Saluki Round Up Anyone (or "Horse Bow")?

[geoarcher]

Hey,

Tried this before in trad/collecting but Horseapple recommended I try this again here on account that my last thread pretty much garnered a bunch of cricket cherps.  

Anyway please feel free to post a picture of yer Saluki bow here (or "Horse Bow").  I'll start with my 63# @ 28' draw Scythian.  Hope less cricket cherps for this time around:

[MartinD]

my Ibex 60in 55lb
 

[elkbreath]

 Ibex

One of the biggest archery  mistakes I've ever made was to sell this bow off...  Those dark bows are gorgeous!

[geoarcher]

Aw you sold your Ibex?  Bummer.  What draw weight was it?

[Dave Bowers]

One of these days  

[geoarcher]

bump

c'mon there's gotta be more saluki's out there.

[AKCrazyhorse]

I'm waiting for another bow deal to go through and then I should have one on the way.  Had an Ibex back in the day that I sold and I've not forgiven myself yet.

[geoarcher]

Man that seems to be a common theme with the Saluki's: bought it, sold it, regret it, now need another.  

But hey if you need to sell something for an important reason then you gotta do what you gotta do.

Do you know what type you're thinking of getting Crazyhorse?

[elkbreath]

funny thing, it was my only hunting weight bow at the time, 65# @ 29, and it was just too pretty.  Like walking around with a priceless work of art all the time, worried that I would fall and scrape it or bend the limb or break a siyah...  It never happened but once, a scratch.  However, I decided to sell it and get a heavier weight workmanlike recurve.  And that what I did.  I love my new bow too, but that saluki was unreal.  MY wheel shooting dad looked at it and said, 'a bow like that might get me to go trad!'    

[geoarcher]

Man if that isn't a testimony to a modern bowyer I don't know what is: selling your bow because you love it and its craftmanship so much that even damaging it slightly would bring on a great amount of mental torment.

Shame though cause the bow is indeed one fine specimen and you had it at a great draw weight.  You still keep in contact with the guy you sold it to?

BTW I like your use of the term "wheel shooting".  I still just call 'em compounds and refuse to add the word "bow" afterwards.

[hawk4570]

I have a Grandeur longbow and hope to someday have an Ibex. They are to pretty to hunt with but I would like to try to wear one out.

[AKCrazyhorse]

I'm hoping to get a scythian 52", 51# @ my draw.

[geoarcher]

Hey Hawk how does the Grandeur compare to other longbows like say the Howard Hills, Northern Mists, or any other for that matter?

Nice choice Crazyhorse.  I've tried most of the more popular Saluki forms out w/ the exception of the Persian, Eqyptian, Mughal, and maybe the Ibex (can't remember for sure) and always thought the Scythian seemed to perform a tad better then the rest in terms of speed.  

Its not regarded as the smoothest draw (most seem to give the Genghis that distinction) but I think its somewhat of a mute point since nearly all Saluki's seem perform exceptionally well.  

Only thing I've been having some difficulty with is mastering the thumb draw with it but that's probably more of a factor of me being trained intitially in the art of the longbow and not having a thumbring that I've been absolutely comfortable with.

Regardless, the Damascus is sometimes thrown up as having an edge in this arena but not sure what the general consensus is.

[Bushveld Bow]

Got some smart remark on another forum that I just need a horse!, so this must be a horse bow then ??  

[geoarcher]

Well now that's a good question and also why I put horse bow in quotes in the title.  Here's Lukas Nuvotny's definition of a horse bow:


 http://www.salukibow.com/31.html

Bacially, the term is generally thrown around refering to nearly any recurve bow thats form is based on the ancient and medieval styles of horse archers.  The term could be used incorrectly, according to Lukas, if the bow has certain stylistic and structural components that deviate from what a horse archer would have really used based on what is actually required from a pragramatic standpoint for a horse bow.

But yeah basically what you have there is either a "horse bow", horse bow, or simply a recurve bow.  I'll let you decide.

Anyway, who made your bow and what draw weight is it?  Ever try shooting with a thumbring?

[seabass]

i think it's only a horse bow if your on a horse.great bow.

[geoarcher]

lol...yeah truthfully its pretty subjective, after all during the Feudal period in Japan you had horse archers using the yumi long bows and I'm not so sure if the Plains Indians used bows that were really all that short or even recurved.  Both Yumi and Plains Indian bows are significantly different bow forms then what Lukas makes.

I guess in a traditional sense what Lukas speaks of on his web site is more of what people have in mind or ideally want (or wanted) if they practice(d) mounted archery and such forms would be the ones typically found among people from the Eurasian steppes where horse archery first began and so these bows evolved over time to meet a mounted archer's needs from the Bronze Age to the Medieval Period in this part of the world.  So the Saluki definition would be considered a strict one at that but really if you knew what you're doing you could theoretically shoot just about any type of a bow off a horse though some are far more suited for the job then other.  Of course there may be exceptions here or there.   :cool:

[elkbreath]

I've posted this photo here before, but just wanted to show that I did get that bow to impart some of its good karma before moving on!  The arrow didn't even slow down on its way through this bull.

 

some day, another Saluki.  If lukas keeps selling them...

[chrisg]

bushveld, that looks like one of Johnny Snymans bows? Nice pic man.
chrisg

[RLA]

These are some pic's of one that I should have keep.