Bronze bow

[dwardo]

I bumped into another bowyer whilst on holiday last years and he had a steel bow.
He mentioned that they were popular around WW2. Basicaly a hollow tube. I didnt want to shoot it as it was pretty rare but it was an amazing thing.

[Scowler]

I've never heard of a metal bow being made in the Bronze Age.  Who made them?

[egstonvonbrick]

>>Steel bows

I have seen a few of these and i beleive they were popular in the post war years in the UK.
(sadly i can't seem to find much on them)

Our club coach said that they fell from grace as they suffered from fatique and gace no warning of their impending (often painful) demise. He even said because of this that people wore caps to protect themselves.

I did check it wasn't April the first!

He also said quite afew were of the take down variety with the little sprung ball-bearings to locate them.

Back to the bronze age... yep as previously noted any reference to soemthing like this would be great.

Cheers
Ev

[Justin Snyder]

I have a steel bow.  It is actually a pretty nice bow, about 40# draw weight and a lot lighter physical weight than you would expect.

The only bronze age bow I have seen was mostly deteriorated and barely recognizable as a bow. At least half of the metal was gone.

[Dane]

I'd love to see photos or more info about this bronze age bow. One of the big drawbacks with bronze swords and spears and such is they are fragile, and can shatter easily, but I suppose various alloys were developed to mitigate that problem.

Philon wrote about 200 BC about a wedge catapult that utilized bronze springs that replaced sinew rope torsion springs, and another engineer, Ctesibius, claimed to have developed some sort of springy bronze. Bronze was used in other applications, such as tweezers and springs of various kinds.

As for spring steel, that was perfected for use launching arrows around the 13th or 14th centuries. I am starting a crossbow with a very powerful steel bow hand forged in Germany. The specs are:

String length: 645mm / 25.39”
Cross Section in Center: 40mm x 11.5mm / 1.57” x .452”
Cross Section on Outer Limb: 31mm x 8mm / 1.220” x 0.314”
Bracing: 65mm / 2.559”
Spanned: 150mm / 6.102”:   Weight: 367 kg / 807.4 lbs.
Spanned: 160mm / 6.299”:   Weight: 403kg / 886.6 lbs.
Bow Weight: 1908g / 4 lb. 3 oz.

Steel bows can give you enormous power. The above bow is whimy compared to some of the great bows used for seige warfare.

[rossfactor]

I swear Tom Mills or somebody did a Bronze Age build-along.  But it is too distant in the memory banks.

[danlaw]

Thanks for all the posts. From my reading it appears various nations specialized in their own type of weapons; apparently there is reference from antiquity that for awhile the 'Hebrew's' were known to use brass or bronze bows.  Makes sense that they'd try it since they were already quite accomplished in metal work and were stuck in a super hot/dry climate where wood may fail. Apparently there's a zillion different recipes for bronze, so I am sure something springy and fairly strong is possible. Justin, where did you see that bow? I'd love to get a general sketch of the pattern. Dane, can you steer me in the right direction for those readings? I am just finishing up a year of ancient greek, so I might check that out. Might be some clues as to composition. thanks again all. Great answers all around (the guy dying thing was a heads up for sure!)

[rileyconcrete]

There is a verse in the bible that refers to a bow of bronze.

Tell

[Justin Snyder]

Dan, it was a museum specimen, but for the life of me I cannot remember where it was. There is no way of knowing what the alloy actually was since it wasn't tested.

The thing to remember about most "bronze bows" is that they were actually wood bows with bronze decorative handle sleeves and bronze tips. Some had brass laminate on limbs too, but it was more like a gold overlay.... super thin. Like I said, the one was the only one I saw that was an all metal bow of whatever alloy.

[Dane]

Thanks, Justin, no sweat. And sort of related, I have a two volume set of books about the bows in the King Tut tomb (Self Bows and Other Archery Tackle from The Tomb of Tut'Ankhamun, W. McLeod, and Composite Bows from The Tomb of Tut'Ankhamun, W. McLeod). At least one was covered totally in gold leaf. The author thinks that these bows were never meant to ever be drawn in this world, as the leafing would be ruined immediately. Pretty kit for the next life, I guess. Tons of drool-worthy bows and equipment, amazing photos from the Carter dig, just neat books overall.

Danlaw, here is some info on catapults. This link is not to a commercial site, but there are some ads in there, obligatory I guess for many free sites to keep them "free" , so if the moderaters want to disable it, please do so with my applogies. It is an old Scientific American article from the 1970s, with very nice illustrations.  mlahanas.de/Greeks/war/Catapults The name of the article, so you can google it, is "Ancient Catapults", by Werner Soedel and Vernard Foley.

Get yourself through interlibrary loan copies of two books by Eric Marsden. They are expensive to purchase, about 50 dollars each, but since you read ancient Greek, you will really dig them, as they include the Greek as well as Latin original texts, along with English translations and the author's own work. The books are Greek and Roman Artillary: Historical Development, EW Marsden, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-814268-4, and Greek and Roman Artillary: Technical Treatises, EW Marsden, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-814269-2. They were originally published in the late 1960s and early 1970s, so much of his work is a bit dated (and somewhat controversial, as the entire field of ancient artillary can be very contentious at times), but still the bellweather for ancient artillary research in the English speaking world. A bit dry, but facinating stuff overall.

Dane

[crooketarrow]

  I know someone that lashed old steel casting fishing poles together with sinew cover the whole bow with it and put it in a wooden handle. 3 PER LIMB I think it came out around 62"s, 50#'s @ 28 1/2" his draw. He even killed a doe with it. He had a ALU. recurve that gave him the idea.
   He'd also in some research on metal bows you all speak of. I think he found metal bows that had been make in 4 different countrys. Thats been 10 or 12 years ago I've lost track of him through the years so not sure if he moved on and made any bows or not. But I'll look him up and find out.

[Dane]

I swear Tom Mills or somebody did a Bronze Age build-along.  But it is too distant in the memory banks.

Tom Mills did a copper-age bow, and it is in the Bowyers Bible Vol. 4. But it was a self bow, made with stone and copper tools.

Dane

[Mangeur de lard]

I remember of reading about both steel and aluminum bows being made after ww2. If I attempted a metal bow I'd go for steel way before alu as it has much better fatigue resistance and would nat be as likely to snap anytime. If it's good enough for leaf springs it can probably be made into a bow. Interesting project for sure!

[Slackbunny]

This makes me wonder about the possibility of a wooden bow backed with a strip of steel sheeting. Something to think about anyway.

[dbb]

I have one of Seefabs steel bows. It is a takedown 62" ttt 62#@28" i have shot it but im not really comfortable with it so its mostly a wallhanger.
If someone like to see it i could take a pic and post.

/Mikael