Bows from Siberia

Russ Mitchell · Post by **Russ Mitchell** » Tue Jun 24, 2008 2:21 am

Kviljo wrote:Ahh, brilliant!

The long spike-arrowhead, was that considered a point for war/penetrating some kind of armour, or did it have some other use?

Hungarian archaeologists tend to state that they were used for hunting fur animals, as they would drop the animal, but do minimal damage to the valuable pelt.

Kviljo · Post by **Kviljo** » Tue Jun 24, 2008 6:50 am

Ashbow wrote:Kviljo,

I just love your two-wood bows!
If I may ask you how did you do the bowstrings?

Thank you

The strings both have seperate loops for the recurves, tied the same way as on turkish hornbows. The middle part is either endless loop, or with spliced loops in each end. The one to the left is hemp, with linnen loops, and the right one is all linnen.

Kviljo · Post by **Kviljo** » Tue Jun 24, 2008 6:53 am

Russ Mitchell wrote:
Kviljo wrote:Ahh, brilliant!

The long spike-arrowhead, was that considered a point for war/penetrating some kind of armour, or did it have some other use?
Hungarian archaeologists tend to state that they were used for hunting fur animals, as they would drop the animal, but do minimal damage to the valuable pelt.

I see! Do you know what that is based on? Ethnographical or historical sources?

redhawk · Post by **redhawk** » Tue Jun 24, 2008 9:14 am

I haven?t seen these longitudinal lines on the findings.

Even the laminations on the bows belly are decrowned, they?ve to do it cause the Siberian bowyers worked with small diameter- woods.

Michael

redhawk · Post by **redhawk** » Tue Jun 24, 2008 9:16 am

sorry, even the laminations on the bows back are decrowned.........

Michael

Ashbow · Post by **Ashbow** » Tue Jun 24, 2008 7:57 pm

Kviljo, thanks for your answer

Kviljo · Post by **Kviljo** » Wed Jun 25, 2008 9:04 am

redhawk wrote:sorry, even the laminations on the bows back are decrowned.........

Michael

Great stuff! Have you considered writing an article from your study? This information really deserves to get out to the archery community

- especially when considering the amount of work done on the simpler english longbow and other bow types.

Redhorse · Post by **Redhorse** » Wed Jun 25, 2008 1:14 pm

I hope I don't have understand the decrown wrong? But to make the belly part flat it needs some work and so the back part also. Is this what you refer as decrown?
Decrown the back as I understand is to make it flat on back side but follow the ring. For glue line it only had to be flat so they bond. And when glue is done it can be tiller as a selfbow. And back will get sinew.

Orda Khan · Post by **Orda Khan** » Wed Jun 25, 2008 2:51 pm

Small diameter staves are sometimes decrowned to achieve the required width of limb. The integrity of the growth ring is not maintained, the rounded back is removed to achieve a flatter profile.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed Jun 25, 2008 6:04 pm

Yes, decrowning is a way to achieve a flat back on a small diameter stave, I assume on a flat back tension is evenly distributed, a flat backed bow is therefore less likely to break and more durable than a a bow with a rounded one.
You can decrown the stave maintaining the wood fibers integrity of the back, you have to cut through the wood following the tree surface, than every growth ring will appear on the flat surface as two parallel lines (each one of the two on the opposite side of the middle of the stave) running along lenght of the back, the effect is supposed to be similar to following the surface of one growth ring on a wider in dimeter stave.

Ashbow · Post by **Ashbow** » Wed Jun 25, 2008 6:09 pm

Sorry, I have logged out during writing a post

I'm the above guest

redhawk · Post by **redhawk** » Thu Jun 26, 2008 9:17 am

.................I guess we?ve to move this thread to Making bows........

Ashbow is right in explaining the decrowning of a stave, the sinew- backing is a must.

The discovery of decrowning as a principle of construction is a kind of side- result I?ve found in Siberia. Mainly I was focused on the Scythian bow finding of olon kurin gol. But even this finding is made of decrowned slats.

Maybe the bigger trees growing in Siberia are to bad for making bows, but I don?t think so. There is a lot of birch, pine, juniper.....the Scandinavians made their 2 wood-laminations with such woods without decrowning them.
I guess the decrowning is done to get a rectangular cross- sections for to degrade the shear- forces of rounded cross- sections. So it is a principle of construction. I?m not sure about that, many other ideas are welcome.

Michael

Redhorse · Post by **Redhorse** » Thu Jun 26, 2008 12:11 pm

Assume the limb is 14mm and 40mm width. Glue line in middle you need 7mm wood, and a flat side few mm, so it takes a thick tree to make it. If you put on 3mm back with flat side it takes a wider tree. So decrown is a natural way to do it. And of course it needs sinew but that just makes a better bow

I use to tiller the bow before sinew and have break few that way (: but if it can't bend to brace without sinew it probably don't stay together at 28 inch draw.

Tamr The Nomad · Post by **Tamr The Nomad** » Fri Oct 03, 2008 6:27 am

I want one of these bows. I'm no bowyer so is anyone selling?

Stephen Selby · Post by **Stephen Selby** » Mon Oct 06, 2008 3:36 am

So this illustration could have been quite accurate. Perhaps it was engraved after a photograph.

Bows from Siberia

bows from Siberia.....

bows from Siberia.....

Re: bows from Siberia.....

bows from Siberia.............

I want one of those