precoating the prod all over its length at least 4 times

The wrappings are enforcing the joints of the horn- slats and the recurves

After having wrapped the prod with the sinew- bundles, the prod is wrapped with cotton- or silk cloth for to press the fibres as close as possible to the prod

2 weeks later the cloth- wrapping is removed- the prod is ready for the backing

About a quarter of  prod´s thickness will be the sinew- backing,  3- 4 layers of sinew- fibre- bundles has to be prepared. According to a total length of 30″ minus the recurves about 25″ of the prod´s length and an average- width of 2″ incl. the sides of the prod , so about 50 sq.inches have to be backed. As a total that means 4-5 buffalo- leg- sinews have to be spliced, at least a job of 8h.

The backed prod- one day after the backing

Closer and better sideview at the backing- one day after it has been done. The backing is still about 1/2" in thickness, when it is dry it will have about 1/3"- 1/4" of the prods thickness.

Waiting time! At first I planned to finish the prod in April or May, that´s to less time for the polymerisation. I´ll do it at the end of August, 9 month after having backed the prod.

So next volume will be focused on the braced and ready to final tiller- work prod.

Related articles

• Hornbows Vol.5- the crossbow- final shaping of the horn- lamination (redhawk55.wordpress.com)

The first bracing of the crossbow will be soon, I think it will be in April, my report about its making of is time delayed.

After having “puzzled” pieces of horn to a solid block, the block needs to be roughly shaped and the recurves have to be attached. I wanted to use antler as recurves, but I can´t get any antler solid enough for a heavy hornbow, so I ended up in using tips of the waterbuffalo- horns I´ve used anyway for the bow.

Checking the horn- body of the bow- sideview

There is a slight reflex in it, that´s what I wanted, don´t care about any imperfections here, the hornbow needs to be shaped, it´s still to wide, to thick to long.

Rough layout of the final shape for to attach the recurves matching the centerline

The bow has to be cut according to a centerline at 23″ in length, width is 11/2″ in the center, tapering to 1″ at the beginning of the recurves, thickness is about 3/4″ . Thickness and oval cross- section will be worked before wrapping and backing bow.

The recurves will be spliced in, the splice measures 3 3/4″ in length, the recurve itself is 4″ in length. So the bow will end up at 31″ in length.

The v- splice for the recurves

A v- splice is stable enough, even at such high draw- weights, the bow will be wrapped with sinew- fibers completely and sinew- backed. When the splice is cut the recurve will be worked for to fit in the bow.

Even I prefer hand- saws I use my bandsaw with a slaughterhouse- blade for to splice in the recurves

The v- splice is finally worked with a rasp and a handsaw

Checking the fitting of the recurves- the tips of the recurves have to be in line with the handle- section of the bow

For a proper glueing all glue lines are criss- cross hatched with a saw- blade, before final glueing is done, the glue- lines have to be coated with a thin solution of hide-glue.

Next volume is dealing with the shaping of the cross- section, the wrapping and backing of the bow with sinew.

winter has just begun- snow and ice at the creek behind our barn

all is white, grey, black, icy

There is much less snow and cold down in the valleys, to live in the heights of the Black Forest in winter is an extraordinary experience. You really feel a bit lonesome.

And it´s every year the same story, everything seemed to be prepared well, but every year you´ve forgot something.

When it comes to sinew- backing I´m getting always enthusiastic. It´s such a great technique and a prime example for an absolutely sensemaking cooperation of humans and nature. It´s a highly holistic and synergetic technique. Maybe we´ve heard something like…….” the old ones have used every part of a hunted animal………….”. It comes true when making a sinew- backing. For to make a sinew- backing we need leg- sinews and hide- glue, so called by- products of a fine steak(I´m a vegetarian, using the “waste” of the meat eaters?). I could philosophize hours about sinew- backing…

The principle is to enforce the back of a bow to withstand the tension when drawn by using  one the most flexible fibres and glues nature offers( nature is never cheap, it is always luxurious). So a modern backing made of artificial fibres and epoxy are nothing new on the planet- same principle- but highly poisonous and polluting, for nothing to say about its durability. A well done and well treated sinew- backing will survive any bow backed the modern way.

It´s very important to know that any backing will add a lot of weight to a bow decreasing its efficiency. It makes no sense at all to back a bow longer than 55″. Historically the bows of the Plains Indians and hornbows have been sinew backed. So the bows of the horsemen have been sinew- backed,  they had to be made rather short for a better handling on a horse´s back. This is the case in the sinew- backed wooden bows of the Plains Indians. Hornbows need a highly flexible backing, cause horn is by far less tension- strong than pressure strong

A sinew- backing is often recomended for to repair a bow. It works very well if there will be a small crack at the back, or it is a good option if the bow- stave seems not to be as perfect- maybe there are many tiny knots or some loose splinters etc…………..

There are another types of historical bows that were not only backed but completely wrapped with bundles of sinews: remember the hornbow for the crossbow I´m just reconstructing, the highly delicious bow- constructions of the Egyptians and Scythians, the joints of the siyahs( the highly recurved tips of hornbows) to the bow- limbs.

I´m wrapping almost every extra piece of wood I add to a bows handle. Sinew fibres are used for to adjust the feathers at an arrow, for to enforce the fitting of an arrowhead to the shaft.

Sinew fibres had been the sewing thread of the past. Its real power is evoked when soaked into water for some minutes before using it, when it dries it is shrinking at about 30%, that´s a lot and it makes clear how our ancestors had been able to produce waterproofed seams.

It is often told that a sinew- backed bow is very sensitive to humidity. That´s really true, any sinew- backing or sinew- wrapping has to be sealed with an oil(linen-seed, walnut, olive, bee´s wax…….). A sinew- backed bow is a weapon to be better used in a dry climate for to come into its own. Historians are telling that the Osmanians would have conquered Central Europe too, if their hornbows wouldn´t have performed so bad in the more humid environment.

The best sinew for to make a backing of a bow is leg sinew of deer, elk and buffalo. I prefer buffalo leg sinew, cause it is easy to split. But it is hard to get. So I often  have to use deer- or elk- sinew, elk- sinew is longer and easier to split than deer- sinew.

leg sinew of an elk- tools for getting the fibres

The length of the elk- sinews is about 11″, the hammer is needed for to tenderize the sinew. After a few blows the skin will peel away and the colour will become more white.

pounding the sinew on a stable wooden log

progress in pounding

Where the sinew is dividing into 2 strings it is very dense and hard, I cut this part off and offer it to our cats and our tame magpie, she likes to play with it, some day I watched the magpie soaking the piece of sinew in her small bird bath, I was really done!

take a gripper for to go on

progress in splicing the sinew with the gripper

It´s really a hard work to do, the fibres are sticking together very strong.

the fibres within the sinew are building a kind of a very close net

Having a closer look to sinew its main constituent is keratin, a protein and a polymer. Polymers are building chains, these chains are cross- linked heavily.

some sinew backed bows l.t.r.: a west coast style painted juniper bow- another west coast style painted hickory bow- a typical unpainted Plains bow- a splitted limb Epyptian hybrid hornbow- and the sinew fibres of one elk- leg sinew

sideview at the Plains bow, a ready sinew- backing is so thin, almost not to see on the pic

To splice one elk leg- sinew takes me about 2 hours, usually for a Plains bow or a hornbow you need 3- 4 sinews, backing the bow will take you another hour.

For to get sinew ask your local hunter, give him some money, cause it´s a bit of a delicious job to cut the sinew proper. Dry it at a save place for 3- 4 weeks, mice, dogs, cats……… like fresh sinew.

Don´t use sinew of farm animals. I´ve had to make a very sad experience when preparing my first sinew- backing. I got some sinew of cattle from a farmer nearby, when I begun to pound it, it returns to dust. This cattle has never been walked on grazing land, has always been chained in a dark stable till the butcher was coming.

Next volume is dealing with the applying of the sinew at a bows back.

Before the glueing horn needs to be grooved and precoated.  The grooving of the horn and the wooden core of a hornbow along the glue- lines is a hot topic. There are well reputated horn- bowyers confirming that there is no historical proof for such a grooving. Don´t believe them, the very opposite is true. Grooving makes much sense, the glueline will become 3- 4 times wider, a grooved cross- section is much more stable. The stability of the glue- line of a hornbow is a must, cause of its resilience the horn will always try to reconstitute its original shape. To not groove means to overlook this fact, maybe these hornbowyers are somewhat lazy. It takes half an hour per hornbow to make a proper grooving. A well done hornbow is expensive and the grooving is enforcing its quality. A well grooved glueline should be a main charcteristic when buying a hornbow.

grooving of horn- slats for the crossbow

grooving tool at work

the inside of the grooving tool

I prefer to make multi- tools. This grooving tool works for to make grooves of different width and depth. The one used for the grooving of the crossbow- slats is at the left. I use cabinet scraper- blades and made the grooves with round files or triangular files. The blade is fixed between to wooden logs of manageable size with a slot working as a guide. The slot is a bit more in width than the slats.

grooved slats- ends cut at a 45 angle

The grooved slats are cut at their ends in a 45 angle for a lengthwise overlapping.

When making a hornbow for a crossbow the slats have not to be of even thickness or length, the surfaces have to be planed and grooved. Next volume will be focused on the construction- principle of it.

When making composite bows the traditional way hideglue or fishglue is the glue of choice. Modern glues are way of being traditional, they ar poisonous and brittle. Natural glue- lines are much more durable, they don´t need flexibilizers which will discharge in the course of time. The production of natural glues is a very sense making use of what we would call waste. It´s a holistic handling of  a slaughtered animal.

There are different qualities of hide glue. Don´t use liquid hide glues. They are made liquid by  flexibilizers, the glueline will become brittle.

The best hideglue is made of the skins of cattle, its adhesive power is very high(for the experts: 450- 480 bloomgrams, 160mPas). You can get it as a granulate, the serious dealer of my choice is: Kremer in Germany.

preparing the hideglue- soaking the grains with some water for about 12 hours

Before soaking the grains I usually had to clean up the glue- pot. It´s hard to do, I soak it with warm water for to dissolve some leftovers, for the final cleanup I´ve often to use a hammer and a chisel.

Next morning add water: for a good quality hideglue you´ve to mix finally 1 time glue and 2 times water. Now the solution has to be heated up to 140 F, to much heat will destroy the collagen of the glue and it will become worthless.

I use the hot water reservoir of our kitchen stove, the glue pot fits the reservoir exactly. Such a kitchen stove is a great tool when making hornbows, for a proper glueing warmth is indispensable.

The Ottoman hornbowyers are told  to have used a bowl filled with blistering charcoal.

heating the hideglue- there are still some indissolved grains

My wife doesn´t resist such an abuse of our kitchen, cause its me to cook most times and I´m a passionate baker too, I bake bread almost every 2nd day and like to make some cake. I guess my wife has never realized that I use the kitchen stove for to make bows.

Horn is very dense, so it has to be decomposed or digested by precoating it with a thin solution of hide glue.

the thin hideglue- solution for the precoating- water: hideglue= 10:1

At least the horn has to precoated 3 times with a thin solution of hideglue. When glueing horn, bamboo and dense woods with natural glues the precoating is a must. Warmth is as important as the precoating, about 50% of all hornbow- breaks are caused by glueing failures. The horn and the glue are mainly made of collagen, as a protein, it loves warmth, but take care, 140F is the limit. I guess nobodies nose will ever forget the horrible smell of somehow burnt horn or hideglue. My nose is the best thermometer for warming hideglue and horn.

Before every glueing or precoating the horn has to be warmed!

warmth is the key for succesfully working with natural glues!!!

to warm hideglue

the kitchen stove is such a great help in making hornbows- at the same time you can keep the thin glue- solution warm and warm the hornslats in the oven

precoated hornslats looking shiny

After the 3rd precoating the hideglue is warmed up to 140F, the grooved and precoated slats are warmed, coated with the hideglue and compressed with clamps.

the first 3 parts of the hornbow for the crossbow are glued- I bet you can´t recognize any crossbow here!

Selfmade clamps go here.

Next volume is focused on the principle of construction of hornbows for crossbows, including measurements, drawforce, drawlength…………….plans.

O. k., that´s history, tomorrow, maybe Sunday Hornbow Vol.1 will be out.

After having done my experiences in glueing bow- lams I ended up in using selfmade clamps for to match as exactly as possible the needs of a well working glueing.

selfmade clamps- bottom-, side-, top view

The clamps are made of mountain- maple slats cut to 3″ in length, about 1/2″ in thickness for the bottom piece and 1/3″ for the upper piece, width is about 1″. For to screw them down I use thread rods and fitting nuts, countersinked into the bottom piece of the clamp. It´s also a good idea to use winged screws, but for to develop heavier pressure I prefer to screw the clamps down with a ratchet wrench.

selfmade clamps in action- use a wrench of your choice or wing screws

It´s also possible to do these clamps by glueing small pieces of wood at their internal sides for to guide the lams not to slip out of place. But don´t do them to thick, otherwise you can´t produce the necessary pressure: I leave an open space of about 1″ – 11/2″ in width and about 1/3″ in thickness,  you can make clamps with more or less open space matching the different cross- sections of the lam.

another view of the clamps in action- note the glued on small pieces of wood working as a guide

Before using the selfmade clamps open them up, organize the glueing well, prepare all tools you need, take care for the right temperature of the workshop and the glue.  The advantage of these clamps is that you can develop pressure where it is needed, more or less. Don´t screw them down to heavy.  Just as far as the glue is flowing out of the glueline.

These clamps are highly effective, done by yourself you´ve to buy screws, nuts and thread rod. Choose them made of iron not made of aluminium, as I did it for the first time. Iron is much more stable.

Diana breaking Cupids bow

Some years ago I was involved in a research- project, guided by Prof. Erhard Godehardt,  focused on Greek archery of the Antique. We did some reconstructions of different types of Greek bows,  most of them based on the design of Scythian bows. The Greek were very impressed by the performance of Scythian bows and they adopted them soon for to replace their former wooden bows.

Among the reconstructions was a type of a Greek bow attributed to Apollon, the Greek god of love and the later Roman God Armor or Cupid, the god of love or of to fall in love.

cupid riding a dolphin

We did 2 Cupid bows as hornbows succesfully. I´ve found them a challenge to do, cause of the shortness of these bows. During the making of the bows I got very interested in all the myths about Apollon and Cupid, but above all I was very attracted by all the legends about Apollons sister Artemis, the later Roman godness Diana. I got a feeling of the so- called Amazons, the times of matriarchy and some actually negated aspects of feminity.

2 years ago I got a fax of a customer of mine, with the pics you see above: Diana breaking Cupid´s bow and Cupid riding a dolphin…………….Michael, I want such a Cupid´s bow made as a hornbow, 100cm in lenght drawing about 50lbs at 26″, further instructions soon…………… further instructions were telling me to make the limbs heavily reflexed. I´ve to tell that this guy knows to do selfbows very well,  he´s an artist and former physicist and I´ve several got some very useful advices in the physics of different bow- designs.

So we cooperated and ended up in making the bow as a usual horn- composite with a spliced in handle, the limbs made of mountain- maple, horn as belly and sinew backed. The bow is based on some paintings done during the Renaissance, when a lot of Italian artists painted scenes of the Roman and Greek Antiquity. So it is not historically prooved, no findings.

The lenght measured over all the bows curvature is 103cm, the non- bending handle is 30cm in length, 2.5cm in width, 2.8cm in depth. So the limbs are 36.5cm in length, 3cm in width with the last 6cm tapered to 1cm, the thickness of the limbs is about 0.6cm midlimb.

I cut the horn- slats from the inner curve of a pair of waterbuffalo- horns, with a radius of 12cm. It took me some hours to go into the woods for to find a mountain- maple grown in the fitting shape.  I don´t take care to much on the growthrings of the handle- piece, cause it would not bend, I just cut  it from a piece of mountain- maple too.

At first I glued the horn and the core of the 2 limbs, than I v- spliced them into the preformed handle, when the 3 parts were fitting, I glued them. A week later I did a pre- tiller, I drew the horn- maple- lamination to about 15″, for to see if it works without any problems(twisting, breaking glueline………), everything was working well. The client wants me to splice in 5cm long slats of horn with a cross- section of 1cm x 1cm for to shape the nocks as he has seen them on the paintings. Finally the bow was backed with 3 layers of leg- sinews from deer. Now we decided to give the bow a drying- time of 13 month( 13 is the lucky number of the Ancient times).

When I began to tiller the bow, I was quite nervous, cause of the shortness and the heavily reflexed limbs, the limbs were reflexed almost allover their whole length. After 3 trials I drew the bow to 25″, no cracks, no explosion, drawweight as desired, great to see almost the whole limb unrolling, like a fresh grown shoot which has just penetrated the soil as my wife noted…………………….Anyway we decided to sew the bow limbs completely into canvas for safety reasons. Additonally the canvas is a great base for to paint the bow. It is very obvious that the sea and diving is another passion of the client: Cupid loved it to surf with dolphins, for those of you interested in totem- animals, the dolpin means joy of life, harmony, social behaviour,  the squid means the art of disappearing, our inner monsters, the depth of our being…………………

This Cupid´s bow draws 48lbs at 26″, it shots a 340grs. arrow at 151f/s. due to its big handle this bow is so comfortable to shoot, no handshock, the “unrolling” of the limbs makes a very smooth and  even draw. But don´t be to much attracted by the exciting curves of this Cupid´s bow, it is a beast. Imagine a 70lbs- version.

The shape of the bow is like the human upper lip, drawn the bow looks almost like a heart.

Keep in mind Cupid´s guiding theme: amor vincite omnia- love beats everything.

Some of you know that I´ve been involved in the research of horn- bows for some years, anyway I prefer selfbows again, cause I´m seriously in doubt about the efficiency of hornbows.Even the Cupid´s bow is a great example of what the horn/maple/sinew- gang is able to withstand.  But the Cupid´s bow will ever be one of my favourites, I love its charming shape turning into a beast when drawn and released.

cupid braced

cupid unbraced

cupid with dolphins on its back

carving at the handle

Cupid string bridge- silencers

cupid at 25

For those who like to look intelligent and charming movies: go for the TV- Series “Cupid”, created by the maker of the “Veronica Mars”- series, Rob Thomas. He creates a modern version of a Cupid, damned to live in our actual human world…………I love it.

For those who like deeper insights in squids, go for Martin Moyniham, the famous evolutionary biologist, look for his book: communication and non- communication.  A summary of it at http://www.deviantart.com, look for octopi as a metaphor( there is a search), really interesting.

For those who like unserious pics and  some hoax, here we go, a modern Cupid visited me today:

a modern cupid?

modern cupid: love beats everything

In the meantime I´ve done another reconstruction,  I succeded in tillering it at 25″ with 43lbs, it shots a 300grs. arrow with 148f/sec. But the money ran out for the researching project, I wasn´t satisfied too much, I would like to do another stronger one. This bow- design is a working design, very delicious to do. I highly respect the craftmanship of the Scythian bowyers.

Fortunenately some weeks ago a Swiss guy has ordered a 65- 70lbs- version of this bow, I could go on and will keep you update!

We did a big mistake in completely ignoring the fact, that the bow has to be wrapped with sinew- fibres all over its length, even we noticed the tracks of the wrappings. But we didn´t like the nice wood to be covered and wrapped it only at the sharp curves. This bow has to be wrapped allover for to keep all those slats together.

Finally Adam Karpowicz ended up in having to wrap his reconstruction of the Subeixi- bow completely too.

Due to the facts of the findings we assume that the wooden Scythian bows have been made and used by the Western Scythians, the Eastern Scythians made and used their bows with a center- piece of horn running all over the length of the bow, like a component of stable shape.

It is also thinkable that the wooden version of the Scythian bow is made for the use on horseback, Adam Karpowicz´s exact reconstruction of the Subeixi- bow has turned out to be very strong, 115lbs at 28″. According to the statements of nowadays mounted archers this is not to handle on horseback?

The tiller of the olon kurin gol bow is different from the tiller of the Subeixi-  bow. The Subeixi bow bends heavily in its sharp curves just beside the grip- section and in its grip itself.

The olon kurin gol bow is 3cm in width at the grip- section, the longer limb is tapered from 3cm to 1.5cm at the recurves, the shorter lower limb is tapered from 3cm to 2.2cm. So the main bending takes place in  the limbs, not in the sharp curves and the grip.

According to the findings and the reconstructions of the Scythian bows it is fact that they are made of wooden and horn- slats.  Recently some other bowyers have come up with reconstructions of Scythian bows made as hornbows are usually done: horn as the belly, wooden core and sinew-  backing, it works, but it is not according to the findings. Anyway the Scythian bow is an eye- teaser.

scythian hornbow, but done as a usual hornbow

Anyway the successful reconstruction made me proud, I have to admit that I didn´t got a feeling for the making of a bow like this, it is so strange to make such a delicious and weird construction consisting of 12 wooden and 2 horn- slats, so many glue- lines. Why did the Sycthians bowyers have made bows like this, I thought over this question, discussed it with other bowyers. From a bowyers point of views it is a deflex/reflex bow with sharp recurves, a still popular design. I guess the Scythian craftspeople liked to do filigree works, look at their jewelry. Above all its a question of the preference for special designs, design as a kind of a “language” of a certain culture or tribe…………..

With much less effort a bowyer could do a better performing selfbow in one day……………….

But we´ve experienced the making of Scythians bows, I guess we really know it now.  Scythian bow- reconstructions according to findings having been done by Adam Karpowicz,  David Betteridge, myself,  Jack Farrell is still waiting for the drying of the sinew- backing. There´s a reconstruction made of sinew- backed osage  the German bowyer Wolfgang Schwerck did some years ago, a very nice bow, even it is not made of slats I like it, sorry, but I can´t find the pic……………..if you ignore or don´t try to understand history, you´re doomed to repeat it………….

Some additional pics:

scythian bow- and arrow case, according to the olon kurin gol findings

from R.Toelle- Kastenbein´s book: Greek archery, quivers, unbraced scythian bow

1st trial of a Scythian wooden bow, sorry, it is broken

2nd trial of a Scythian wooden bow, 25lbs at 22" only, but she´s nice