Wanted Bow & Arrow Magazine

[pucci]

I'm looking for the Bow & Arrow July/August 1965 issue. I'm interested in an article that's supposed to be in that magazine.

[seboomook]

Sorry, got May/June only.

[Wade Phillips]

José - Which article are you interested in? I can help you with information. I have all the 1910s to 1980s archery magazines bound into books. It usually takes less than a minute to find any specific article if the year and month are known.

[pucci]

Thanks for your help! According to Jan/Feb 1966 B&A issue, there's an article written by Tom Jennings about stringing and drawing a Turkish bow. Any information will be very much appreciated.

[Wade Phillips]

Yes, there is an article by Tom that starts on page 12 and continues on page 62. To summarize...

In 1965 Tom's two arms collector friends had some 50 year old copies of old Turkish bows that were built by a man named Mebert around 1915. In his day, Merbert was regarded as THE man who built authentic reproductions of these bows.

Tom and his buddies consulted Dr. Paul E. Klopsteg's book "Turkish Archery and the Composite Bow" for stringing instructions. Tom said Klopsteg's one page instructions were confusing.

They heated the limbs of the bow to make them easier to bend. They clamped the handle section of the bow to a piece of plywood that they had drilled a series of holes in, to accept pegs.

With one man at each limb, they bent the limbs downward as the third man put pegs in the plywood.

Tom said this was an all day project so would guess they took a little break after the bow was bent to the next pair of holes.

Tom reported that at first it felt like a 150 pound bow. But when they got past the third hole the bow seemed to bend easier.

When they bent the bow enough for it to be in the shape of a strung bow, they installed the string.

They strung two bows and decided on a 25-1/2" arrow, which they concluded was close to the authentic arrow length.

Howard short drew the bow several times as Davy and Tom took photographs. Howard said it seemed like a 65 pound bow.

Howard finally pulled it to full draw as the other two snapped photographs. They elected not to shoot it because the limbs were out of alignment... Thus the title of the article "Stringing and Drawing a Turkish Bow".

[pucci]

Wade, thank you so much for taking the time, not only for looking at the magazine but also for sharing it. Best regards.

[jester]

Helmut Mebert (born in 1893), a German, was originally a painter or illustrator. He got interested in the construction of ancient composite bows, studied available specimens and a lot of literature, and alsmost single-handedly (re-)discovered the secrets and methods of composite bow construction.
In the 1930s he also advertised in US magazines and sold his bows worldwide. Even the Turks bought replicas of Turkish composite bows from him! Some of his bows still exist all over the world, and I am currently trying to track as many of them as possible and have them documented, if the owner would allow.

SO, in case any of you ever comes across a Mebert bow or hears of on in some museum or collection - would you please let me know?

Sorry for the hijack of this thread, but Mebert is a kind of long-term project very dear to me.

[jester]

Here's what some of Mebert's bows look like:

http://images.imagelinky.com/1242630711.JPG

[URL=http://images.imagelinky.com/1242630776.JPG]  http://images.imagelinky.com/1242630776.JPG

[URL=http://images.imagelinky.com/1242630807.JPG]http://images.imagelinky.com/1242630807.JPG

[Wade Phillips]

Jester - Great information about Helmut Mebert. It is always wonderful to learn of someone else who working to accurately research and document old archery tackle. Unfortunately, there are not many of us around who are interested in taking the time to research and record the details of the era about 1871-1971 archery items. Have you published anything about Helmut Mebert's bow's?

[Wade Phillips]

Jester - Great photographs. Thanks for sharing.

This is the only bow I have that looks anything like yours.

This bow was originally contained in the Willard Bishop Collection and is quite old.

 

[jester]

Wade - that looks like a very fine weapon you've got there!
Unfortunately these bows are not mine, the pictures were given to me by a nice old man who knew H. Mebert personally and shot with him in the 1950s. Unfortunately that contact seems to have died (literally) a while ago and I have no idea what happened to the bows. I had lived in Spain for the last 20 years or so.
I have not yet published anything on H. Mebert, but I'm doing some research whenever I can. I'm trying to locate as many of his bows as possible. There's at least one in Australia, one in the Grayson collection (mentioned in the TBB), and some in Germany. I'll try to have them all documented and photographed one day. I have some material on Mebert himself, but that's all written in German …

I love this forum, and I've learned so much here already that I am happy to provide some info myself in exchange for all the knowledge you all share so generously!

Best wishes from Germany,
Jan

[pucci]

Jester, thanks for your contribution illustrating the subject. Very interesting stuff. I'm sure Bede Dwyer from Australia knows something.
Wade, your bow seems to be Chinese, not in the style of the massive Manchu bows but in the style of the "monkey" bow. Also, you have a nice lackered yumi too.

[Wade Phillips]

José - When I bought the cork grip bow it was represented as Chinese. From the detailed decorations on it, I can believe it is Chinese.

This photograph gives you a more realistic idea of the length and shape of the bow you can partially see with the Chinese bow. It is wrapped its full length. The hinged bow in the center was also from Willard Bishop's collection and is wrapped its entire length.

The hinged bow measures 47" long compared to 84" for the long one. The Kodiak is a 56" bow and is shown to give some reference as to the size of the other two bows.

José - Any thoughts on the two bows to the left?

 

[jester]

Wade – the long asymmetrical bow on the far left is a Japanese "Yumi", that's about all I can say.

Hinged bows are quite rare, but not unheard of in Oriental history. Chinese bows usually had rigid tips or "ears", those from Java are supposed to be even shorter than this one. Your specimen might be from Tibet, but these are supposed to be extremely rare, so I can't be sure.
Douglas Elmy published a small article about Oriental hinged and take-apart bows in the Journal of Archer-Antiquaries 32, 1989.

Some very fine weapons and nice lookers, that's for sure!

[Wade Phillips]

Jan - The Yumi doesn't appear to be very old.

Started another thread about the Old Hinged Horn Bow... Maybe others will have something similar...

  http://tradgang.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=14&t=002510

[pucci]

Wade, I don't have an idea about the origin of the hinged bow. The other is a typical example of the shigeto-yumi: the usual Japanese war/ceremonial bow. That's a laminated bamboo bow, rattan wrapped and then covered with urushi (Japanese lacquer used not only for aesthetic reasons but also for weather protection). There are different styles regarding colors and placement of the rattan wraps, with different names and uses according to the ranking of the user. I have a couple of reproductions made by Jaap Koppedrayer. You have a great authentic example of these yumis.

[Wade Phillips]

José - Thanks for the information about the shigeto-yumi. I don't really collect archery tackle from other countries, but have picked up a few items over the years because of their novelty.

[Tox Collector]

Doug Elmy had an article on "Oriental Hinged and Take-apart Bows" that appeared in Volume 32, 1989 of the Journal of Society of Archer-Antiquaries.  He noted that generally these bows are of Chinese origin but that specimens from Tibet and Java had come to light as well.  Also, Jay St. Charles wrote about "Take Down Bows" in the Traditional Bowyers Bible and noted their Chinese origin.  Tox Collector

[Blackhawk]

info on Willard?

[johnnyrazorhead]

Lon,
  I think you can find Chuck looking for Willard over on the thread about a bowhunter from Ohio.