Bow Performance Project - English Longbow

This is a big one, the long standing debate on the merits of the the famed English Longbow/Warbow versus the Asiatic composite bow. Perhaps before setting out on this comparison though I should note a simple reality and associated reasonable expectation: while there are a lot of hotly disputed details, the English Longbow is broadly a single style/type of bow with singular morphology and construction. This contrasts greatly with Asiatic composite bows which (arguably) exist in a significant military context over a much broader span of time, space, function, material, and style. Thus it should be expected that the EWB can not exceed the composite bow in all categories simultaneously. There is also the very reasonable argument that the EWB is a tiny fraction of the manufacturing cost and complexity of a composite bow, which given that war is an economic entity as much as a technological one is a non-trivial detail.

The English Warbow Society has been an invaluable resource for the research of this article, and the majority of specifications have been drawn from their publications. For example, while immensely powerful, EWBs may have operated in the range of approximately 10GPP. 

To this end we sourced an English Warbow from a very polite and well reviewed gentleman ArcheyBowman. We liked it so much a second longbow in a more everyday poundage was also acquired. What can I say, they're massive, unwieldy, and yet beautiful, elegant, simple, and fun to shoot. There is just something about them. We're no stranger to stickbows here at CTR, but there is just something about these longbows that sets them apart and gives them a magic all their own. 

The warbow is nominally 90#s@32", 76" long overall, made from a solid piece of hickory with horn nocks, bears the famous compass tiller, 5/8ths cross sectional-ratio, and conforms to all specs from the English Longbow Society for Proper Longbows. Actual length tip to tip is 77-3/4", 75" nock to nock. Mass is .775 kilos. After a bit of shooting, the F/D testing, etc the bow seems to have settled at 1-1/8" set. 

The longbow is nominally 55#@32", 76" long overall, hickory backed curly oak, and bares the same style albeit considerably smaller. Actual length tip to tip is 76-3/4", 74-1/2" nock to nock. Mass is .6 kilos. If that number jumped out at you, you're not alone. There is a lot going on here, but if we assume a poundage to bow mass ratio of 116.13 (that of the warbow), based on its mass this longbow should project out to 70 pounds not 55. Before you finger the oak, it is worth noting that the RELATIVE DENSITY of hickory is actually very comparable to that of oak. (hickory is nominally higher, but likely insignificant) It is hard to say if this increased mass will show up when we chrono, I personally was surprised the bow wasn't lighter as the tips and nocks are much smaller, however what I can say is that due to being laminated this bow has taken zero set. 

View fullsize

View fullsize

The force-draw curves of both these bows are subtly different from that of the Asiatic composite bows. Whereas the Asiatic bows climb quickly in early draw weight, level out in the middle, and climb again toward the end of the draw, the longbows are quite linear. To my surprise though, that linearity is continued all the way to full draw. I had anticipated a draw curve which looked more like an exponential growth curve, but it just didn't materialize. As a result, slopes and % gained in the last 2" are both right in the middle of the pack for both bows. No stacking here. And no stacking on a bow which is almost 100 pounds is an unexpected but very pleasant surprise. (we're not EWB experts here remember)

View fullsize

View fullsize

As we get to stored energy, things get even more interesting. There was definitely the expectation that, given no recurve or complex limb geometry, these bows would simply store less energy for their draw weight. Not true. The warbow is less than 3 foot pounds shy of storing 1:1 foot pounds to pounds draw force. The longbow ends up 3 pounds over. Again we're impressed. Another interesting note is that the warbow has 50% more poundage than the JZW Manchu (90 versus 60), both bows are ostensibly drawn to their safe physical/mechanical limits, both bows are quite heavy, both bows were designed to fire arrows of comparable (high) mass, and yet the warbow stores only 5 more foot pounds of energy at full draw. Apples to oranges? I think quite the opposite actually, two different bows from different ends of the same continent designed to do essentially the same thing: fire extremely heavy arrows at medium velocity against armored opponents. 

View fullsize

View fullsize

The Stored Energy/Poundage curve tells more of the story. Both bows start out toward the bottom of the pack, and just never claw it back. In a field of bows with levers on the ends resulting in fat mid-range power bands, I'm just impressed neither were at the bottom. The Warbow managed to beat out the lowest performer in this category we've ever tested, the Elong Yuan, by just a whisker. The longbow actually managed to finish in the middle of the pack, beating out quite a few other bows. In both cases though, this is attributable to the other bows beginning to stack rather than the longbows gaining efficiency toward the end of the draw. Had we run these tests at only 29", the Warbow would have been stone dead last and the Longbow only would have beaten the Elong Yuan and Grozer. Fair is fair though, and more than a few of us were both surprised and impressed. As long standing "Asiatic elitists" confident in the superiority of our advanced bow designs, the fact that these much simpler bows are contenders came as a real surprise. 

There is one final hurdle: the chrono. Surprisingly though, the JZW Manchu actually has the highest mass, so we may be in for a surprise there as well. There is also a question of safe minimum GPP. In the world of Asiatic bows, GPP is a real focus for reasons of bow durability/longevity. Surprisingly, speaking to the bowyer who supplied these two bows however, it doesn't seem to be as much of an issue. He must have sold hundreds of bows by now, but in our conversations revealed a very low failure rate and little concern for GPP. Perhaps I've simply not found the right source, but technical data on English longbows seems to be pretty scarce. 10GPP doesn't seem uncommon, and 3-4GPP in flight shooting is often mentioned as well, without the expected disclaimers of short bow life. Given historical arrow and draw weights, 10GPP even starts to sound conservative. Is the wood or the bow design itself better able to reabsorb excess energy than modern laminates? Are the bows just extremely efficient for their physical mass? What is a safe efficiency level? And lets remember something else important: efficiency doesn't scale. If your bow is 70% efficient and stores 20 foot pounds, it'll have to reabsorb 6 foot pounds. If your bow stores 200 foot pounds and is 70% efficient, it'll have to reabsorb 60 foot pounds. Modern glass and carbon composite Asiatic bows use the same glass and carbon laminates and vary core thickness to adjust poundage (for the most part). They also often fail at the glue joints. This means, despite identical efficiency, essentially the same working material and weak points have to absorb an order of magnitude more energy. This might have something to do with why very few Asiatic bowyers will make modern composite bows at any serious poundage. A notable exception is YMG, whose bows' performance and durability are legend, and they are far and away my favorite brand of bow. If you'll pardon the mild digression, the point is that EWBs are much more cost effective to manufacture, so are available at much more accessible prices in authentic materials and likewise should be expected to perform on par with their historical counterparts. So if a warbow is 180 pounds and shoots a 1750 grain arrow, that is 10GPP on the nose at the upper limits of poundage. 

*UPDATE* 
After all this testing was completed and I was shooting the hickory backed figured oak bow, I draw and hear that dreaded "pop." The bow had pulled up a nasty splinter on the back, of course right at a grain boundary. It is important to understand that bows break, particularly bows made from natural materials, it is just part of the game. The question isn't whether or not the bow broke, but how the bowyer handles it. In this case I messaged the bowyer, and there was never a moment's question about whether or not the bow would be replaced. Within an hour of the pop, a new bow my choice was on it's way to me. It really doesn't get much better than that. 

I confess though, the bow is stunningly beautiful and I have trouble letting go. After some debate, I pulled out the bow on a tillering block to raise the splinter, worked some glue underneath it, and then firmly wrapped the affected area. When that cured I unwrapped it, scraped it, applied a paper backing to the area to transfer some of the strain and hold the splinter, and finally wrapped it again. I don't think it'll save the bow, but I'm hoping I can get a couple arrows throw the chrono at least. It is a real shame because it is just a stunner. Pictures don't do it justice. 

Leather insert for Sugakji

Our Sugakji, aka Korean Male thumb ring. Shown here in Silver Gray with the leather loop meant to tighten fit on the thumb. 

This is a simple and easy project to add a leather wedge to your Korean Male thumb ring. Really this project only requires a knife, cutting surface, and a ring but a straight edge, cutting mat, and rotary knife can make getting clean results a little easier. 

Tools of the trade. The rotary knife and straightedge are for flourish, a sharp knife and cutting surface are really all that is required. 

Step one is laying things out. You'll want leather which is about 1-1.5mm thick and reasonably soft/flexible. You'll want a strip about twice to 2.5 times as long as the ring, and of equal width. This is then to be tapered so that at its thin end it is 1/3rd the width as it's thick end. 

The leather strip should be 1/3rd the width at its thin end, and the full width of the ring at its thick end. The entire strip should be twice to two and a half times the length of the ring. 

At the thick end cut a slot into which the thin end may be inserted. Pass the leather through the ring, and then insert the thin end into said slot. The result should form a loop. The overlay of thin end onto thick can be used to further increase the "wedge" capability of the leather. This loop shape can now be secured either with stitching, or a little leather adhesive. 

Cut a small slot to insert the narrow end into the wide end. A stitch or leather adhesive will then make it permenant. 

And just like that, you're done. Rotate the loop to the narrow part in order to insert you thumb in the ring. Once in position slide the loop around until the leather comfortably secures your thumb in place. Easy as that. 

Our Sugakji, aka Korean Male thumb ring. Shown here in Silver Gray with the leather loop meant to tighten fit on the thumb. 

Product Introduction - Korean Male Ring Sugakji

Our Korean Male thumb ring, also known as a Sugakji, shown here in metallic gold and metallic silver. 

We're pleased to introduce our adaptation of another iconic and exotic ring, the Korean Male style thumb ring or Sugakji. With this style the thumb is still inserted and rotated to lock in an eccentric aperture, but the string is borne by the beak like projection, and the index finger wrapped around it to hold. Release is accomplished by simply relaxing the hand. This is a remarkably comfortable style ring to shoot, once you get the hang of it. Part of this is due to the use of a leather, cloth, or rubber "wedge" used to tighten fit once the thumb is inserted. Combine this with a relatively large bearing surface to distribute force over much more of the thumb, and it shouldn't be any surprise just how comfortable this ring is to shoot. 

*RETRACTED* Elong Outdoor Yuan/Mongolian Bow

*RETRACTED* Elong Outdoor Yuan Bow

It has come to our attention through conversations with other vendors that that this bow, provided as a sample by Elong Outdoor, was very likely "cherrypicked" and is not representative of this product. Due to this, and other issues with the vendor, we will not be carrying the Elong Outdoor mongol/yuan/crab all-plastic bows and will be removing their datasets from our bow analyses. Our sincere apologies to any customers who may have been mislead and made a purchase decision based on our review. 

Product Introduction: Turkish Ring

Our Turkish style thumb ring. 

The Bosphorus region is home to a great diversity of ring styles. We are now proud to offer our third addition to this lineup, the Turkish ring. How does this differ from our Ottoman ring? The primary difference is release angle. This ring replicates the higher sides and the very aggressive angles seen in some historic examples of Turkish rings. The result is the hair trigger of the ring world, a very fast release. In a culture obsessed with flight shooting, it isn't difficult to imagine how this could have arisen. 

Examples of historic Turkisn rings, some of which share the style of our new offering. 

Product Introduction: New Ring Material

Just a small sampling of the different rings we have available in this new standard polymer: metallic gold. 

We've offered metallic silver as one of our standard polymer colors for quite some time. Now though we're adding metallic gold. As the name implies, it is a metallic fleck material with a gold hue. It is available now as an option across all our standard polymer ring styles. 

Product Introduction: Sarmatian Ring

Allow me to introduce you to our newest ring: the Sarmatian. Based on one of the oldest metal thumb rings yet found, and with unusual proportions and features, it makes a unique and very special addition to our lineup. (ref. Symonenko, 2015)

New Material: Biocomposite!

Our Manchu ring (thick variant) in biocomposite 

The introduction to our biocomposite material, long overdue, is here. We developed this material as part of the design process on our Nubian rings, seen below. The historical Nubian samples had a very nice internal texture, and the ability to absorb some moisture keeping the ring grippy as the thumb naturally produces sweat. We wanted to replicate this, and ended up with this material as our preferred option. It has great internal texture, grippy without being abrasive, and the ability to wick away some moisture from the thumb. Because the ability to absorb things is a double edged sword, we finish the outside of each of these rings with our special beeswax citrus oil blend to seal, protect, and add a beautiful lustre. 

Why biocomposite? In short because it accurately describes the material, and because cellulosic lignin biopolymer composite is a bit of a mouthful. To be perfectly clear, this material bears no relationship to the biocomposite used by Csaba Grozer. This is a fantastic material though, in fact we liked it so much we expanded it over to our Exotic Manchu rings where it also performs extremely well. 

Our three styles of Nubian rings, based on measurements of the originals. 

Power is back!

Our Hybrid ring seen here in Sterling silver. 

The storm left us without power or service for a week, but as of today, 11/6/17, we are fully back up and running. Thank you everyone for your patience, and apologies to those whose orders were delayed or inquiries were not responded to in a timely fashion. 

UPDATE 11/1/17

Korean XL fletching, Hwarang bow, Sterling Silver Hybrid ring. 

To our valued friends and customers. Sunday night (10/29/17) a major storm slammed into New England. This took out trees and power lines throughout the northeast. We've been without grid power or internet since then, and mobile data is unreliable at best. We're currently running on emergency backup generators. Because of this our ability to respond to inquiries, manufacture products, and ship orders has been severely negatively impacted. If you placed an order and it hasn't shipped, or you sent us a question which hasn't been answered, please know you're not being ignored we've simply been unable to respond. 

Service is supposed to be restored by November 4th, and on emergency generators we've been slowly working our way through orders. Orders may still be placed, and will be filled as soon as possible but likely a couple days behind schedule. 

Bulbous Nocks - A Mike Loades Project (part 2)

Our MikeL Bulbous Nocks on carbon shaft inserts, seen here with one of our Ottoman rings and a complete Ottoman arrow. 

So lets start this off with a big thank you to Mike Loades for supplying images, dimensions, arrows, and ultimately the impetus for this entire project. To that end, we've been working on Mughal style bulbous nocks, but made for modern arrows and strings. Mike's stated goals for this project were to create a modern interpretation of a Mughal bulbous nock to aid in mounted archery speed shooting. 

To be clear, before someone nitpicks historical inaccuracies of this project, no these nocks are not nor were meant to be perfect replicas. Furthermore, we've been modifying dimensions and tuning the design for Mike Loades' specific application, rather than aiming at the general public. As the project evolved, to achieve functionality and its ultimate ends, we've drifted further and further from the design's historical roots. 

So last we left off the project was a success, why the update? Well credit where it is due, another archery historian, Alexander Stover approached us to purchase some of these nocks for experimentation. He wanted them for carbon arrows though, and offered a simple solution: aluminum inserts which offer a conversion to standard 11 degree taper. It wasn't until we'd finished manufacturing them it occurred to anyone that he had just inadvertently solved a problem we'd wrestled with months earlier. Who would have guessed that such inserts are commercially available and fairly reasonably priced? 

Korean Target Fletching

Ref. http://www.koreanarchery.org/classic/

Possibly the most iconic image of asiatic archery of all time? While there is a lot to dissect in the image, what caught our eye were the feathers. Very long and low profile, we're not aware of anything like them on the market available today. We wanted to add a feather cutting jig to our lineup that'd allow accurate reproductions of this style. This image alone wasn't enough though, so we also pulled dimensions from a number of examples in the Grayson Collection to come up with "average dimensions" of the style. 

Our Korean Target design seen here with our Hybrid ring in sterling silver and a Hwarang Korean bow

The results, as can be seen above, make a beautiful addition to our lineup. The best part is they're available now, in left and right wing. The question should be asked though: how well do these ultra low profile Korean Target designs work when stabilizing an arrow? The answer is quite well. With good technique, and a properly set up bow, one ought be able to shoot fletchless arrows. The feathers then act as minimalistic stabilizers and have very low drag optimized for shooting at distance.

All 7 of our jig styles: Korean XL, Korean Target, Ottoman Military, Turkish Flight, Japanese, Manchu, and Manchu Mini. 

Bow Performance Project - JZW Manchu (part 2)

Lets start off with a huge thank you to Tiger Tail Archery for supplying this bow for assessment. The rumor mill has it that this is the best of the breed, the Manchu replica to rule them all, the benchmark. What better place to start then?

In part 1, we did the force-draw analysis and general impressions. Here the rubber meets the road, and we spit 1111 grain arrows through the chrono with this beast. I want to note quickly that this is one of my favorite bows. While third favorite doesn't sound all that impressive, only beaten by my two birchbark backed Korean bows, it should be. The more I shoot this bow, the more I like it. The hard wearing ray skin accents in particular are an extremely nice touch, which I liked so much I started applying them to other bows. 

JZW Manchu bow, Manchu arrows with feathers off our jig (see the associated project), and our Manchu thumb ring. 

We used a 1111 grain arrow, yes it really ended up being precisely that, shot repeatedly. This is as opposed to our standard testing set, which is neither long enough nor meets the minimum GPP of this bow. 

Chrono data

So how did it do? Do my earlier subjective comments regarding arrow velocity stand up? The short answer seems to be an emphatic YES! At a whopping 18.8 grains per pound, this bow managed a maximum of over 155FPS, which translates to 60 foot pounds of energy. 71% efficiency, particularly for a bow this large and heavy is nothing to sniff at, in spite of the high GPP, but by far the most impressive number is the output energy over poundage; near as makes no difference it is 100%. This is possible due to high early draw weight, a very long draw, and a very flat force-draw curve. If you store 1.4 foot pounds of energy for every pound of draw weight, you only need 71% output/stored efficiency to spit an arrow back out with 1 foot pound of energy for every pound of draw weight. 

Perhaps more interesting though is the comparison to other bows. Note that, in terms of poundage, this bow is in 5th place (not counting the Hwarang). Despite that, it has the highest kinetic energy output of any bow we've yet tested and by a reasonably comfortable margin, 9% more than the AF Tatar which is second best and 5 pounds heavier. So there it is, the Manchu bow living up to its name. Hopefully this'll be the first of the breed we test, rather than the last. 

Arrow Pass Repair

A lucky alignment of light filtering through  the trees in the wind created this snap. I couldn't have set it up like this had I wanted to. Seen here with our Hybrid ring in solid sterling silver and our semi-ottoman arrows of a project by the same name. 

We've all been there, worn through the arrow pass on our bow. Inevitable right? Well instead of replacing it with another thin strip of leather, quick to be worn through once again, how about something harder, better, longer wearing? Stingray skin is the obvious answer. 

We've all seen stingray skin, but what is it really? Ray skin, used in these applications anyway, has little calcified nodules somewhat like teeth. As a result is is extremely hard wearing. The white pattern so often associated with ray skin is accomplished by selective dying in some cases, or sanding of dyed leather in others. It is worth noting that, if like me you prefer an aggressive texture, ray skin will make an absolutely stunning grip wrap as well. 

Some pieces of stingray skin I had laying around, as well as the offending bow. 

To work! First off, we can see above the arrow pass one one of my favorite Korean bows. Clearly it is worn, but you can also see where the leather has finally developed a hole through to the birch bark. On this bow, rather than being a replaceable pad, it is a complete wrap. Not convinced I wanted to redo the entire wrap, I thought a pad replacement would be a good solution. 

Paper here serves as the basis for the template. 

The key to all good work is preparation and planning, the less skill necessary the better. To that end, rather than eyeball it or cut oversize and trim to fit, I figured a pattern would be in order. Paper is a good analogue here as it represents the relative lack of stretch of ray skin, while being cheap and easy to cut. I decided to go with a pad which blend with the existing wrap somewhat. Had this been a bow with a thread binding, I'd have probably opted for a more sculpted shape which stood out. 

Line up and mark carefully from the visible side.....

...to the back side, from which you have to cut with ray skin. A hammer and chisel deliver the sharp blows necessary for clean accurate cuts. 

The secret to cutting stingray skin is to go from the back, and use sharp impacts. You can't cut this stuff with a knife, at least not easily, and you'll do some evil to whatever blade you use. In this case I went with an inexpensive chisel which had to be reground anyway. Lay out the pattern on the front, so you have the area/look you want, and mark the corners so you can transfer the pattern to the back. Then cut away. It is worth noting I favored the larger pearls of the center, for purely aesthetic reasons. Because these will all experience wear, the white of the pearls will become visible wherever the arrow passes irrespective of what started sanded. 

Surface prep is key to successful bonding, a little sanding of the leather to even it out and ready the surface was necessary. 

The key to any good adhesive application is surface prep. So I carefully marked out where the ray skin would cover, and sanded to match. Adhesion can be accomplished with natural protein glues, cyanoacrylate, or contact cement. Because this application doesn't require significant flexibility post-bonding, I reached for my go-to high-toughness high-viscosity hobby grade CA adhesive. 

Effective clamping is also necessary, even with "instant tack" adhesives, the mating surfaces need to be held firmly until things have fully cured for maximum strength. 

First contact is a fraught moment, from Star Trek to adhesives, so no picture of the Titanic moment. After applying the adhesive and carefully cleaning up any excess, I quickly wrapped the whole thing in painter's tape. If you've never used good painter's tape, you should go out and buy one of the name-brand spendy roles. For masking and other release applications like this, the real deal really is worth the price. You don't want to leave sticky behind, and you don't want the tape bonding to your project, so while nothing is perfect in my estimation the good stuff is worth it. My 2c anyway. 

Another stark snap showing the beautiful ray skin pass, one of our rings in solid sterling silver, and custom house-made arrows. (also a project posted here) 

24 hours later the adhesive has cured, and I removed the tape to find this. Beautiful. Of course beauty is nothing without function, so I took it for a quick 50 arrow test drive. Works beautifully, and barely visible wear, so I'm labeling this one as a success!

Out of Office

We're out of the office until August 4th, during which time email inquiries may not be responded to in a timely fashion and some orders may be delayed. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. Because of this we're offering a 5% site-wide discount. Enter the coupon code 91G1HUI at checkout. 

Bow Performance Project - JZW Manchu

Jia Zhiwei's Manchu bow with house made arrows and our Manchu ring. 

Lets start off with a huge thank you to Tiger Tail Archery for supplying this bow for assessment. The rumor mill has it that this is the best of the breed, the Manchu replica to rule them all, the benchmark. What better place to start then? 

First impressions upon release are, actually, pretty underwhelming. Given that you're shooting 1200 grain spear shafts, borrowed from our Manchu Arrow Project, out of a massive bow you're expecting armageddon. Instead, the release is clean, free of handshock, and the spears zip down range apparently unaware that they're about three times the mass of a normal arrow. Seriously. The arrows don't slowly trundle along, you're not desperately fighting form to prevent fishtailing, and there is no handshock. Granted these arrows are 40", and we all know forward mass helps with flight, at ~20GPP there is mass to spare to keep handshock at bay. The big surprise, and the one I still can't get over, is just how fast it is. How can arrows this heavy possibly fly this fast out of a bow this childishly light weight? The flight is beautiful and shots are easy to control. Lets talk more in-depth qualitatively and quantitatively about the bow, and how it accomplishes this. 

The thick walled version of our Manchu ring, seen here in it's jade-like incarnation. Next to it are some of our Manchu arrows and Jia Zhiwei's Manchu bow with house made arrows and our Manchu ring.

Straight out of the gate, this bow is physically heavy compared to the shorter Asiatic bows we're used to, .830 kilos to be exact. That is a lot next to a .365 kilo Hwarang that draws >100 pounds. Amusingly though, it's reflex is such that when unstrung it isn't terribly long. A Hwarang is 42" unstrung, a Kaya 39.5", and a Grozer Turkish 37". This JZW Manchu is only 53.5" tip to tip when unstrung, due to pretty aggressive reflex. If one were to place the tips of an unstrung bow on the ground and measure from the ground to the belly side of the handle as a standard for unstrung reflex, this bow ranks quite highly. An AF Turkish is 7.5", Hwarang 10", AF Tatar 10.25", Grozer Turkish 12", and the JZW Manchu a whopping 13.75" of reflex. The other thing to note is the sheer thickness and poundage of the limbs. While the Grozer gains its visually large limbs through a covering of very very thick leather, the JZW uses far thinner leather and simply has massive limbs. Pulling them below the siyahs, you'd expect them to belong to a bow easily in excess of 100 pounds. Puts the use of those big levers into perspective. 

Details seemed to matter to the bowyer. There are a lot of nice little details. The two colors of leather on the limbs, the tip inserts masked for different finishes, the obvious roughing for surface prep under the string bridges, the ray skin above and below the grip, thicker than normal serving, perfect fit of all the different leather pieces, and the double serving on the string at high wear points just to name a few. One nit to pick though if I may, and I must, is the serving around the arrow. It is symmetrical, centered, which is fine but there simply isn't enough of it. Shooting 1100 grain 1/2" diameter nocks, the nocking point is almost off the end of the serving. Over time, the lack of serving above the point means serving will inevitably drift upward, and of course it means I'll be handling unserved string above the arrow with my index finger. Could be just a fluke on this string, and re-serving a string is hardly the end of the world, but on a bow where so many of the details were clearly noticed and mattered to the bowyer, it is a bit out of place. 

Jia Zhiwei's Manchu bow with house made arrows and our Manchu ring. 

first draw was a little scary, because of crackling sounds. It isn't uncommon for bows to make a few cracking sounds the first time they're drawn, and I suspect this was from glue used in the addition of the leather limb coverings, but staring up at that massive siyah as you haul the bow back to 36" and hear crackling is sobering. Blissfully, it was a first-draw-only phenomenon, and the bow now silently, and impossibly smoothly, reaches 36" as the limbs go parallel with your arm. The siyahs are also noticeably further forward at brace, and generally run a more aggressive forward angle, than any other replica I've seen so far. This likely contributes to high early draw weight and late draw smoothness. The two metrics we use for that are percentage poundage gain of the last 2", and the slope of the last 2". Higher poundage bows necessarily have a steeper slope, but at 59#s full draw we're right in the middle of the pack so a slope of 1.5 is still quite good next to second best, the much lower poundage AF Tatar of 2.5. Gaining only 6% of it's total poundage in the last two inches of draw is also quite good, next to the second best AF Turkish which gains 10%. There is another interesting element to this though mentioned by the imitable Peter Dekker, in THIS article:

"Manchu bows are unique in that they have the highest initial tension of all bows, and thus are harder to pull at a given high draw weight than other types of bows. They typically are at 75% of their max draw weight at 20" pull already, where a longbow would pull around 45% of it's max draw weight there."

So how does this bow match up, given significantly less reflex than a horn-sinew composite? No dramatic buildup, it manages a respectable ~61%. That said, most of the bows we've tested were in the mid 50s, the AF Tatar being as high as 59%. While I'm out on a limb here, I'd posit that the Mughal bow, the other long siyah-extreme reflex design out there, might well also manage comparable high early draw weights. It is worth noting here that every bowyer places their point for draw length a little differently. We measure it as if it were an arrow, so 31" draw means a 31" arrow could be drawn this far. (middle of the handle) Given that this bow was sold as 55#s, I suspect the bowyer measures from the back of the bow.

With a minimum of 12GPP, notably 1 less than the Mariner, and a recommended 15GPP, this bow is overtly not for normal arrows.... even long normal arrows. 885 grains is more akin to a small spear than a typical arrow. 

View fullsize

Force-Draw Curve

The Force Draw Curve yielded just about what one would expect, or maybe even better. The first 10" aren't terribly remarkable, the pack is all too bunched up to tell the difference and it is muddled by varying brace heights, but from 13 to 17 inches draw force is as high or higher than all the other bows excluding the 106# Hwarang. Given that the Gukgungwon is going to finish 12 pounds higher 4 inches sooner, that seems pretty remarkable. The slope from 17 to 35 inches is a meager 1.39, which is not only remarkably flat and smooth, convincingly makes the argument that this bow really doesn't stack given that the slope the last 2" is only 1.5. All good things. How does this compare to other Manchu bows? I don't know, we'll have to get others in to find out. The closest we have is an under-drawn example, once again pulled from Peter Dekker's website, which at a maximum of  82 pounds at 32" has a slope of 1.93. Lets remember though that higher poundage bows necessarily have steeper slopes, and if that slope were held the 35" draw weight would be a ~88 pound bow. 

View fullsize

Stored Energy Curve

The Stored Energy Curve again yielded good results, allegedly typical of the breed, storing over 82 foot pounds of energy, the second highest of any bow here, again despite a poundage disadvantage. The closest in poundage is the AF Turk, at just 1 pound more, which stores a 25% less energy by full draw. 

View fullsize

Stored Energy/Poundage Curve

Now we get to the fun part though, Stored Energy over Poundage. All bows are rendered equal, irrespective of draw weight, under this measurement. Here that high early draw weight, after a slow start, begins to make the bow shine and from 23 inches onward it solidly leads the pack. Even if you were to under-draw the bow to 31 inches, you'd be storing 1.28 foot pounds of energy for every pound draw weight, about 15% better than the next best bow. By full draw though it is storing almost 1.4 foot pounds per pound , which is about a 30% advantage over most of the other bows tested. 

This post has dragged on long enough, so catch us next time for results off the chrono. 

Manchu Arrow Project (part 4)

Our Manchu arrows seen here with our exotic Manchu ring and JZW bow. 

The major shortcomings in part 3 of the Manchu Arrow Project were points and nocks. At 1200 grains, we'd achieved war arrow weights, but the hand-trimmed 7" fletching and IDFK what points of dubious Asian retailer origin left something to be desired. Enter part four. 

Our Manchu arrows seen here with our exotic Manchu ring, rather jade like in appearance. 

Our semi-ottoman flight arrow project was a real inspiration. Our house-made ivory points not only looked great, but were functional and durable for target shooting. Why not apply the same tech to make some nice Manchu target points? So that is what we did. 

Next up, of course, was the fletching. We used our new fletching jigs to cut big 10" Manchu style feathers. 10" is a bit short next to some examples you say? True, however 10" is also about as long as you can get from most popular full length processed turkey feathers. We actually offer an 8" Manchu Mini as even 10" is a bit long in some cases. How do they work? We recommend a large rotary knife (they cost about 10$), or an air-bleeding-sharp knife with a curved blade. Place the quill in the corresponding groove on the jig, and align the feather front and back. Starting at the distal end of the feather (the end where the quill is thinnest) cut, allowing the jig to guide the blade. If you're using a curved knife, rather than a rotary knife, use a rocking motion, don't slide the blade. 

After a little practice, it becomes easier and more natural and you can quickly knock out dozens of feathers. So now you have 10" feathers, but what do you do with them? No fletching jig clamp is long enough. There are two paths here. The first is to make your own fletching clamp. This is easier than it sounds, but beyond the scope of this article. There is another trick to this though: fletching tape. Rather than a glue which has to be clamped, held, and is relatively irreversible, tape offers instant adhesion and a little wiggle room to adjust if necessary. Plan things out, mark your arrows where you want the top of the fletch to start and the end where you want it to terminate. Clamp your arrow shaft in a soft jaw vice, or similar. Then apply the tape to the quill, and grasping it firmly by the ends, pull it taught and lay it on the arrow using the markings for the ends you made previously. Once laid down, run your fingernail along the quill to firmly press the feather onto the adhesive. 

From there, it is the same process as seen in our Turkish Flight Arrow Inspired Project to wrap the fronts, and we're done. (this can be done manually, a lathe is just faster) 

Our Manchu arrows seen here with our exotic Manchu ring and JZW bow. 

Fletching Cutting Jigs - Product Introduction

JZW Manchu Bow, Manchu Thumb Ring, Manchu arrows w/ fletching cut on Manchu jig. 

Our Manchu Arrow Project left off with the only major concession being the fletching. At 7" long, and free-hand trimmed, it was both too short and not quite the right shape. Similar can be said of our Turkish Flight Arrow Inspired Project, nocks, points, tapers, the full spicy enchalada, but we were short in the fletching department. No longer. We're proud to introduce a series of Fletching Cutting Jigs, allowing everyone to easily access modestly priced historical fletching designs. We're starting off with what we believe will be the most popular styles: Turkish Flight, Ottoman Military, Manchu, Manchu Small, Korean, and Japanese. 

Copper Ottoman ring. Ottoman flight arrows w/ fletching cut on Ottoman Flight Arrow Jig. 

The six styles we currently offer, available in both left and right wing, in order from top to bottom: Korean XL, Manchu Mini, Manchu, Ottoman Military, Japanese, and Turkish Flight. 

How do they work you ask? Align the quill in the groove, and cutting from the back (thin end of the quill) forward, use a rotary knife to trace the perimeter of the jig. It is as quick and easy as that. Rotary knives are available online for approximately 10$. An exquisitely sharp knife with a curved blade, paired with a rocking, motion can with a little practice substitute a rotary knife. 

Arrow Shaft Sanding Block Project

Completed sanding block being used on a massive Manchu shaft. 

This project is a quick and easy way to make a useful tool for both hand and power sanding of arrow shafts. We had a couple questions about this pertaining to our Manchu Arrow Project, so decided a quick illustrated guide would be a good addition. Why use this tool rather than simply holding the abrasive paper with your bare hand? A couple reasons. First is arrow precision. A raw spun shaft isn't perfectly straight and smooth, and hand sanding isn't perfect. Using a straight block will both even out the shaft and prevent you from hand sanding new high and low points into the arrow. This isn't a new technology, grooved stones used for the manufacture of arrows like this have been used for thousands of years. Second, it makes it much easier to add in precision tapers. Third is heat. Both manual and power sanding generate a lot of it, and this provides some good insulation to your hand allowing you to go harder and longer. Fourth, and finally, this reduces catch-failures. A plain piece of sandpaper has a tendency to wrap around arrow shafting, gripping it more tightly, and potentially breaking it or injuring the operator. A block such as this prevents that from happening by providing structure. 

Drilling the blocks

First step is simple, cut a piece of scrap wood to length and square it. Then longitudinally bore it in a diameter slightly larger than your arrow shafting. How much larger? At minimum the diameter of your arrow shaft plus twice the thickness of whatever abrasive you're going to use. For Manchu arrows, half an inch in diameter, spade bits provide an economical way to bore large diameter and very deep holes. Their minimal mass and thin shaft also improve chip clearance and reduce friction and re-cut. For this project, we went with two different sizes, [insert sizes here]

Sander belts make for long lasting coarse abrasives 

Cut the holes longitudinally, we used a table saw but a hand saw would work just as well. And we're ready to add abrasives. In this case, each half provides one sanding block. The coarsest abrasive will see the most use, so for longevity, aggressiveness of cut, and convenience we went with some pieces of expended sander belt. These will last a long time, but are quite stiff so will have to be glued into place rather than held by hand. This is perfect though because we'll have one half of each block for use with normal sandpaper, and one with ultra coarse sander belt for the initial cutting and tapering. 

Clamping the abrasive in the blocks as the adhesive cures

Gluing in rigid abrasives like cloth backed sander belt requires some force. Discard arrow shafting can readily provide said force and, conveniently, imparts the required radius. 

Completed sanding block being used on a massive Manchu shaft. 

The glued blocks provide the first coarse step, the empty grooves allow you to simply hold a piece of sandpaper in them, pinching at the sides, for all the finer steps. Keep in mind the first coarse stage does the lion's share of material removal, particularly if you're installing tapers. 

Bronze Sword - Mirror Polishing

Finished sword

This one is pretty simple. Initially, on this project, I had gone for a 1200 grit finish. Seemed reasonable, looked good, etc. At some point though I changed my mind, and decided I wanted a mirror finish. So over to the buffing wheel we went. Pretty simple, the images can tell the story. Masked off the handle to keep buffing compound off of it, loaded the wheel with some fresh jeweler's rouge, and being careful not to lose any fingers off I went. There is an image below which I feel really captures the contrast between 1200 grit and buffed, showing 50/50.