string is made. It is made with a center piece that would stretch from string bridge to string bridge. It is made in endless loop style. At either end, separate sections are tied on to make loops that are about 4 inches in length. The string is made with white Dacron, about 18-20 strands. It is served by hand where the arrow goes, an area of about 2 inches.
Proper balancing and bracing is crucial before a bow is ever used. The bow is strung using a unique way. Once the string is on, each side of the bow is alternately heated and worked. Both sides are checked for straightness and for balance. But before it can be strung, a new hornbow must have 2 more things used on it first. The first tool is a long pole, with a U shape at either end. This is placed at the base of the ear on the back of one nock. Then the bow is stretched out, and the other end of the pole is placed on the bow. After this is in place, the bow has tepliks added to it. They are tied at either end of the handle on the belly side. The bow is then stretched further and the ends of the tepliks are tied down. They end a few inches before the base of the ear.
After these are in place, the pole will come off and the bow will be in near braced shape. I have even heard that the laminated versions of Korean bows have the profile of a hornbow with the tepliks applied. With the tepliks on, the bow is checked for balance. The limbs are slowly warmed and then the bow is stretched even further to be able to add a regular sized string on the bow. Once the bow is strung, then the tepliks can be untied and removed. Now what the bowyer will do is heat a misaligned limb or section and bend it out with the force from his foot and the floor. Sometimes he won't use his foot but will pull up one limb with his hands while holding the other limb on the floor. This itself brings the bow into a ore correct profile. It doesn't change the draw weight.
Then small leather braces, looking like rubber bands, are placed over the end of the bow. They help balance the bow and are removed after just a few seconds. You must get an initial feel for the bow. Then you balance the bow by feel and filing. The bowyer constantly feels the bend of the bow, and files any parts that are too strong. After the weight is adjusted some, the bow is placed on the floor. The bowyer will step on the handle and pull up both limbs from the base of the ear. He brings them parallel. After he has seen what the bow looks like with drawn limbs. He will go back and pull up only one limb this time.
On this one limb, he checks the balance and also scrapes where it is too strong. He uses a knife parallel to the surface of the horn to remove small amounts of material. He does this to both limbs, bringing the bow into its final draw weight. Then the bowyer will grasp the bow as if he is about to unstring it (or he just got finished stringing it). Then he will draw the bow with his hand and check the balance again. If it looks good, then he will draw the bow normally to check for weak or strong areas. These would be corrected by heat. Then the leather braces are put back on, and the bow may have a sock tied onto it to hold the new shape until it cools. This process of heating the bow and changing the shape must be done before every shooting round.
It's fine for you to create and publish your own notes from a movie; but please would you fully acknowledge the source of your information? :idea:
I am sorry, I got this from Thomas D's 2 part VHS. Some of it also came from personal emails and interviews. I think it would be helpful for newbies to see it. But I still recommend buying the movie so you can really see what is going on. I still need to refine my notes and add some illustrations.
SW,
I didn't get a chance to see your original post, so I really am not sure what I should reply to. I can guess, though.
I never really made the videos (and later, DVDs) to make a quick buck or anything. My intention was to document arts (bamboo arrow/horn bow crafting) that were in danger of extinction, and disseminate the information; that people help me to defray costs, and support my archery websites is an added bonus.
I'm sure whatever you wrote is fine, but if you'd like, please send the post to me and I'll look it over.
T
I didn't get a chance to see your original post, so I really am not sure what I should reply to. I can guess, though.
I never really made the videos (and later, DVDs) to make a quick buck or anything. My intention was to document arts (bamboo arrow/horn bow crafting) that were in danger of extinction, and disseminate the information; that people help me to defray costs, and support my archery websites is an added bonus.
I'm sure whatever you wrote is fine, but if you'd like, please send the post to me and I'll look it over.
T
If possible, it would be great to publish the information on ATARN, as long as it doesn't conflict with Thomas's rights.
I hope that you and Thomas can agree to a text that I can publish on ATARN in the main section, rather than in the Discussion Forum (where is will eventually get lost.)
S.
I hope that you and Thomas can agree to a text that I can publish on ATARN in the main section, rather than in the Discussion Forum (where is will eventually get lost.)
S.
I read SW's post over on the trad archery forum http://p072.ezboard.com/ftraditionalarc ... D=76.topic. He covers a lot of material; however, there are lots of questions he needs answered (and I'm not sure I have the time right now), plus it will need to be formatted a little more, for readability. Good observations, though.
I will work on refining them and trying to get answers today and over this weekend
Thomas; I have seen both of your films several times. The information contained ranks right up there with the best known info on horn bow making. What I have always wanted was a beter audio of what is going on. The bowyer talks at length about various topics without translation. The dog barks. Sometimes the translation can't be heard. I know that this would be a monumental work to redo the audio but I, for one, would buy a redo of the origionals.
These tapes are one-of-a-kind, valuable contribution to archery, but beg to be completed. -j-
These tapes are one-of-a-kind, valuable contribution to archery, but beg to be completed. -j-
Jack,
Thank you for the kind words, and also the suggestions. Yes, there is the infamous barking dog--I really regret that, but it was a tricky social situation, as the dog was the bowyer's. Ironically, he got rid of it because it barked too much :?
The bowyer and I were just in the beginning phases of taping a new video when he was stricken. I hope to someday re-edit the video I have, using the original raw footage. I'm afraid I may have to delete audio for most of it, though. As for translation, a lot of what the bowyer talked about was more chit-chat than anything substantial (substantial items I put into my narration). I'm not sure when I'll get it done, though, as teaching at this new university is keeping me busy.
Thomas
Thank you for the kind words, and also the suggestions. Yes, there is the infamous barking dog--I really regret that, but it was a tricky social situation, as the dog was the bowyer's. Ironically, he got rid of it because it barked too much :?
The bowyer and I were just in the beginning phases of taping a new video when he was stricken. I hope to someday re-edit the video I have, using the original raw footage. I'm afraid I may have to delete audio for most of it, though. As for translation, a lot of what the bowyer talked about was more chit-chat than anything substantial (substantial items I put into my narration). I'm not sure when I'll get it done, though, as teaching at this new university is keeping me busy.
Thomas
Here is more on the sinew:
The bowyer starts out using damp sinew. It is then put on a board and glue is added to the bundle with a brush. The bowyer adds more glue or water until it is just right. Then the bundles, or strips, are set away and let to set up until the glue is partially dry. When ready to apply, they are wetted and applied to the core. He holds the bow over a hot plate to remelt the glue and ensure a proper bond. To apply the strips, he just lays them onto the core, starting at one tip and going around.
The bowyer starts out using damp sinew. It is then put on a board and glue is added to the bundle with a brush. The bowyer adds more glue or water until it is just right. Then the bundles, or strips, are set away and let to set up until the glue is partially dry. When ready to apply, they are wetted and applied to the core. He holds the bow over a hot plate to remelt the glue and ensure a proper bond. To apply the strips, he just lays them onto the core, starting at one tip and going around.