New Turkish

mikekeswick · Post by **mikekeswick** » Sun Jan 03, 2016 8:29 am

I got the last sinew layer on my latest Turkish bow done last night. When I reflexed it after the glue gelled I noticed quite different bending characteristics between the limbs. I checked and double checked the dimensions and taper before sinewing and both limbs were the same. I hope I can get the balance back during tillering. I've put the layers on @ 1mm thick so shouldn't have too long to wait before they are dry enough.

mikekeswick · Post by **mikekeswick** » Mon Jan 04, 2016 1:21 pm

Here is a photo, the imbalance is quite clear.

Adam Karpowicz · Post by **Adam Karpowicz** » Tue Jan 05, 2016 12:32 am

Mike, I would not woory about it. I have had bows like that, where the limbs, upon reflexing, did not look balanced, despite careful measuring, etc. At the end, once tillered, the bows were fine.

I traced one such case to the horn lams. Both were exactly the same thickness at first, but to make the limbs symmetrical, I had to reduce one horn's thickness by about 1/4. Since the horns were not taken from a matched pair, I suppose it is possible one of them could be much stiffer.

Actually, the reflexing with heat and seasoning the bows, should help to balance the limbs, since the weaker one will reflex more and, hopefully retain more of the bend for greater effective stiffness.

Good luck with your bow

Adam

Bj?rn Sofeit · Post by **Bj?rn Sofeit** » Tue Jan 05, 2016 10:03 am

I had a similar problem in the first bow. You cannot trust the shape of the bow directly after the sinewing when the layers are still soft. Spots that might look too thin and take too much reflex might end up stiffer when the sinew is hard, especially if it's a spot where the bundles overlap.

mikekeswick · Post by **mikekeswick** » Wed Jan 06, 2016 8:02 am

Hi Adam, thank you for your insight. I was hoping that would be the case eg. tillering would take care of the imbalance.
I have made this one with an oak handle, hornbeam limbs and ash tips. I have tried to learn from my past failures and have made the sinew 3mm thick and the core/horn equal thicknesses through the bending section.
Bjorn - Yes thank you I don't think the wet sinew has much of an effect on the shape of the freshly reflexed core. I was more concerned that I must have had a discrepancy in the horn/core preparation and hadn't really thought about the potentially different stiffness of the two horns.

This time I used the method of soaking sinew in glue, combing flat, letting it gel then applying the gelled bundles. This seemed to work better for me in the colder climate here. I used to suffer problems with the glue gelling too quickly.

mikekeswick · Post by **mikekeswick** » Tue Jan 19, 2016 10:01 pm

Well here it is at full draw. About 55# @ 28.
It didn't take much tillering, there was a little twist in one kasan eye that I corrected with heat whilst opening the reflex but other than that it was very easy. I see that one kasan eye is opening more than the other but it is fairly minor. It shoots with very nice manners

A lovely noise and no handshock so i'm happy. I think I've managed to come quite close to the shape of an original warbow for the first time which i'm very pleased with.
I didn't leave it very long to dry so maybe the weight will increase a bit with time and further drying. I will test it through the chronograph soon.

paku · Post by **paku** » Wed Jan 20, 2016 7:50 am

Nice bow!

pcoutin · Post by **pcoutin** » Wed Jan 20, 2016 8:40 am

Niice.
how many bows have you made so far?? how does it look just braced??

mikekeswick · Post by **mikekeswick** » Thu Jan 21, 2016 6:49 pm

Thanks.
After shooting for a while I noticed a weak spot in the upper limb. I've corrected that now and have just got the limbs balanced again.
Unbraced it shows a little string follow but not much.

pcoutin · Post by **pcoutin** » Thu Jan 21, 2016 11:21 pm

You corrected the weak spot with heat somehow? Or by shaving the whole thing?

mikekeswick · Post by **mikekeswick** » Fri Jan 22, 2016 7:58 am

I had to remove a little horn at the kasan eye to enable it to straighten out more there. Before I removed the horn I tried exercising the kasan eye on the teplic but it didn't seem to help much. As it was staying more reflexed there than the lower limb it pushed a bit more bending load onto the sal. I noticed it after the bow had been strung and shot for a few hours.
Now i'm looking to shoot it a bit more and make sure the correction is stable and the balance between the limbs is good then i'll start thinking about finishing it up and maybe doing some painting on it like the originals.
My problem is that I can't find a supplier of thin enough leather in this Country. The thinnest I can find is around 1mm thick.

mikekeswick · Post by **mikekeswick** » Tue Feb 09, 2016 8:59 am

I've managed to get some thin kangaroo hide. I glued on the main back pieces and the sides of grip yesterday. There don't appear to be any spots where it hasn't stuck.
I have paints and necessary materials coming so that I can decorate this one properly.
I fear the hide is a bit too thick and heavy for my liking. However now that it is glued to the bow I will sand its thickness down somewhat.
I may also have found a supplier for horses rump leather. Time will tell!

veki · Post by **veki** » Mon Mar 28, 2016 7:19 am

Any news here? Already decorated?

mikekeswick · Post by **mikekeswick** » Tue Mar 29, 2016 6:25 am

The decorating moves forward...but slowly!
I've got it all painted with the base colours and am about halfway through adding the gold.
I can't wait to finish it up because I've made a new batch of flight arrows that i'm desperate to shoot and see the distances.

pcoutin · Post by **pcoutin** » Tue Mar 29, 2016 6:32 am

mikekeswick wrote:The decorating moves forward...but slowly!
I've got it all painted with the base colours and am about halfway through adding the gold.
I can't wait to finish it up because I've made a new batch of flight arrows that i'm desperate to shoot and see the distances.

Niiice, looking forward to seeing