Traveling With a Mongolian Bow

[bat_hawk]

In an original story of mine, I have a character who uses a Mongolian bow (aka composite or recurved bow), and I've gotten almost everything I need to know about them; how they're made, how long it takes to make them, how they look unstrung, the thumb draw, thumb rings, all that good stuff

Comments

[salamandraga]

Most of the books I've read have shown bows in bow cases on the saddle. They can be - and often were - kept strung while in the case. I've got one of the Osprey books about the Mongols and I'll check that just to be sure

[kuriadalmatia]

YMMV with Osprey books. I researched the heck out of Byzantine armor and garb, and found Osprey partially accurate vs. other period sources. Granted, Osprey is one of the few sources out there for some historical periods....

[salamandraga]

Agreed.

Apparently another type of case - which was more or less a leather tube - was used by the Steppe peoples for unstrung bows. There's also an article that explains a bit more.

And another dealing with keeping the bow strung.

[bat_hawk]

Thanks for all that! It's very helpful.

[randomstasis]

In general, keeping a bow strung will ruin the bow, weakening it and reducing its effectiveness by forcing it to conform to a new shape because it's kept under constant tension rather than being allowed to relax back into its natural shape.. This is especially true of the short layered bows, because the different layers respond differently to tension, which gives the shorter bow its strength. They'll eventually separate or develop cracks if kept constantly under tension

Strings weaken and stretch too, and they need to be kept dry to work rightl. So, unless she/ he's anticipating a need to use it, he'd unstring it beforeputting it away, not keep it strung and ready. Most bow cases accomodate an unstrung bow; some will protect a strung bow, and I've seen strung bows worn over the shoulder or on a sling too, strung and unstrung.
However, IF he's going to need it, he would string it and have it ready; a few hours in decent weather wouldn't cause a huge problem.

[smthng2b]

Yes but constantly stringing and un-stringing it is not healthy for the bow either. As for the story, I don't know specifically about the Mongol warriors but my guess would be that they would keep them strung for travel no matter the risk, just in case.

[bat_hawk]

I don't know if that would exactly work with the Mongolian bow, but it's definitely something to look into, thanks!

[inamac]

A search on 'Mongolian bow cases' will find both ancient and modern examples - this 15C set is a bit later than your period (when they were probably even better made and decorated).

You also need to check Mongolian saddlery - archery from horseback requires support either from stirrups or a 'wrap around' saddle.

[bat_hawk]

Cool, thanks!

[arwensouth]

Okay, gotta admit: I saw the subject line and my first thought was, "Well, obviously, it's gonna have to go in your checked bag, because I doubt TSA would let you carry it on..."

But then again, I'm in the SCA, and I've got friends who've had to deal with the problem of transporting historical weaponry via modern transportation. :)

[inamac]

Ditto. I very much regret not buying a recurved Hungarian horseman's bow at a renfaire about ten years ago - I wonder how the Hungarian vendors had listed their wares on the flight manifest.

[ffutures]

I was at a lecture on archery in fantasy and SF a couple of months ago, the speaker (who seemed to know what he was talking about) pretty much said that nobody would realistically carry a bow strung for extended periods before modern alloys and glues came in, and specifically mentioned the example of composite bows (which I assume includes Mongolian) delaminating if left strung unnecessarily.

Hope this helps.

[bat_hawk]

I will keep that in mind, thanks!