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Sinew Backed, Double Curve Bow
JackCrafty:
Orcbow, I'd be very interested in seeing your version of Aragorn's bow. I've wanted to make one myself...and now that I've got more experience I think I'll make one soon.
The three main questions I will need to decide on are bow weight, material, and brace height. The size is pretty obvious. What are your thoughts?
Legolas's bow was probably a lot more powerful than Aragorn's....there are at least two times where Legolas nails an orc in the skull....whereas Aragorn tended to shoot at the neck. I would estimate Aragorn's Moria bow at about 70#....and Legolas' Moria bow at twice that.
The material might have to be ipe or some other tropical wood that allows for a very narrow profile....probably backed and then coated with black pitch for waterproofing. The only puzzling thing is the thick tips. (You can get away with extremely narrow tips with ipe). Hmmmm.....I might try juniper just for grins. ;D
The brace height seems high (from what I remember).....maybe 6" or 7"?
Overall, his outfit resembles Plains Indian style equipment.
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orcbow:
I think you are right on with the weights on those bows, I think that some of Legolas's long shots would only be possible with a bow up in that range. Personally, I would not want to be in that situation in the Tomb of Balin with less than a 70 # bow. But of course, it is a movie, still it's a fun exercise to try to do the bow design work. Aragorn's bow is really quite narrow in some of the views of it (I would guess 5/8-3/4" wide)
The brace height is quite high, probably to help prevent wrist slap, when dry firing. 7" easily. But it looks different in different parts of the movie.
The best view of the bow comes from a scene just after Gandalf falls into the pit after the Balrog. That's the view were I got a good scale sketch. I came up with 42" long. Unfortunately I could not find any screen shots of that scene.
I am going to try cypress actually. And sinew back it. It may not make 70# though.
JackCrafty:
That's an awesone picture....it really shows his equipment in good perspective. I had forgotten how the fletching looked like....looks like spiral wrapped and somewhere between 3" and 4". The arrowhead looks really long and narrow....a bodkin type?
With a 42" bow, I think we can get a 22" draw with the right backing...and you're right, the 70# weight will be a challenge.
JackCrafty:
OK...I think we digress here. >:D
We've finished the move into our new house, so.......this weekend will be the first time in a couple weeks that I will have time to get back to work on the double curve bow. I'm going to make a test arrow, shoot the bow, do the final tillering, record the stats, and apply the finish. Cross my fingers and hope there are no interuptions..... ;)
orcbow:
Yes ,I think its a digression, but bringing it back to your original subject, I think its fair to compare this fantasy bow to a plains style bow. I will start a post of my own soon about this bow. Thanks for humoring me with this little side discussion!
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