Scythian bow

jack farrell · Post by **jack farrell** » Fri Aug 17, 2012 5:14 pm

I started a new bow this week. Because my last one had such extreme asymmetry, I decided to make this one less so; more in the tradition of the Silk Road Museum one. My recent problem has been correctly estimating the draw strength of a bow and making them so that I cannot comfortably shoot them every week. There is little that one can do to lower the draw weight of a finished bow because the core is encased by horn and sinew and the wood is the stiffest part of the bow.

The thing that so thrills me about my NA sheephorn bow, just horn and sinew, is its ability to be so overdrawn. Mine also suffered a fantastic mishap by the string coming off at full draw without having any damage. And because the horn and sinew are always available for tillering, you are not done till you think you are done. is this sounding crazy?

So I am marrying the two techniques to see what happens. All of my pieces of extra "side wall" ibex horn are being processed into the traditional "standing" joinery seen in Stephen's Yanghai construction but without any wood. All the standing slats will be ibex horn.

The horn slats have been cut down to 1/2 inch height except in the grip and are shaped with gas flame stove to the shape of the finished bow, random grooved with a metal saw blade, glued, and stacked on top of each other also using standing lap joints seen in the originals.

I do not pretend that this represents an original, though it might. A special press was made to compress the layers flat to the pattern, which was covered in clear plastic sheeting to repel glue. Also, a single layer of inner tube strips joins the horn pieces in the glue up. This allows to check for squeeze out and the application of extra heat to that end.

So, strange as this process is, my hopes are high.

jack farrell · Post by **jack farrell** » Fri Aug 17, 2012 5:25 pm

Am not sure anyone needs one of these but it is helpful for standing lam construction. It is a strong bed with strong beam suspended over it with spring clamps for tension. The inner tube strips are also used, one layer only for accurate spacing underneath.

Uli · Post by **Uli** » Fri Aug 17, 2012 6:30 pm

Jack, thanks for posting, I'm eager to see how this project develops..

Kviljo · Post by **Kviljo** » Fri Aug 17, 2012 6:59 pm

Nice! This will be very interesting to follow

Your clamping device is really cool, hehe. Did you grab the idea from somewhere, or is it a personal invention? Very artistic.

If there is time for it this coming winter, I hope to "have a go" at the same type of bow too. It's such an intriguing and fluid design. - and I didn't realize the brilliant feature of the standing core untill now. As long as the horizontal pieces of horn are not attached, it should be possible to tiller the bow in the same way as a wooden bow.

PAZUZU · Post by **PAZUZU** » Fri Aug 17, 2012 9:05 pm

Hello Jack.
I am glad to see your new project. 'll watch your work because I'm working on a similar project, and I have many unanswered questions. by the way - do you have problems with slippage of lamellae in gluing processes?

PAZUZU

jack farrell · Post by **jack farrell** » Fri Aug 17, 2012 10:30 pm

Pazuzu; Slippage is a grand problem. I mark with ink the exact location; make one turn with the inner tube, align and proceed. The tube keeps the edges pretty well aligned. Some small pressure with clothes pin clamps can help.

Ivar, this is my design. Did anyone do something like this before? But the spring clamps are useful for construction, ie. shoring up a ceiling. This is a miniature adaption.

Vonegelut · Post by **Vonegelut** » Sat Aug 18, 2012 9:44 am

Jack it is very unusual, smart & original way to build the Scythian bow!
I wish you goodluck!
What does it means extra "side wall"? What kind of Ibex horn do you use here? Siberian or maybe North American species or others?

jack farrell · Post by **jack farrell** » Sat Aug 18, 2012 12:37 pm

Vonegelut; These are Nubian Ibex and Agrimi (I will have to look that up). I only wish I had Siberian Ibex. There are some here but they have not been available to me yet.

There is the outside curve of the horn which we all want and the inside curve which can also be used and if you cut those off a horn what is left over is the side of the wall of the horn, sidewall.

Vonegelut · Post by **Vonegelut** » Sat Aug 18, 2012 3:20 pm

[quote="jack farrell"]Vonegelut; These are Nubian Ibex and Agrimi (I will have to look that up). I only wish I had Siberian Ibex. There are some here but they have not been available to me yet.

There is the outside curve of the horn which we all want and the inside curve which can also be used and if you cut those off a horn what is left over is the side of the wall of the horn, sidewall.

Ok, understood

I read about the Nubian, their horns looks more curved. And Agrimi habits Crete island.

jack farrell · Post by **jack farrell** » Wed Aug 29, 2012 4:41 pm

This is the raw material for the bow core. It turned out to be half enough for the core.

jack farrell · Post by **jack farrell** » Wed Aug 29, 2012 4:47 pm

This is the bending jig. Horn strips were prepared with smooth faces and edges. Several inches at a time were heated over a low flame to allow the heat to soak in. Sidewall of Ibex is thin, between 1/8 to a max of less than 1/4 inch thick. About one minute is needed to sufficiently bend the horn. Some strips were bent by hand and quenched with water. Others were allowed to cool in the bending jig.

Vonegelut · Post by **Vonegelut** » Thu Aug 30, 2012 11:14 am

jack farrell wrote:This is the bending jig. Horn strips were prepared with smooth faces and edges. Several inches at a time were heated over a low flame to allow the heat to soak in. Sidewall of Ibex is thin, between 1/8 to a max of less than 1/4 inch thick. About one minute is needed to sufficiently bend the horn. Some strips were bent by hand and quenched with water. Others were allowed to cool in the bending jig.

Wow! Such a good loking side strips of Ibex horn

I like this jigs! And how long this strips will stay on forms?

jack farrell · Post by **jack farrell** » Thu Aug 30, 2012 12:48 pm

It takes only one or two minutes to heat a strip and about 5 or 10 minutes to cool. It is surprising just how little spring back there is. You can use a fan or water to speed up the cooling.

But let us wait to see if this technique is successful.

jack farrell · Post by **jack farrell** » Fri Aug 31, 2012 2:33 am

These 5 pre bent pieces make up the center most layer. The thick narrow ends will form the nock pegs in the final bow. All together the bow comprises a 5 piece layer, two four piece layers, a 3, and a two of very long pieces plus three riser pieces which are thick. The layers are arranged so that the splices do not occur near each other. These splices are about 2 inches in length. One layer was completed, smoothed flat, textured, and another added.

So to make this bow, 20 individual, separate horn glue-ups were necessary.

One surprise is that several extra long pieces of Nubian Ibex horn have white upper sections. This I have not seen before.

jkekoni · Post by **jkekoni** » Fri Aug 31, 2012 9:18 am

WOW! Absolutely cool. All horn Scythian bow.

Yes it is going to be slower that the traditional and even more slow than horn bellied wood bow, but that is not the point. Much more cool, and probably more durable (or is it?).

Scythian bow

Scythian bow

Re: Scythian bow