history of the stringbridge

bowyer tom · Post by **bowyer tom** » Sat Jan 27, 2007 12:00 pm

I?m not sure where this subject belongs, hence it is also in the general dpt.
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Is it anyone of you, brothers in bows, that would tell me when the stringbridge first came into use. Where did it happen and is there perhaps reports on the findings. I assume that stringbridges has been in use for quite some time, but it is difficult for me to find the evidence...

Bede · Post by **Bede** » Sun Jan 28, 2007 1:04 pm

The first picture I have seen of a string bridge on a bow is in the World History of Rashid ed-Din. It was painted in the early thirteen hundreds in Iran under the Mongols. Most bows in the manuscript have no string bridges shown, but one used by Rustem shooting his brother does (his brother had just ambushed him).

Later they turn up in Chinese illustrations. I think it is just an accident of survival which place is first. They are most likely associated with the Mongol conquests though who in the empire invented them is anyone's guess.

bowyer tom · Post by **bowyer tom** » Sun Jan 28, 2007 6:54 pm

As I understand, if asociated with the mongols and their conquest the stringbridges might have been around as early as Djingis Khan, and then again they might not. Is there any evidences of chinese(i.e modern main land China) bows that predates Djingis Khan with stringbridges?

Bede · Post by **Bede** » Mon Jan 29, 2007 12:59 am

Most of the Chinese bows of the period before the rise of the Mongols did not have recurved tips so they could have string bridges. They have straight siyahs which the string only touches at the very ends.

However, there are indications that people were starting to build in a kind of default recurvature by using short loops and thick tips to the siyahs. Recurved tips like Turkish bows would have developed before string bridges and the Turks appear not to have needed them at all. The similar and larger Crimean Tatar and Persian bows of the Safavid periods did. They are prominent in paintings of Ming Chinese bows as well.

jack farrell · Post by **jack farrell** » Mon Jan 29, 2007 2:29 am

I see string bridges to have origionally been a kind of repair. There are plenty of Turkish bows with bridges, as there are plenty without. If one were to missjudge the correct angle of the bend at the sayiah and bending the limb was insufficient or undesirable, the bow could be saved by adding a bridge.

I don't see any evidence that its addition improves performance. The added shock and noise are not a plus. Just my thoughts. -j-