Main Discussion Area > HowTo's and Build-a-longs
Asiatic Composite Build-Along
George Tsoukalas:
Lookin' good, TS. Glad you've made such phenomenal progress before the Series started-you lucky dog. I'm glad for you. Jawge
tom sawyer:
Jawge, I just work on the bow until the game comes on. Its a matter of time budgeting.
Pat there are composite designs that don't have that much reflex. Honestly though, this design is more from my head than from any particular artifact. I was thinking I'd get more reflex out of the sinew, the horn on the belly must have made it too stiff. In any case, the bow has a good 4" of reflex and that is probably enough for my maiden voyage. I've heard of horn being spliced, mostly I think it is butt-splicing to get more length and not parallel splicing like I did. Most horn is wide enough, but not always as long as we'd like. As for performance, it'll be what it is and I'm not worried about setting any records. Just having it hold together is my goal. It should do alright because the horn is thin now and the sinew layer isn't terribly thick either. I chose a bamboo core and the walnut siyahs because these materials are lightweight. Drying time on the sinew was adequate but I'm sure it'll continue to gain weight for a few months, might even show some more reflex now that the horn is thinned and the limbs are not so stiff. In all, my guess is that this bow will slightly outperform a same-length sinewed osage bow with similar reflex, just becuase the limb mass is going to be slightly less. And I'll look cool!
Update:
Today I wrapped both the handle/fades and the inner siyah areas where the horn terminates, with sinew. There's a pic on the link above. Now for more waiting. When its dry, I'll cover the back with silk and put some finish on the siyahs.
Mims questioned my choice to cut out my siyahs rather than bending them. IU've thought this over a bit, and examined the bow. I kind of like how the grain is running on the walnut. I cut the siyahs out of a board rather than bending wood. This has the grain running parallel where the siyah is spliced to the core, and at an angle of maybe 30 degrees in the direction of the outer siyah. This offest means that the string is not pushing straight into the grain at the nock. I've had nocks split in the past, and I think the angle of the grain will help to prevent this. The fact that walnut is also only semi-ring-porous is good too, theres no spring ring to be the weak link that splits when the string is pushing/cutting into the nock. I'll put a bit of leather in the nock just in case, but I don't know that it needs it.
PatM:
Lennie, I believe most Indo-persian bows were made with about five strips of horn on the belly of the limbs. You can look at the Khotan bow on ATARN as another example of a multi-strip bow. Pat
tom sawyer:
I'll definitely check it out. I wouldn't necessarily want to have more joints to try and get mated, than necessary. But its nice to be abel to use these skinny strips after paying $30 for the horn.
DCM:
Looks fantastic Lennie. Hope the little damaged area doesn't spoil it. Still, for a first project I'd say it turned out great.
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