Question about the horns.

archer7k · Post by **archer7k** » Sat Sep 08, 2012 2:46 pm

Hi everyone !
I am a new member here , and i really liked this site and I found here lots of good information <<< Thank you >>>.
And I was reading "Kitab fi bayau fadl al-qaws w-al-sahm wa-awsufihim" so after that I decided to make a bow like the Arabic bow ( I know that the exact length of its parts < but I will figure that out > even if i did it wrong , I will try another lengths) but this is not my problem .
the horn is my problem ,,, I understand from this book that the arabs used horn that of the goat, and The best bows are those the horn of which is made of four to six pieces ....
I tried lots of time to get horns from the goat , but I can not find any one good , all of it are very small and the tallest one was 4 inches ,,, that is too bad >>
Now I want your advice , what kind of horn should I use now . I need a good one . should I use the horn of the carabao or water buffalo ?
and one more question , Is there any website that i can get the horn from ?
I hope that i can make an arabic bow , that will be hard but I will do my best .

Uli · Post by **Uli** » Sun Sep 09, 2012 9:52 am

Welcome !

Water buffalo will work. for the goat horn you probably need to cut, boil, and straighten it. I have not done that myself however.
You can get water buffalo from Highland Horn in Scotland or Pfeilschaft.de in Germany or Dictum Company, or from Members of this forum (see there).

PS: The book "Arab Archery" contains quite exact measures of the bow, and "Saracen Archery" is even more precise.

archer7k · Post by **archer7k** » Sat Sep 15, 2012 11:06 am

Thank you Uli

I heard few days ago that there are nubian ibexes in somewhere in the mountains near to my city .

If I could hunt nubian ibexes ,do you think that its horn will be good or not ?

if i could not get its horn, I will buy horn of Water buffalo.
I will download and read "Saracen Archery" to know more informations .
Thank you again.

Uli · Post by **Uli** » Sat Sep 15, 2012 1:21 pm

ibex is probably one of the most classical horn to make bows.

I'd not recommend to hunt ibex, as it is an endangered animal in many places. on the other hand the indian water buffalo horn is more dense and makes a stronger bow.

good luck !

archer7k · Post by **archer7k** » Sat Sep 22, 2012 4:18 pm

ok , I will take your advice , I won't hunt it ( I don't want to be one of the reason of ending this kind

).
I will get water buffalo horn .