Mongol bows from the 14th century
Here's 4 mongol bows that I finished tillering last summer. Decoration in birch bark joined end to end, varnished with a mix of boiled linseed and tung oil. Note that the horn side is also covered with bark, like the originals. Everything done with hideglue. The sidestrips are separate pieces of painted bark (oil as a medium), like in the originals.
The overarching theme / inspiration of this season's decoration was Liu Guandao's Khubilai Khan Hunting scene painting, currently housed in the National Palace Museum, Taipeh. 3 of the bows have more grip reflex to give them similar curvy profile as in the painting. The other one has less, like the actual archeological finds.
Cross-sections like the originals, rectangular wood, convex horn. All bows 130 ntn along the back, max drawlenght 33". The black one with the rainbow-like bark is 110#@32", while the others range from 63-75#@32".
Braced pictures follow once I made the strings before they go to their new homes. My tillering string is ratty as hell.
Overall work time per bow was about 120-140 hours. Particularly the extremely precise cuts and joining of the decoration in the original fashion was a timesink.
Bonus picture at the end: Last year's bows