Manchu Bow

[dragonman]

Hi, guys, I havent posted for a while and I notice a lot of new names, so hello to everyone I haven't 'met'.  I thought I'd post some pics of my latest efforts and stay in touch! I was gonna wait till it was all finnished, but these bows take so loooong!! This is my version of a Chinese 'manchu' bow, I'm not too up on exact historical bow types and I dont really like making 'replicas', so it may not be historically acurate but I'm hoping it shoots well, I'll find out in 6 months when the sinew is seaoned. It is 48" ntn, buffalo horn belly, lemonwood core and scottish red deer stag sinew, which I luckily managed to get out in 12" lengths with carefull treatment. Oh , and local white oak sahiyas taken from a natural bent branch. Hope you like it, I'll post more when finnished and decorated.

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[Josh]

That's gonna turn out nice.  Cant wait to see it finished! 

[Del the cat]

Oh man that's some serious bow making.
I kneel in your general direction, I can't wait to se that thing uncurl.
Del

[AncientArcher76]

Some great work involved already and to think ur not into replicas to use horn and make shape of or to build something has been done so in a sense it still is a great replica and a fine job to boot!  Good work!  Cant wait to u get er done!

Russ

[half eye]

Sweet Jesus, man......dont know what the draw weight is going to be....but it looks mucho tough. Very nice
rich

[dragonman]

thanks guys, the sinew has to be filled down and neatened up, but by my calculations(guessings) it should be around 70-75lbs, thing is , these bows need to be heavy to be efficient, otherwise the heavy tips slow it down. I've get to get in training now to shoot it next year

[medicinewheel]

Beautiful work dragon!
But from what I know this is rather a turkish bow (flightbow) but a mandchu bow. I have a manchu style bow of 68" with setback handle.
And it certainly looks TOUGH!

[Thwackaddict]

Sweet!!!!!One of these days I'll attempt one.Cant wait to see that thing come to life!!Good job!!

[dragonman]

Medicinewheel, like I said, I'm no historian, its shorter than most manchus, same size as a turkish, but the turks didnt splice their sahiyas. The core is in one peice like a manchu with natural bent sahiyas I believe. The turks spliced steamed limbs incorporating the sahiyas to a seperate handle. So it must be a kinda hybrid. Really, I just thought manchu sounded cooler than turkish

[Parnell]

That looks great - those bows are still one of those things that just make me sit here and scratch my head at how you are able to get the wood to reflex that extensively.  Looking forward to it, Dragonman.

[shikari]

Looks great so far David,wish you luck and patience.
P.J.

[KenH]

Parnell - the hard part is finding 3 men and a boy to assist you in stringing thee bow every time you want to go out and shoot!

[Pat B]

Very cool Dragonman.    I have one in my future also. James Parker gave me his copy of "Ottoman Turkish Bows" by Adam Karpowicz and I've been slowly reading it in preparation.
  Can't wait to see the unfolded version when the time comes. The wait can be devastating. Time to start a new project and forget this one for a while. 

[medicinewheel]

... The turks spliced steamed limbs incorporating the sahiyas to a seperate handle. ...

The turks actually used both spliced in and steam bend siyahs according to Adam Karpowisz' book.
But no matter what you'd call it, it's a great little bow!

[dragonman]

thanks Shikari, nice to hear from you again
you're probaly right Medicineman, thanks anyway
thanks Pat,yeh,you're right,Its on hold for a while now
Yes Ken,stringing these things is a big problem I believe, dangerous too
I shall'nt be making too many of these, but had to give it a go,it hard to believe its gonna bend back again, but they do. I'm gonna be wearing a crashhelmet and goggles after a sahiya broke on my last attempt and nearly hit me in the head.I'm still traumatised!!! and even if it fails at least I no I gave it my best shot.
thanks Parnell and Thwack