Manchu Bows.

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greybeard
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Manchu Bows.

#1 Post by greybeard » Wed Jan 11, 2023 10:00 am

I was contemplating making a Manchu bow in a lighter poundage suitable for an old bloke like me.

Making a shortened version to lighten the overall limb mass had crossed my mind but after reading the following article I decided not to proceed. The following link can explain the reason why far better than I.

http://www.manchuarchery.org/bows

Below is an extract from the above link.

Poundage and speed;

Lt. Col. W.F. Paterson, who had a working example of an antique Manchu bow, was rather impressed by this bow design. He wrote:
“The force-draw curve is superior to any modern composite and the stored energy, for a given maximum effort, is probably the highest of any bow that has ever been in general use."
A well-made 60 pound Manchu bow of all traditional materials will not outperform a well-made 60 pound English longbow.
The Yongzheng emperor stated that from 80 pounds and up is enough for the military, so when Wen Chieh offered to make a bow for me I ordered that poundage.
It was only when we tested this bow that the facts and figures started to impress again. At 82 pounds its draw weight started to outperform the disadvantage of the weight of its ears, results were impressive. The 82# Manchu bow, made by Wen Chieh, outperformed a well-made 128# yew longbow, shooting the same 1230 grains (80g) military weight arrow a stunning 190fps against 170fps for the longbow.
This is exactly the reason why the Manchu bow used to have a bad reputation: People were testing low draw-weights that were too low and found no significant advantage in poundage pulled versus arrow velocity to justify its complex construction. The design really is made for war and hunting, to do damage with heavy arrows. They may not be the fastest bow, but no other bow design can launch an arrow that heavy, that fast. There is another catch though, the high initial draw weight of Manchu bows makes them considerably harder to pull than a longbow of the same draw-weight, but at full draw they feel similar again.

Two old films showing the bow in use.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXLnlRqoiMI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hX9eGIs8Rvc

Alibow weigh their Manchu bows at 35” not 28” and recommend an arrow weight at least 16 gpp or more.

It would appear that the optimal draw length for the archer is about 35” the reason being mentioned in the link.

Daryl
"And you must not stick for a groat or twelvepence more than another man would give, if it be a good bow.
For a good bow twice paid for, is better than an ill bow once broken.
[Ascham]

“If a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind, of what, then, is an empty desk a sign?” [Einstein]

I am old enough to make my own decisions....Just not young enough to remember what I decided!....

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Stickbow Hunter
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Re: Manchu Bows.

#2 Post by Stickbow Hunter » Sat Jan 14, 2023 9:41 am

Wow! I most certainly wouldn't have wanted to be one of those blokes at the target end. :o Some of the arrows looked large in diameter. 80 plus poundage bows are just too heavy; even when I shot hundreds of arrows a week back in the day I could never handle that sort of weight. Around 70# was my limit.

Jeff

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Re: Manchu Bows.

#3 Post by greybeard » Mon Jan 16, 2023 2:04 pm

Jeff,

From some of the videos I have watched standing along the shooting lane seems to be a common practice with Mongolian and Turkish traditional archery. The Bhutanese stand close to the target and do a little dance after the archer looses an arrow.

I was surprised that the 82# Manchu bow outperformed the 128# yew war bow but when you look at the f/d graph it would appear the Manchu bow design is more efficient in storing energy.

Daryl.
"And you must not stick for a groat or twelvepence more than another man would give, if it be a good bow.
For a good bow twice paid for, is better than an ill bow once broken.
[Ascham]

“If a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind, of what, then, is an empty desk a sign?” [Einstein]

I am old enough to make my own decisions....Just not young enough to remember what I decided!....

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Re: Manchu Bows.

#4 Post by Stickbow Hunter » Tue Jan 17, 2023 9:19 am

Yes I have seen people standing near the targets in different videos; not much room for error. :shock:

The Manchu bows performance was surprising indeed. If the bows in the video were in the 80# range they sure made it look easy drawing them too.

Jeff

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