The Turkish bow

Materials used

The modern day replicas are basically made of durable plastic covered with leather. This ensures lightweight, long-lasting and cost-effective bows that resemble the original to the slightest detail so you cannot distinguish a plastic one from a natural one. There are, however, some traditional recurve bows made exactly to the standards of ancient archer nations. These bows are made of fish bones, bull horns, cattle bones and tendons and, of course, fine wood. The parts are attached by natural adhesives such as collagens extracted from fish or cattle. The result is a more expensive, less durable but naturally much more stylish bow than a plastic one.

It is interesting to note that the huge and awkward longbows used in Europe during the medieval era were in all respect inferior to the portable, precise and strong recurve bows of Asia, especially considering that the bows used by nomadic people could be used by children too, as opposed to western bows.


Taking care of your recurve bow

Recurve bows are virtually fool proof. If you keep some important rules in mind, it is very unlikely anything will ever go wrong with your bow. However, it is a good idea to inspect both the bow and the string before going out to shoot. Cracks on the bow, creeping (see waxing below) or other signs of weakening on the string means something is not right. If the bow ever breaks, it is unlikely that it will injure you, not even the strong ones. However, it can ruin an otherwise perfect day if you discover that your bow is not what it used to be just when you start shooting in the woods.

This goes for the arrows too. Make sure you have plenty of healthy arrows  check for cracks and bends, inspect the feather too.

Avoid dry firing

Never shoot the bow without an arrow. These finely tuned bows are designed so that the weight of the arrow is taken into consideration. If you shoot them without arrows, they will suffer a whiplash effect and may be damaged, even though the damage is hard or impossible to observe.

Aiming

When shooting, aim before you pull the string. Once the string is pulled, you should shoot as soon as possible. Do not hold the bow with the string pulled.

Heat and ultra violet light Do not leave the bow on direct sunlight for a long time. Heat and UV light is not useful for anything man made.

Bending

Do not keep the bow stringed when you do not use it. When the bow is stringed, the bow is bent and the energy stored in the bow puts quite a stress on the body. This is emphasized when you pull the bow, see Aiming above.

Do not hang the bow by its ends. The weight of the bow will slowly but surely deform the bow, resulting in a gradual deterioration of your bow.

Keep the bow leaning towards a surface facing you, with the back supported. It is the same with guitars, the strings pull the neck in a direction, you should rest it so the resulting force counters the string (although, as you know by now, you never keep your bow stringed for a long time).

String maintenance

Waxing

Whether organic or artificial, the string should be regularly waxed. Waxing prevents moist absorption, creeping (unnatural stretching of the string), damage done by UV light and it keeps the strands of the string together.

Replacements

Strings are quite inexpensive compared to the damage they can do when they snap. Observe your strings very carefully each time you are going out for some shooting.

Arrow Maintenance

Damaged arrows

As mentioned above, any sign of damage on the arrow will probably make it harder for you to aim. Do not shoot your arrows at trees, it will damage both the tree and your arrow. Trees are too hard for traditional arrows, so use a target that is softer. This way you can use an arrow many times.

see more:

Classic Bow Store ** Composite-Bow.com ** Traditional Palinka Store

Mongolian-Bow.com**Horseback-archery.com **Hungarian-bow.com