Main Discussion Area > Horn Bows
Limb length Turkish bows
Bjoern Sofeit:
A Magyar is a better solution for your stave. Aim for something like 120cm ntn, 150° reflex in the grip with a smooth and large radius. You can use bone plates for the scarfjoint in the grip. The ears around +24cm from apex to the nock, limb to ear angle 140°. Don't use horn plates for the ears, they look silly and don't add alot stiffness, all they do is add more weight and create more trouble.
The ears can either be V-spliced or you can use a scarf joint. If you use a scarf joint, sideplates might be necessary. Antler is the best material for that, but it can be hard to find good pieces. Bone from horse ribs is possible too, but it's pretty messy to process the stuff. If you use plates, note that those were around 0.3mm thick on the originals. The cross-section of the ears was triangular.
Plates add quite alot of weight and it can be a pain to glue on, so if you don't make a heavy bow, it's not worth the trouble. Better make a short V-splice and triangular cross-section ears.
As recommended for a beginner, use even thickness for horn and wood in the limb, 4.5-5mm will be good at that lenght. Expect around 70-80g sinew for a 50-70# bow. You can add 10g on top of that if you feel insecure, for the wrapping of grip and end of the horn you don't need much.
Stick Bender:
I have been thinking about this thread this week while I was on the road and wondering why the Magyar would be a better choice over the ottoman style bow of equal reflex , maybe there is some thing I'm missing , would it be performance or stress on the bow or ease of build ?
Bjoern Sofeit:
The rationale behind recommending the Magyar is purely ease of construction: how many laths you could get out of your stave?
If you can get out 2 with thickness of at least 1.5-1.8cm, you can make a 3 piece ottoman, with each lath 70cm comfortably for a 120cm ntn bow. You still need third a piece for the grip splice. Three piece is a bit harder to bend, because the Tip/kasan radius is quite tight and stuff breaks quite frequently if it's not green.
If you can get out 2 laths of lesser thickness, like 1.2cm, you can make a 5 piece ottoman, but like above you need a grip piece to splice and more material for the tips. I prefer to laminate 2 thinner pieces of wood for the tips, those tend to survive the tight radius more frequently.
If it's none of the above, you can make a Magyar.
You will need to make a number of bows before you may wonder about peak performance, first considerations are to keep it simple, stable and to save weight in the ears.
Stick Bender:
Ok thanks this is not my thread but glad you joined us over here it's nice to have experienced hands on guys here I'm in the process of gearing up for my first composite I'm fortunate enough to have plenty of materials to go what ever direction needed but thanks so much for chiming in it's appreciated !
Bjoern Sofeit:
Good luck with your projects!
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