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The Turkish Bow - Construction
and Dimensions
The bow is chiefly constructed of very flexible horn and sinew. These
materials were softened by heat and water and then longitudinally glued
to a slight lath of wood, varying from 1/8 to 1/4 in. in thickness (except
where it formed the handle of the bow), and from 1/2 to 1 in. in width.
This strip of wood formed the core or mould of the bow, and extended
at each of its ends for 3 in. beyond the strips of horn and sinew that
were fixed on its opposite sides, and which slightly overlapped it. (Fig.
2, p. 5.) The projecting ends of the wooden strip were enlarged so as to
form the solid extremities of the bow in which the nocks for the bow-string
were cut. (CC fig. 3, p. 6.)
The two curved horn strips, which in part comprised the arms of the
bow (on its inside face when it was bent), were cut from the horn of a
buffalo or an antelope, and average about £ in. in thickness.
The thicker ends of these pieces meet at the middle of the handle of
the bow and their tapered ends extend to within 3 in. of its wooden points.
(EE fig. 3, p. 6.)
The sinew that represents the back of the bow is from the great neck
tendon of an ox or stag. This was probably shredded longitudinally, and,
after being soaked in elastic glue, compressed into a long flat strip about
1/4 in. thick, which was first moulded in a pliable state to the wooden
core and then glued to it. It thus formed the back of the bow when it was
bent. (DDD fig. 3, p. 6.)
The bark of the cherry-tree, or thin leather or skin, was next glued
over the sinew to preserve it from injury and damp. The horn parts, or
inner face of the bow when it was strung, were not covered with bark or
skin, a feature of the Turkish bow that, together with its small size,
distinguishes it from the bows of India and other Oriental countries.1
In the best Turkish bows this outer coating of bark, leather, or skin,
was lacquered a brilliant crimson and elaborately decorated with gold tracery,
the date of the bow being always placed at one of its ends and the name
of its maker at the other.
The horn and sinew (the materials which really form the bow and give
it its power and elasticity) may be likened to a tube, the small centre
of which is filled with wood. (Sections, fig. 2, opposite page.)
1 Though the horn strips which form the belly,
or inner surface when it is strung, of a Chinese or a Tartar bow, are neither
covered nor decorated, the great size of these weapons easily distinguishes
them from those of Turkish manufacture. (Fig. 13, p. 16.) |
