Define "Traditional Bow"?

Dan · Post by **Dan** » Tue Oct 16, 2012 9:31 pm

This is a question I am asking in various places: ?how would you define "traditional bow"?

Is a traditional bow one that is made in traditional materials to traditional designs with no modifications? ?Is it just any bow that has no cables, wheels or sights (I'm told that in America an Olympic recurve without the sights is considered "traditional" - this may be a sign of America's youth as a country ?that such things count as traditional...)

Realistically it probably falls somewhere in between but where? ?If I take a horsebow and make a custom pistol grip, is traditional?

Discuss...

MJuingong · Post by **MJuingong** » Mon Oct 29, 2012 7:08 pm

I define "traditional bow" as one made:
of materials prior to the plastic, fiberglass, etc. (i.e., non-synthetic) materials;
in the shapes and forms before the new ones bginning in the twentieth century.

So, to take your example, your imaginary horsebow passes the first, but flunks the second, test.

Now, we in the U.S., as you pointed out, seem to regard anything out of the wheel-and-pully as "traditional". So, your imaginary horsebow is, in the U.S., "traditional".

Dan · Post by **Dan** » Mon Oct 29, 2012 7:19 pm

Equally, you would say that a perfect replica of an historical bow but with a fibreglass core would fail the first test?

MJuingong · Post by **MJuingong** » Mon Oct 29, 2012 8:02 pm

Yes

However-remember,I'm the pedant. Most in U.S. would say it's "traditional".

Zoran Pavlovic · Post by **Zoran Pavlovic** » Tue Oct 30, 2012 1:59 pm

My opinion,
Only historical bow replica/reconstruction could be considered as real traditional bow and bows made traditional way (i.e. Korean, Ottoman, Magyar etc...) which belong to tradition and culture of certain nations or areas. I am shooting laminate/fiberglass Magyar and i would say i am shooting traditional bow only if bow is made of natural materials such as wood, horn, sinew and bone plates. Just my opinion and attitude

Cheers!!!

Kviljo · Post by **Kviljo** » Tue Oct 30, 2012 2:57 pm

Here in Norway, we have separated "Historical" bows from the traditional bows. The "Trad"-class consists of one-piece glass fiber bows with arrow shelfs but three-piece bows go into the "Barebow"-class or with sights into the "Recurve".

The historical class allows bows made from only natural materials, while modern strings and glues are allowed.

Amarutu · Post by **Amarutu** » Tue Oct 30, 2012 3:13 pm

For me, a "traditional bow" is word to separate. On the one hand bows which is completely optimized for precision shooting. On the other hand bow-designs which are optimized for an effect the arrow has to do, like flying a long distance, breaking through a plate armour or hunting for example.

When it comes to the material question I do not care about the material. A fibreglass bow, having the shape of an old design is as "traditional" as a take down recurve bow made for hunting purpose. But of course I would separate an all natural bow from a bow made of space-age material. Therefore I call the all natural ones historical, if they have a long known shape, or just natural bow, if they have a modern design.

Uli · Post by **Uli** » Tue Oct 30, 2012 7:38 pm

Ivar, I like the Norway subdefinition.

but also glue + string should be historically correct