novgorod bow
I?ve just tillered my reconstruction of the so-called Novgorod bow.Some fragments of the bow had been found near the russian town of Novgorod.
Maria Semjonowa described the fragments and the conclusions of the historicans in her book on the slavonian people.
The bow has a setbacked handle and recurved tips and was built in lengths from 130-180cms.It is made as a lamination of birch as the back and juniper as the belly of the bow,the back and the sides of the bow have been sinew-backed.The recurves are made of spliced-in bones,the sides of the handle are reinforced with bone-plates.Finally the whole bow or the limbs have been wrapped with birchbark.
Maria Semjonowa described the bow to be as good as the english longbow and the historicans told that the usual range of such a bow was around 220m and more.It is also mentioned that the construction of the bow was made due to the best materials they could find in the region and due to the more wet and cold climate they could not use hornbows.
My reconstruction is now roughly tillered and not sanded,I?m not sure if I want to wrap the whole limbs with birchbark,cause I like to see the juniper.
I?ve shot the bow and I was really surprised by its speed and the range,200m no problem with a 50lbs drawweight at 26"(more draw is possible,but due to my crippled elbow of my left arm not for me).The length of the bow is 150cm.
I was surprised at all by the springiness of this lamination,I like to shot the sinewbacked juniper-bows of the West coast Indians,but this lamination is more convincingly.
Maria Semjonowa described the fragments and the conclusions of the historicans in her book on the slavonian people.
The bow has a setbacked handle and recurved tips and was built in lengths from 130-180cms.It is made as a lamination of birch as the back and juniper as the belly of the bow,the back and the sides of the bow have been sinew-backed.The recurves are made of spliced-in bones,the sides of the handle are reinforced with bone-plates.Finally the whole bow or the limbs have been wrapped with birchbark.
Maria Semjonowa described the bow to be as good as the english longbow and the historicans told that the usual range of such a bow was around 220m and more.It is also mentioned that the construction of the bow was made due to the best materials they could find in the region and due to the more wet and cold climate they could not use hornbows.
My reconstruction is now roughly tillered and not sanded,I?m not sure if I want to wrap the whole limbs with birchbark,cause I like to see the juniper.
I?ve shot the bow and I was really surprised by its speed and the range,200m no problem with a 50lbs drawweight at 26"(more draw is possible,but due to my crippled elbow of my left arm not for me).The length of the bow is 150cm.
I was surprised at all by the springiness of this lamination,I like to shot the sinewbacked juniper-bows of the West coast Indians,but this lamination is more convincingly.
Nice bow Hawk! This technique would be my best guess for a Scythian bow. -j-
Very nice bow :)
Have you any chance to shoot it with chrono. It would be interesting.
I tryed to start making similar but I had problems with right pice of juniper :(
Andrzej
Have you any chance to shoot it with chrono. It would be interesting.
I tryed to start making similar but I had problems with right pice of juniper :(
Andrzej
Jack,after having discussed the qualities of the Novgorod bow with Erhard Godehardt I will do a reconstruction of a Scythian bow with the "Nogorod technique".We have never excluded the possibility that the Scythians have built bows of laminated wood too.
Andrzej,there will be chrono-tests next week.
It is really difficult to find a more or less good piece of juniper.But it is definitely worth to look for it,cause of its springiness and little weight,but you need to back it.
Andrzej,there will be chrono-tests next week.
It is really difficult to find a more or less good piece of juniper.But it is definitely worth to look for it,cause of its springiness and little weight,but you need to back it.
Do you have closer pics?