1 (edited by TargetSlayer 2013-12-15 03:35:51)

Topic: Florida bowyer completing Korean-inspired bow

Hello,
My name is Jeff Burris and I am almost finished with a Korean-inspired horsebow, hopefully the first of many of this design. I have loved instinctive archery all my loife and recently began weening off of my income as a webmaster and onto selling Western-type bows made of thin, unidirectional glass over ample carbon, heat treated/carbonized multi-lam bamboo tapers and/or tip wedges, and thin hardwood parallel center/core.
Only after perfecting this type of recurve (for which there is far more help available from elder U.S. bowyers) have I embarked on the more pioneering venture of a drastic c-curve requiring string grooves.
When I bought a Kaya Khan I could not believe what was happening. I said, "You mean to tell me a million American hunters and archers are out there with bows that shoot arrows just like this small, light bow, but they do not know their bow does not have to weigh 4 pounds and be 62-68 (or even 72) inches?! This Khan is like the little bows you see in fantasy movies. A real one cannot possibly be this easy to strap to your body and crawl or climb! The Khan was a miracle to me. I began to study Mr. Kwak Yun-sik as compared to modern Asiatic recurve works of recent Chinese and Hungarian origin, made from moderna laminate materials with wood or cane. Carbon and special glass are allowing us to do things impossible with the glass and wood of the 1970's etc. and Authors from The Traditional Bowyers' Bibles are going to have to amend chapters claiming they did all testing necessary and they conclude horsebow is supposedly never superior to Western recurve and is often inferior. They were too hasty in their findings! No one showed up with a Khan before vol. 4 was published! Haha!
Pictures next week!
Thank you, and it is very fine to meet you. I have been meaning to register here, as it was a source of info. to me for a couple of years.
Jeff Burris
My existing, non-Korean hybrid recurve (a reflex deflex design sort of half longbow but only 62") My "Raptor"
http://www.BowsOfTheWorld.com

P.S. -- I do not mean to imply I make biocomposite or horn bows yet. Currently I am merely concentrating on making the design store and use energy efficiently, similarly to historic horse bows, but with less effort in making because of using modern choice materials and process, like Kaya but truly one at a time with lots or individual care in a bow shop, not a factory. Again, don't get me wrong, maybe one day I, too, will operate a factory, but right now it is one bow at a time about half the time it is pre-sold.

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2 (edited by misterwonky 2013-12-15 06:32:39)

Re: Florida bowyer completing Korean-inspired bow

Yeah, that's how it is man.  This may sound crazy on my part, but I feel that humans have evolved with a bow in their hand, and primitive bows are what we evolved around... not heavy metal and graphite tiered pulley compounds.  Not to mention, I would rather almost hit a target I can barely see with my instincts than using every piece of high-end high tech gear to hit it perfectly (look up Lars Anderson's Reinventing the Forgotten Arcery....this is inspirational stuff).

Besides all of that, these are the TOUGHEST bows I've ever seen.  I flipped my limbs while stringing my Hwarang bow a couple of weeks ago (with the string nocked), and it acted like nothing happened at all.  I'm sure they're toy-like stature contributes to the toughness of them.  Besides the toughness, and the power, they're INSANELY fast, and I always shoot in amazement (no other style of bow does this for me).   With my Hwarang, the only other bow I will ever possibly want is a Saluki Crimean-Tarter (Just look at this bow <3, but besides that I'm set until my korean bow wears out, gets stolen, or something happens to me.

Also, as someone that's tilled quite a few bows from scratch, I wish you luck on the composites if you ever go that route.... it was that idea that made me stop trying to make bows, because it is definitely one of those skills that is passed on generation by generation by generation.... but I wish you the best of luck, and definitely post pictures of your work.

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Re: Florida bowyer completing Korean-inspired bow

Thanks! Haha yes I likely won't ever try biocomposite unless I can get mentored by one of only a couple guys I know of residing in the U.S.
I will have to get a Hwarang, at the moment, I've only owned the Kaya products in this genre.

I also need to identify what I think is a Chinese company, a generally Magyar-looking bow with attached wood siyahs that also rips through my chronograph like an advanced ILF Olympic recurve 5lb.s draw heavier.  It does not have the practical, diminutive size of these awesome Koreans, but frankly I was surprised to get one at this price from anybody that rivaled a Grozer premium equivalent. Almost as fast as the Khan, and with big heavy siyahs. I'll bet the one piece version is wicked, too. I'll photograph the chop mark. It's the same as the one on the Fleabay that's not covering a secret solid fiberglass billet with cool leather and claiming "wood and glass" construction just because the handle is wood. Might even be the same company but it's the true lam version that goes for like $325 from China. I took it apart to better retro-engineer. But that will come after this project and is more for historical re-enactment for me. The Khan,KTB,Wind-etc.'s, and Hwarang products are literally the most practical hunting traditional bows I have ever held in my hand (whether or not I wind up hunting any given year it's cool knowing you can crawl around with a mystical/mythical-sized bow in the brush...hang it somewhere on yourself and practically forget about it instead of it being in everything's way or heavy).

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Re: Florida bowyer completing Korean-inspired bow

I do have to admit the Khan developed stress lines more significantly and quicker than, say, a Fred Bear or something, but the price and practicality still make it a no-brainer and superior in my mind by far, to a Western recurve I've known all my life. The stability is obviously even there unless I just have a magic wrist or something... I'm a better shot, not even an equal one, immediately after switching, and I make, own, or have owned countless Western types.

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Re: Florida bowyer completing Korean-inspired bow

TargetSlayer wrote:

I do have to admit the Khan developed stress lines more significantly and quicker than, say, a Fred Bear or something, but the price and practicality still make it a no-brainer and superior in my mind by far, to a Western recurve I've known all my life. The stability is obviously even there unless I just have a magic wrist or something... I'm a better shot, not even an equal one, immediately after switching, and I make, own, or have owned countless Western types.

I think the Khan is EXTREMELY sexy, but since their release there's been quite a few faulty ones (seems to usually happen around the grip's lam).  I was actually going to buy one before I went out of my way to find the people talking about theirs messing up and stressing.  Still very pretty though.

While the Hwarang is sleek, and very minimal, it's not the prettiest bow I've ever used- lacking detailed paintings, scribing, and intricate carvings, but what it does have is that minimalism that I live for, and everything on it screams durability and precision.  It's also a very organic bow, and the leather, birch bark....etc have their imperfections, but that's how it goes when you're dealing with bowyers that refuse to utilize vinyl/pleather and printed off wood print.

I actually live in East Texas, and hunting is a significant part of the culture here, and even though I don't hunt myself, I've seen a lot of Fred Bears.... they're tough little guys, and they really last, but they're also three times the weight, and 3/4ths the speed.  With that said, I have used my bow on rogue animals that wouldn't get trapped (I hate hunting, so I'm not proud of this), and the last raccoon I shot didn't even flinch.... I know the arrow penetrated before it could even register the sound of the release.

I too became a SIGNIFICANTLY better shot within the first 200 first shots.  The thumbring and right-sided mount seems to be far superior than anything else I've ever tried, thus I'll never ever go back to western style again.  Before switching, I could hit a cluster with a spread of about 5

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Re: Florida bowyer completing Korean-inspired bow

misterwonky wrote:

Yeah, that's how it is man.  This may sound crazy on my part, but I feel that humans have evolved with a bow in their hand, and primitive bows are what we evolved around... not heavy metal and graphite tiered pulley compounds.  Not to mention, I would rather almost hit a target I can barely see with my instincts than using every piece of high-end high tech gear to hit it perfectly (look up Lars Anderson's Reinventing the Forgotten Arcery....this is inspirational stuff).

Besides all of that, these are the TOUGHEST bows I've ever seen.  I flipped my limbs while stringing my Hwarang bow a couple of weeks ago (with the string nocked), and it acted like nothing happened at all.  I'm sure they're toy-like stature contributes to the toughness of them.  Besides the toughness, and the power, they're INSANELY fast, and I always shoot in amazement (no other style of bow does this for me).   With my Hwarang, the only other bow I will ever possibly want is a Saluki Crimean-Tarter (Just look at this bow <3, but besides that I'm set until my korean bow wears out, gets stolen, or something happens to me.

Also, as someone that's tilled quite a few bows from scratch, I wish you luck on the composites if you ever go that route.... it was that idea that made me stop trying to make bows, because it is definitely one of those skills that is passed on generation by generation by generation.... but I wish you the best of luck, and definitely post pictures of your work.


I have a Crimean Tatar Hybrid. Check out my Youtube video online, all you have to do is type in saluki Crimean tatar on youtube and you'll see it.
It is amazing!

-Lucas

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