How to build an Ottoman Bow - #1
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- Опубліковано 7 лют 2025
- Challenge accepted: I venture into the royal class in bow making. The ottoman bow - made of maple wood, buffalo horn, hide glue and animal sinew.
In the first part, I deal with the wooden core. Activate the subtitle, then you get exact instructions. Have fun - and subscribe to my channel.
@meadowlarkadventuregearthanks for the encouraging words the other day. I didn't give up. I just had to read into the new challenge for a while ....
#bow #bowbuilding #ottoman #woodworking #selfmade
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I felt great pleasure and happiness in watching this Ottoman publication, which you carefully and traditionally produced, through its production stages. Also, as a Turk, I felt very proud. I am grateful and thank you very much for keeping this tradition alive and giving us the opportunity to follow it step by step. I offer our love and respect from Turkey. The real Ottoman archer.
The music makes you feel like this bow is very special to make. Makes you feel like something great is in the making. Great job.
@@adnaancassiem2856 thanks a lot, my friend. That's very kind. Cheers
@@m.bitious my pleasure. It is a great joy to watch.
Great job, so much effort and patience put into it. You are a master!
Wow, that's very kind. Thank you so much! ☺ All the best, my friend - and a happy New Year
Oh man!!! Excited to see the next installments!!!
Wooow😁😁😁😁😁😁 got goosebumps
Thanks a lot, my friend, that's very kind 😊. Cheers
I love your work. Thank you for the step by step process. I have a question regarding the wooden core: is the bark side facing the target or the archer? And do you need to keep the growth rings intact like on a primitive self bow? Thank you so much!
@@stephenliverman815 thanks a lot, my friend. When bending the wood, the bark side is facing you and not the mold. In the finished bow (when strung) the bark side is facing you. Regarding the growth rings: I always tried to have at least one intact ring across the whole limb. But hence your basically wrapping the whole wooden core in sinew and horn, it doesn't have to be the top layer live with classic longbows. The wooden core is more for overall stability. The main power comes from the sinew layer through contracting the streched fibers when releasing the arrow and through the horn layer by the release of the compression forces. Hope that helped. Cheers
@@m.bitious Thank you! I was about to bend in the other direction! Isn’t that how it’s done usually on a self-bow? You saved me from some splinters and heartache! Thank you.
@@stephenliverman815 hey my friend, yes, usually it's the other way around with recurves from a single stave - for some reason (to be honest - I'm not sure why) it's the other way around. at least according to Adam Karpowicz who wrote a fantastic book about Ottoman bows. It worked for me - nevertheless I always had some splintering but the non splintered part was still thick enough. Most important is to be really fast between steaming and bending. do it within a minute, because the wood cools down really fast. and wear some gloves for protection ... I triend it once without and it's not a nice experience. Good luck (and I can really recommend this book ... Karpowicz spent his whole life with Ottomans ... there's a lot of useful input in there)
Good Job ! I want to ask where did you get the glue ?
Thanks a lot, my friend. I ordered it online. You have to search for it in online carpenter shops or antique restoring shops. If I recall correctly I ordered mine at: www.antikebeschlaege.eu (I'm not sure if that helps, because its a shop only in german language). Important is that you are looking for hide glue, NOT bone glue (because that gets brittle after drying). The fishglue I use in the later parts I ordered here: bogenbautradition.de - again unfortunately only in german language. I'm sorry I cannot help you better. Best way is to look it up at an online shop for antiques restauration supplies, I guess. I hope you find some! All the best, my friend
@@m.bitious thank you so much my friend !
I'm curious, what would be the disadvantage of making the bow out of a single piece of wood? I have read that the different layers of horn, wood, and sinew work together in such a way that it increases performance but is it really that significant? Take the English longbow for example, they were achieving a similar result by cutting a piece of wood where the inside half is heartwood and the outside is sapwood. Obviously Longbows weren't recurve bows, so there would be a difference in performance in that regard, but would a recurve self-bow with heart and sapwood have similar performance to a composite bow? I suppose the right species of wood is going to be a huge factor but lets just assume that you're using the ideal type of wood.
I would think that a self-bow would have greater durability, and would be less vulnerable to the elements such as rain or intense heat where as a composite bow has to be more carefully maintained because of the animal glue. and also ease of construction.
Hey mate, puh, that's not an easy question to answer. From what I've read the main reason for the invention of the ottoman composite bow was the lack of proper bow wood. In the arabic region there was of course hardwood growing, but due to the dry climate not in a straight and long manner. That's why they started to combine smaller pieces. And lamination was key to increase stability and performance. A pure wooden recurve bow made from parts would collapse under tension. Hence sinew adds power because in can be streched up to 15%. Horn adds stability because it can be compressed like no other material. Together they give the wooden core the needed stability. Then of course there was the need for powerful but small bows hence the ottoman warriors were skilled and feared horse riders. Shooting a longbow from the back of a running horse is nearly impossible. In addition: switching sides is not possible - but with an Ottoman bow because it is constructed for left and right hand use. The leather coating will help protecting the bow from the elements. As will the furnish. So in my opinion the main advantage is the small size but astonishing power. So far my thooghts. Hope that helps. Happy New year my friend
That is a hilarious start.
Thanks mate 😉 - actually it worked surprisingly good as a golf club. Almost hit the neighbours house 😀
What are those pallets that you use for glue?
Hey mate, this is waterbuffalo hide glue, you can find it easily online. It is basically animal hide simmered for days, filtered, dried and broken into pieces. If you switch on the subtitle you will find lots of instructions. I hope that helps. All the best
何の木を使用していますか。？
Hey, I used maple wood. Depends on the country where you live, there might be a local hardwood that works as well. Cheers
Молодец👍👍👍
Спасибо мой друг!
Great video, many thanks for sharing!!
To state the obvious: if you make the limbs only 12 mm thick, they will not break...
Thanks mate! Yes, you could go with 12 istead of 18mm, but then you have to glue on additional thickness at the kasan and tip after bending (because there you need the thickness of at least 17mm). An other possibillity is to reduce thickness from the kasan eye along the sal before bending - I will try that the next time because I think it's probably better then using glue.
Where do you buy the wood
Hey, I just ordered it at an online wood Shop ( designholz.com/ ) that not only offers lots of different wood types but also offers different qualities. You should go for the best quality (=almost no knots and holes) for maximum stability & even bending of the limbs (knots are way harder but also way more brittle - both is not wanted). In the end you can use fresh wood as well - but then it has to dry for 3 month instead of three weeks. Hope that helps. Cheers
What did you cut the molds you bent? Can we cut it with a jigsaw?
Hey, yes I used a jigsaw - that worked quite good. In the end I used a file to even everything. Cheers, mate
What Wood you use
Hey mate, I used maple. If you don't have access to maple, try any other hardwood. Cheers
Sir can i make limbs from bamboo?🤔
You can do great and strong laminated bows with bamboo. But I only know bows with bamboo on the outside. I'm not sure if bamboo works for an ottoman bow. First of all you need a thickness of 17-18mm at the Tips. Could be possible through adding an extra piece at the end to increase thickness. Second things, that bamboo has a great flexibility. But we want lots of stability to avoid string follow. In the end my gut feeling says I wouldn't try it, because an ottoman bow takes a lot of time to make and it can be very frustrating if something doesn't work out in the end. I would use maple, mulberry or any other hardwood that's known for bowmaking. But that's just my opinion. Please keep me updated which wood you chose - I'm very curious. All the best, my friend
@@m.bitious thanks. I'll try one with bamboo😁
Cool, I'm excited how it turns out. Please keep me posted & and good luck for your project, my friend
@@m.bitiousBrother I made a Bhutanese bow with bamboo, it has very unique design, simple and very easy to make... I have already tested its range, thats about 150 meters, is that a good range or i need some upgrade??.. Replay
@@historicalguruji2544 hey, that sounds great! I really love bamboo for bow building! And I guess 150m is really good, especially for bamboo, because it is way more flexible than hardwood. Btw.: I just read that the record length for ottomans was 846m ... shot by Tozkoparan Iskender at the beginning of the 16th century ... I guess that's kind of hard to repeat with todays bows 🤣 Cheers, my friend
А из какого дерева ламели делал ?)
Я взял клен. Согласно нескольким книгам, клен очень часто использовался для изготовления этого типа лука. Свежую древесину клена легче согнуть, но тогда она должна сохнуть в форме в течение трех месяцев. Я надеюсь, что Google хорошо перевел это для меня!
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maple
What is the saw you used at 6:08?
Hey mate, that's a japanese style hand saw. Basically it's a thin saw blade with a long and straight handle (just google "japanese saw"). I prefer it for smaller precision cuts because it is easy to control. Hope that helps. All the best, my friend
@@m.bitious Thank you brother.
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