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RQ Rules Digest:          Sunday, 27 November 1994      Volume 01 : Number 030


RULES OF THE ROAD

1. Do not include large sections of a message in your reply. Especially
   not to say "Yeah, I agree."  Those who do will be lynched.
2. Use an appropriate Subject line. RQR: will be prepended to it.
3. Do not engage in a point-by-point analysis or rebuttal of another
   person's message.  It is too confusing for others to follow,
   qualifies as nit-picking, and it usually leads to flame wars.
4. There is no number 4.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Kevin Rose                    RQR: RQ Rules Digest: V1 #29

----------------------------------------------------------------------

From: Kevin Rose <vladt@interaccess.com>
Date: Sat, 26 Nov 1994 14:38:46 -0600 (CST)
Subject: RQR: Re: RQ Rules Digest: V1 #29

> Actually it's not the string that's the problem but that the bow will 
> "settle" if it is left strung for long periods of time and will loose 
> power and cast eventually probably becoming useless. If you ever go and 
> watch a long bow shoot you will see virtually all the archers 
> unstringing their bows between each end of 6 arrows on stringing it 
> again as they prepare to shoot again after collecting. Even modern 
> target recurve bows made of metal with carbon fibre limbs don't like to 
> be left strung all the time. The only bows you see left strung all the 
> time are compounds (the ones with wheels on the ends) and that is 
> partly because it's a real pain to string them.

I'm sure this is true for the bows you were working with, but composite 
bows are not long bows.  The wood is only a backing for the horn
and sinew and they do not have the same characteristics as a self
bow.  If you unstring a composite war bow (like a Turkish or Mongol bow)
you end up with a nearly circular affair, as it will reverse itself almost
into a circle.  For a relatively accessable source, see the pictures on
page 132 (Under Bow) of Stone's "A Glossary of the Construction,
Decoration, and Use of Arms and Armor." 

> 
> All that said the mongols did carry strung bows in quivers on their 
> horses but probably only when going into battle, not when just 
> travelling around except maybe if in hostile territory.

I have never seen a reference to a Mongol army stopping to string their 
bows, and have been told by a couple of people, one of whom who owns a 
Turkish composite bow, that composite bows do not suffer from being 
strung the way long bows and other self bows do. 

And also, how else would they carry them?  These are not longbows that you
can put in a long tube.  They are somewhat larger when unstrung than they
are when strung.  As a horse archer lives on his horses, he dosn't have a
lot of places to put a couple of 3ft x 4ft x 4 inch thick boxes. 

> 
> Mafu.

Kevin

------------------------------

End of RQ Rules Digest: V1 #30
******************************


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