Limb length Turkish bows

[gorazd]

Seems the magyar might need to be sinew wrapped in handle and siyah.The turk version not.

I saw that some guys have wrapped the handle and siyahs transition on the turk and crimea-tartar bows too ... Maybe this is done only on heavy ones or after some delaminations ocurred ?

Some old mongol bows from13th century found in desert had cross wrappings on whole limb...

[BowEd]

Yes correct I believe it was done on some of the heavier Turk bows too.Guess that could be a determining factor on any style horn bow really.

[Stick Bender]

Old Tom started a interesting topic & disappeared..Ha ! but I'm learning a lot ,Bjoern thanks for the clarification on the limb angle ,with these Magyar it seems wrapping is more comon practice with the scarf joints there doesent seem to be as much artifactual evidence with that style as the Turk bows (3 &5 peace )so some is guess work ,but I have seen them made on other sights with the handle made like a Turk bow with the exception of the limb angle non wrapped I'm just wondering what kind of draw length you could exspect out of Toms bow with Bjoerns recommendation 47-48 in. Ntn. ?  I'm curious also if this style bow could be field strung with a primitive stringer as opposed to a bracing board ?

[Bjoern Sofeit]

You can approximate the drawlenght of a turk by dividing half the lenght NtN, taking limb lenght (excluding the grip) to the nock * 1.5

E.g. for the standard 108cm ntn turk, that is 54cm minus 5cm grip = 49cm.

So 49 * 1.5 = 73.5cm theoretical maximum drawlenght. Original war arrows were around 71cm long.

Modern bowyers sometimes like to wrap the Kasan Eye for safety when the bow is untwisted with heat - the sinew is removed after the corrections. Especially bows with matching grooves have problems there.

Another reason for wrapping the transition of working limb to ear is, that Magyar and Cagaan Chad type bows have the horn end right there. Without wrapping, the horn always needs to continue a couple of cm into a non-flexing part, lest it delaminates eventually. On the positive side, those bows can be built with relatively short horns!

Don't know if somebody calculated the ratio for Magyar bows or other types with non-flexible kasan eyes. The flexibility in that section adds a couple of centimeters more drawlenght. It should be something over 30" for those with rigid ears in a 120cm ntn bow.

About stringing them, bows with reflex in the grip are a bit harder to string. The large and rigid ears make them a bit unwieldy if you're a small person. It's better to have either a pegboard or a helper to string them, so everything is completely under controll. Never string a hornbow on the first time without Tepeliks!

[Stick Bender]

 Good morning Bjorean  at least its morning here 3:30 am thanks for the info thats impresive draw for short working limbs like those, I have a 29 in. Draw thats why I was asking with Toms bow as a comparison , the reason I was asking about the stringing I mostly use my bows for hunting & in my state while hunting state propertys you must unstring your bow to and from your hunting area ! All though I think they except locked cases , the interesting thing about the Maygar is you could make those bows with limited material shorter horn etc. Great thread here thanks !