composite bow making
Hello, this is my first time on this forum. After I am finished with an armor project, I want to try my hand at bowmaking, specifically a Mongolian composite bow with wood horn and sinew. I know some people will say that making a bow like how I am planning to, but I want to make it legal for SCA style combat archery, with a maximum draw weight of 35# or less at a 28' maximum pull. Can anyone give me advice on the subject? Possibly how thick the wood, horn and sinew layers should be if I want to have it about 45 to 50 inches when unstrung?
I forgot to include something in a sentence in my post. I meant to say that some people will think it is crazy to try to make a bow to the specs I want.
If I remember SCA arrow requirements correctly, your arrows will be well over 600 grains at 28 inches. It isn't easy to make a light weight bow to shoot heavy arrows any great distance.
hi,
Bede is right, think about it, I think you need 50lbs at least.
The horn in the bending parts of such a bow should have a thickness of 2mm plus, it changes along the length of a limb, same with the wooden core, 4mm plus.
There are different kinds of Mongolian hornbows, if you have done your choice take the shape and the measurements of the siyahs and the handle as in the original.
Back the bow with at least 2 layers of sinew, it depends on your desired drawweight.
Good luck, Michael
Bede is right, think about it, I think you need 50lbs at least.
The horn in the bending parts of such a bow should have a thickness of 2mm plus, it changes along the length of a limb, same with the wooden core, 4mm plus.
There are different kinds of Mongolian hornbows, if you have done your choice take the shape and the measurements of the siyahs and the handle as in the original.
Back the bow with at least 2 layers of sinew, it depends on your desired drawweight.
Good luck, Michael
Well... I am not exactly in the SCA. I am in an organization called Amtgard, and it is more fantasy roleplay based. I intend to use lighter arrows to accomodate a lighter bow.
The SCA requirements in Washington (Kingdom of An Tir) would be 30 pounds at 28". The 600 inch pounds only refers to crossbows but the with an eight inch braceheight it works out to be same.
I have built a sinew backed bamboo bow with siyahs but no horn at light weight but the problem is that sinew is too heavy for that light of bow. You need to bring the bow weight up higher to really benefit. I ended up calling the bow "Slug" after the snail-like creature common in the pacific northwest. I learned a bit about processing and applying sinew which was the main goal of the exercise.
The SCA is not AMTGARD and I have restrictions on the arrows I shoot as well. Most of my combat arrows weigh over a 1000 grains so you really need a fast efficient bow to get reasonable arrow speed. With the 'Slug' and one of my combat arrows, I would be able to only hit people snoozing.
What you might consider is a bamboo to bamboo bow with the siyahs attached. That is what I will be trying next but not for combat. I am just trying to make a reasonably efficient light weight bow and experiment before tackling a real hornbow.
I have built a sinew backed bamboo bow with siyahs but no horn at light weight but the problem is that sinew is too heavy for that light of bow. You need to bring the bow weight up higher to really benefit. I ended up calling the bow "Slug" after the snail-like creature common in the pacific northwest. I learned a bit about processing and applying sinew which was the main goal of the exercise.
The SCA is not AMTGARD and I have restrictions on the arrows I shoot as well. Most of my combat arrows weigh over a 1000 grains so you really need a fast efficient bow to get reasonable arrow speed. With the 'Slug' and one of my combat arrows, I would be able to only hit people snoozing.
What you might consider is a bamboo to bamboo bow with the siyahs attached. That is what I will be trying next but not for combat. I am just trying to make a reasonably efficient light weight bow and experiment before tackling a real hornbow.
A bamboo bow, like Jim suggested, might be a good type to try. Here is a simple one my son built. I built several like it and they work amazingly well.
http://198.66.52.119/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=194
Thomas
http://198.66.52.119/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=194
Thomas