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No, my initial argument was that it's strange Turks don't use heat boxes when they have highly reflexed bows too.
All I'm asking if that if you want to make comparisons, you need to compare like to like. You can't compare highly reflex/recurved Korean museum pieces to the least reflexed Turkish bow I've ever seen, and ignore what the bow looks like drawn, to conclude Turkish bows are under nowhere near as much stress as Korean bows.
To me the short length and therefore high bend of Turkish bow limbs looks like the bow would be at as much stress as a Korean bow which might have more reflex when unstrung but has longer limbs which make for better distribution of the bend. Do you disagree?
You're still comparing Korean flight bows to Turkish war bows. The bows Turks used for fighting and for flight archery as a sport were different. Like most other composites, those war bows you're linking were built for heavier armour piercing arrows rather than the flight bows built for speed like the Korean bow.
My problem with all this Korean maintenance is how is it practical? It's doable if you're at a Korean style range and just shooting as a hobby, but how is it even remotely possible, logistically, as a military weapon? It all just seems very strange and peculiar
You really aren't being fair. That 'typical' Turkish bow you've linked is a war bow, not a flight bow like the typical Korean.
Turkish flight bows are a lot more reflexed, forming a C shape.
And like I said, because a longer part of the limb is static recurve/siyah, the working part of the limb is under considerably more stress than on a Korean bow
And while most museum pieces have tips touching, most modern Korean horn bows I've seen aren't anywhere near as recurved as on that photo. They're more like this, with a half-dozen handle lengths space between the nocks.
Turkish bows have almost as much reflex as Korean, and since they have longer siyahs and therefore shorter working area, they have extreme, almost 90 degree, bends in a small area. The stress here has to be crazy but they don't use heatboxes from what I've seen.
But that's the thing, you might both be correct (within those two climates).
Average Hungarian summers are 21 degrees Celsius and 60% relative humidty which makes for 11g/m3 absolute humidity.
Average Korean summers on the other hand are 25.5deg/80% in July and 26.5deg/75% in August which makes for 19g/m3 absolute humidity, almost twice as humid as Hungary.
Quick google search told me Koreans set their hotboxes to 27~33 degrees depending on the season, assuming it's set to 33 degrees in the summer months, 19g/m3 at 33 deg lowers the relative humidty to 53%. Which is slightly lower than Hungarian weather but not by much.
This is why I think it might be OK not to store your hornbow in a heatbox if you don't live somewhere as humid as Korea..
How necessary is it really to heat box a true hornbow? The reason I ask is I've never heard of Turkish or Mongolian heatboxes for their bows despite sharing the same horn/sinew construction as Korean bows. Lukas Novotny (of Saluki) also says hornbows aren't very vulnerable to moisture, the only problem would be if moisture and heat was combined.
Which makes me wonder, Korean summers are some of the hottest/most humid summers I've ever encountered outside of tropical areas. Could it be the Korean (or other areas with humid summers) climate simply isn't suitable for sinewed bows and that's what makes heat box storage necessary? Turkish summers for instance are very dry, it's blisteringly hot under the sun but very cool if you find some shade.
I'm toying with the idea of getting a hornbow and basically I'm wondering if all this trouble is really necessary in western Europe with relatively low humidity and mild summers.
I think the string is supposed to rest on the thumb ring, not actually touch your thumb, but I wouldn't know for sure. I use a tug-ggakji (턱깍지/chinned thumb ring) http://www.smgung.co.kr/2010/image/r_2010_23_1.jpg
Just has a full ridge that stops the string riding up and also makes room for that tendon
Ah I see.. so it lets you show off the sinew while still protecting them..
I might just have to give that a go then, thanks
Really? Transparent 'paper'? My mind is blown.. That sounds like it would look/feel really plasticy and not accept staining from coffee..
Any chance you have any photos of what it looks like on the arrow?
Hmm.. maybe I'll try giving cigarette paper a go 
But what is cellophane paper? All I can find is clear plastic made of cellulose..
Can anyone help me figure out what exactly the materials mentioned here are?
Wrapping wood shaving around point end
http://bambooarrow.com/arrow04.html
Applying cellophane paper around nock
http://bambooarrow.com/arrow07.html
Are these the most traditional options? If not what other options are there?
Here are the characters written on there. (I can't read the character on the bottom left, maybe a better photo would help)
後先
看察
風山
?形
However, being able to read it and understand it are two different things altogether. I'm not even sure if it should be read top to bottom and then right to left, or right to left and onto the next line.. Going by the latter, my guess is the first four characters (先後察看/선후 간찰) mean 'observe seniority', something like respect your elders and take care of your juniors. The third line is mountain wind (read from right to left) and the bottom right char is shape/form.
Sorry I can't be of more help, you would have better luck posting it somewhere dedicated to translations like http://www.reddit.com/r/translator/
Those are the prices I got when I called a few months ago. You'll need to call or email them to order.
a1111318 wrote:It is one of the reason SMG is more expensive than Kaya and better performance than Kaya as well.
An SMG artificial horn(fibreglass) is $200, carbon $250, horn $330
I see KTBs go for more than that:
http://www.lancasterarchery.com/kaya-ko … w-set.html ($320)
http://www.3riversarchery.com/Product.a … mp;i=2409X ($295)
And considering how ugly (IMO) the KTB's patterned backing is, the choice is clear.
Under the thumb pad is a tendon that curls your thumb, an ill fitting thumb ring can put too much pressure on this tendon and can cause soreness. That's why some thumb rings have a cut-out here, to make space for this tendon. 
Bleeding at the back of the thumb can be because the ring cuts off blood circulation because it's too tight when curled up for use. The ring should have a bit of space at the back (maybe only visible when you press the ring against the string) that lets your thumb breathe.
The ring should rely on ellipsoid lock on the joint rather than overall tight fit on your thumb.
Strange.. does this work?
a1111318 wrote:Do you have the unstring SMG horn laminate bow image?
Sure, here you go
a1111318 wrote:SMG Horn is very good bow definitely. But horn bow is too hard to maintenance and string it.
The SMG horn isn't a true horn/sinew composite. Since it has fibreglass instead of sinew it isn't vulnerable to moisture damage and doesn't reflex as much as a horn bow. Unstrung it has the same shape as any other laminate Korean bow. It's the best of both worlds, the beauty of horn on the belly with the convenience of a laminate bow.
a1111318 wrote:What do you think the different between Kaya Ktb, SMG, and YMG? Especially the different between SMG and YMG?
With my view, the SMG is the best of them. Do you think so?
SMG horn ftw! 
Does anyone use protection on their drawing hand index finger knuckle?
I'm talking about something like this:
I see quite a lot of Korean archers using them, but not much information on how to make or where to buy one.
Does anyone know what they're called in Korean? I've so far been googling for them as '깍지손 보호대', thumbring-hand protector, but maybe there's a better term for them.
With blisters, torn skin and general soreness in that area (soft hands I suppose) I'm desperate for any ideas
Best explanation/guide for the Manchu style rings I've seen:
http://mandarinmansion.com/articles/Usi … Dekker.pdf
warongt wrote:I will try the bow scale and plot the force draw curve for this bow compare to the Kaya
Yes please! Never enough force curves
misterwonky wrote:Even if someone just answers one, it'll be really helpful for me!
I'm also in the market for a bow, none of this is first hand knowledge but I have the advantage of being Korean (living abroad) so I've been trawling through various Korean archery forums for information.
misterwonky wrote:-The profile is extreme....when the limbs get parallel, it looks like a lot of bad stuff is going to happen. I know it's not, but how is the durability within the limbs? Obviously, I expect them to be great at first, but how about YEARS down the road?
I haven't read anything about limbs failing completely, just a few people mentioning that after years of use the bow's poundage has dropped so they're buying replacements. Same problem as any bow that gets shot alot I suppose.
misterwonky wrote:-I've made longbows in the past, and am familiar with backings, but I have never seen a bow backed with birch. It's beautiful, but will it last? If not, then I would look at the cheaper bows with synthetic birch backing.
There seems to be two modes of failure, splitting within the bark (this is quoted by SMG as the reason why they used to use birch but switched to synthetic) and adhesive failure; the backing coming off the bow. Bowyers offer a replacement service but also say you can fix it yourself with some superglue. Not sure how common these are.
misterwonky wrote:-I should shoot exactly 28" draw length. If I get a 50# or a 55# at 28", what should I expect at the longer and more traditional draw? I'm ASSUMING about 65# or so... is this a proper assumption?
Here's a thread with some awesome draw force curves: http://www.koreanarchery.org/punbb/viewtopic.php?id=232
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