African bows and archery

[colin henshaw]

Hi Iain

Not sure if you know of it, but there is a well illustrated book solely on African archery called "Ata Epe" by Hendrik Wiethase 2007....

[Iain]

Originally Posted by colin henshaw

Hi Iain

Not sure if you know of it, but there is a well illustrated book solely on African archery called "Ata Epe" by Hendrik Wiethase 2007....

I didn't! Do you own it? From a quick search it looks like the text is only in German. Still I will try to find a copy if it's cheap enough.

[colin henshaw]

Originally Posted by Iain

I didn't! Do you own it? From a quick search it looks like the text is only in German. Still I will try to find a copy if it's cheap enough.

German text and full of excellent pictures.

[kronckew]

? - why do they string the bows backwards (string is on the wrong side of the recurve)?

[Iain]

Originally Posted by kronckew

? - why do they string the bows backwards (string is on the wrong side of the recurve)?

No idea! But a good point. It seems to be consistent comparing the drawing with the photo I posted in the first post of this thread.

I'm no expert in bow mechanics but I can't think what advantage it would bring. But I guess there is some reason behind it.

[Timo Nieminen]

Originally Posted by kronckew

? - why do they string the bows backwards (string is on the wrong side of the recurve)?

It keeps the undrawn string tension low (even zero, if you want). This means you can keep the bow strung forever without worrying about the bow losing its spring (i.e., developing string follow). Gives you more freedom with what materials will be OK for the bow and the string.

You sacrifice power. This gives you a force-draw curve that starts with a gentle slope, which means you get a concave force-draw curve.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bow_shape#Decurve_bow

The reflex-recurve Asian bow does the opposite - the reflex is designed to keep the undrawn string tension high, giving a steep beginning to the force-draw curve, and a convex force-draw curve.

[kronckew]

thanx, makes sense i guess.

[Martin Lubojacky]

Hi Iain,
cannot find the bow now (which is very ordinary, BTW), so at the very least - small bunch of flowers from the North Caameroon...

[fearn]

Originally Posted by Timo Nieminen

It keeps the undrawn string tension low (even zero, if you want). This means you can keep the bow strung forever without worrying about the bow losing its spring (i.e., developing string follow). Gives you more freedom with what materials will be OK for the bow and the string.

You sacrifice power. This gives you a force-draw curve that starts with a gentle slope, which means you get a concave force-draw curve.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bow_shape#Decurve_bow

As pointed out in that article and in the <I>Traditional Bowyer's Bible I</i>, aside from ease of use and relative silence, a decurved shape can be forced by dependence on weak wood. Decurved bows are known from the US southwest (when they were stuck using willow wood for bows) and from Egypt (where they had to use acacia). In both cases, the shape allowed them to maximize the power they got from the weak and inelastic woods they had to use. These wouldn't be the equivalent of yew bows, but were the best they could do with local materials. Note that the Indian bows, at least, were often large (relative to their power) to compensate for the weak wood.

Best,

F

[bluelake]

Interesting thread. One of my main areas of interest is Korean traditional archery (I've been a practitioner for 20 years), so anything dealing with a country's traditional archery catches my attention.