Thread by @eranudturan

Making a composite bow. The style and construction is specific for #MingDynasty #China, but shares similarities with #Ottoman, Indo-Persian, and Korean bows too.



I’ll explain the steps: a thread

First, the Achilles’ tendon is separated. This will be dried out, and later pounded into fibres that will sit on the back of the bow (the side that faces away from the archer). Some of the animal’s skin is boiled and turned into glue that will be used to hold the wooden core.

The wooden core is shaped with 5 pieces all joined by V splices - a stiff handle, two flexible limbs, and two rigid tips. The V splice developed in the 10th or 11th C, and it allowed the angles between the handle, limbs, and tips to become much sharper.

Bows prior to this were usually made of longer pieces of wood that were steamed and bent into shape, and laminated to provide extra thickness and rigidity over the handle and rigid tips. Stiffness could be re-enforced with bone tips.

There are many different steps (and different ways) to shape a wooden core.

Afterwards, horn is prepared. Horn becomes v plastic when boiled and soaked, and you can turn a coiled water buffalo or ram horn into a flat sheet with boiling water and clamps.

The horn sits on the belly of the bow (the side facing the archer / facing the string). It must fit the wood perfectly, and a stronger bond is made by increasing the surface area. A set of grooving tools are used to make matching grooves on the wood and the horn to do this.

Typically, fish bladder glue is used to seal the horn (and sinew) onto the wood. Rope is tightly wrapped around the horn+wood composite to apply pressure everywhere and give a good bond with the glue.

The sinew has to be pounded to turn it from a single tendon to useable fibres. These are then soaked in fish swim bladder glue and applied to the back of the bow in overlapping layers.

The whole bow is pulled into a circle and allowed to dry.

To string, you have to uncurl the circle and gently bring it into a bow shape using a set of curved wooden blocks. After removing the blocks, you check for symmetry and an even curve, and begin the process of tillering - removing material to change the curvature.

Tillering is done to adjust the draw weight (force required to pull the bow), as well as making sure no specific spots on the bow are getting uneven stress or forces applied that might result in thr layers separating, or worse - breaking.

Bows like these are delicate, high maintenance, and high performance.

Flight bows (for distance) typically have narrow limbs and fine, thin tips, and are radically circular unstrung.

Warbows have broader limbs, thicker tips, and are have a more modest profile unstrung.

Sticking in the same time period, these differences are best seen by these two:

1) Manchu bow - big, broad, thick tips. Shoots a deadly heavy arrow a short distance to kill game / enemies

2) Ottoman flight bow - delicate and thin. Shoots a very light arrow a long distance

Bows from the 2nd / 1st C BC until 10th / 11th C AD were more akin to the Manchu type. A gentle unstrung curve (reflex) meant they could be carried unstrung in C shaped cases and strung only when needed. Examples are the bows from Miran

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