Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: CTBowyer on June 11, 2007, 12:24:10 pm
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Hi all,
I've been making bows for a couple years now. I've made selfbows and backed ones a plenty but now I want to try a sinew/horn Turkish style composite. Anyone know roughly what the dimensions should be? (thickness of core, thickness of horn, #layers of sinew, angle of siyahs, etc...) I'm aiming at making a 50-55" bow that pulls about 50# @ 28". Any help in figuring this out would be great.
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this might help. http://198.170.108.27/phpBB2/index.php
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Here's a bow I made not too long ago. I think there's enough info with the pics to give you some idea of the dimensions. It has settled in at closer to 62lb@28" now.
http://s96.photobucket.com/albums/l200/62tomsawyer/Asiatic%20Composite%20Bow/
http://groups.msn.com/LenniesBowPage/abcwannabes.msnw?Page=1
I can tell you that its kind of tough to predict exactly what weight you are going to have as far as poundage. There are a lot of variables. Limb length, limb width, amount of reflex, angle of siyahs, thickness of core, thickness of sinew, thickness of horn. Leave the horn belly over 1/8" thick if you can, because you can tiller with the thickness that way. It works very nicely with a scraper.
I was surprised I didn't get more reflex when I sinewed the bow, but I'm kind of glad it came out this way. It was stout enough as it was. If I do another, I'll probably use a slightly thinner core and slightly more sinew and horn.
One other tip, one of my siyahs is slightly crooked. Pay special attention to lining things up when you do your v-splices, it doesn't take much to get it crooked. The splice cuts weren't crooked, there's just a little play in them so you can get a "leaner" if you aren't careful.
The whole time I was making this bow, I really figured it was jut going to blow up. Amazingly, it has survived and even shoots pretty darn good.
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http://198.170.108.27/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=716&start=15
(sorry about that... took the url from the wrong window, lol)
Someone posted some good dementions for a beginners hornbow, it's the first download (needs acrobat reader, which is free). Those dementions should at least give you a starting point. should at least give you a starting point.
Good luck.
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Thanks guys, really big help. (Now I just need to wait for the horn to get here so I can begin!)
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Lots to be done while you wait. Core prep, sinew prep, siyah prep, handle piece prep.
If you haven't seen it, Thomas Duvernay's DVD on making Korean bows is a good instructional video. You don't have to make a Korean bow to get something out of it.