Turkish bow pulls?
I recently re-read the Turkish bow section in Payne-Gallwey's "Crossbow". There he gives the measurements and construction details of a certain Turkish flight bow in his possession. The bow is 45" long, 1 1/8" wide, and half-inch thick at mid-limb, common figures for a flight composite. But then he tells the bow has a pull of 118 pounds at 25" (arrow length, not including siper-draw)! Later in the text Gallwey describes the bow as being a "mere plaything" compared to the really powerful flight composites...
Can this be? I'm under the impression most modern composite replicas are at least this wide and typically this thick, and certainly do not pull some 130 pounds at full draw - more like 60+.
I am in the process of starting my first Turkish-style flight composite and planned on using about 30mm for limb width and about 13 mm thickness to get a bow I can actually shoot well with, ie. 60- 70#. What do you think (I know - tough to say, due to differing relative amounts of horn, wood and sinew), is this way too much limb volume for a mid-weight 44" composite or did Gallwey have his scales badly off?
Tuukka
Can this be? I'm under the impression most modern composite replicas are at least this wide and typically this thick, and certainly do not pull some 130 pounds at full draw - more like 60+.
I am in the process of starting my first Turkish-style flight composite and planned on using about 30mm for limb width and about 13 mm thickness to get a bow I can actually shoot well with, ie. 60- 70#. What do you think (I know - tough to say, due to differing relative amounts of horn, wood and sinew), is this way too much limb volume for a mid-weight 44" composite or did Gallwey have his scales badly off?
Tuukka
Tuukka:
His measurements include the tips above nocks, so the bow is 42in ntn. A bow of this length, 1/2in thick at about mid-limb (this will be close to kasan, the sal is thicker towards the grip) will have the draw weight of 120lb at 28in, maybe a bit more depending on materials. The problem with the replicas is that people do not make them correctly. A flight bow must have the pronounced C-shape in the relaxed state and this can only be only achieved by: 1. pre-bending the core to this shape first, 2. gluing horn onto such core, 3. progressive reflexing after each layer of sinew and 4. additional reflexing into the pretzel shape to season for at least a year, preferably 3 years.
And lastly, the bow is supposed to bend when drawn not only close to the grip, but also further up with the sal/kasan area straightened in full draw, which means the bow will stack beyond 25-26".
Good luck
Adam
His measurements include the tips above nocks, so the bow is 42in ntn. A bow of this length, 1/2in thick at about mid-limb (this will be close to kasan, the sal is thicker towards the grip) will have the draw weight of 120lb at 28in, maybe a bit more depending on materials. The problem with the replicas is that people do not make them correctly. A flight bow must have the pronounced C-shape in the relaxed state and this can only be only achieved by: 1. pre-bending the core to this shape first, 2. gluing horn onto such core, 3. progressive reflexing after each layer of sinew and 4. additional reflexing into the pretzel shape to season for at least a year, preferably 3 years.
And lastly, the bow is supposed to bend when drawn not only close to the grip, but also further up with the sal/kasan area straightened in full draw, which means the bow will stack beyond 25-26".
Good luck
Adam