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Korean Traditional Archery → Bows → Taegeuk Horn Bow (Gakgung)
There is a "Horn Bow" sold over at Freddies'site koreanbow.com. Taegeuk Horn Bow (Gakgung). Looks nice. Anyone owned or used one? Days are closing and I'm looking for a new bow. Hwarang and SMG are not "accessible" for my dealer. Very strict laws here. Most important: Any one knows its MAX DRAW LENGTH?
Ask them, ktb@koreanbow.com
They're very friendly and reply quickly to emails
Freddie also sells the smg bow if you ask for it. High markup tho, 450 for the laminated horn bow (with sshipping)
Unfortunately I can only buy what JVD brings. I am yet to determine if they sell only stocked or they can arrange a retail order (through my dealer). They import Freddies' Nomads so I have a chance.
from what I was told in these forums, that one is backed with carbon but you can ask for a 'real' sinew/horn bow for $800
that just seems like it'd be too difficult to take care of, though
Freddie Won send me the pictures of the Taegeuk Horn Bow. Its a laminated bow with horn, 49" long, 32" safe draw length, no heat box needed. Very beautiful! Freddie olso sells the SMG now.
And this one.
Great to see that they carry SMG's now!! 
Great to see that they carry SMG's now!!
And it has free shipping!
It´s still a bit expensive tho (SMG sells that bow for 250)
Great to see that they carry SMG's now!!
This is not the counter-strike forum 
Hi, I just purchased the Taegeuk Horn Bow and awaiting it's arrival 
I will be glad to post some info after I get a few.....hundred arrows flung from her
Shame that max draw is 32", I prefer at least 33". Still, I wanna see how it looks!
Maybe I'll just get a real horn bow in a few years.. hopefully I won't blow one up. I'd need someone like master Heon to help me with it. hopefully I could be his student
I'm kinda burnt out on real horn bows, don't get me wrong, I love them but I been shooting them for over 30 years.
I wanted something I could hunt with and not worry so much about humidity or if it was going to rain that day
The Taegeuk horn bow seems to "fit the bill" for the job. I'm really looking forward to it and the people over there at Freddie's site are so nice and the fast responses was really impressive. They even sent me some pics to drool over while I wait for it, now that is customer service my friends
+1
Nice, hope you enjoy it and it serves you well : O
Nice, hope you enjoy it and it serves you well : O
Thank-you!
Seeing as your in the USA I would suggest checking the calendar at Saluki bows to see when Lukas Novotny"s next class will be in your area.
He is a friend and you will be hard pressed to find anyone who knows the Hornbow better.
Best Wishes!
I'm kinda burnt out on real horn bows, don't get me wrong, I love them but I been shooting them for over 30 years.
@FieroFurry
Would you please share with us some of your experiences with them? From what I've heard, they don't like cold and humid weather, but I do not know exact numbers - how cold exactly. Do they just lose draw weight, or do the limbs also become more unstable laterally? Were your bows wrapped in birch bark or some other type of waterproof material?
I'm skeptical that horn bows don't like the cold. The technology came from the steppe where winters are 20 or even 30 below zero..
They become more brittle and draw weight tends to go up a lot in the cold if built with a lot of glue? But they should be fine if not too reflexed?
Heat + humidity, or just moisture can soften and dissolve the glue enough to where it falls apart?
Storm--the glues are water based, not hard to do the math on safe temps. Bows were of many types and materials used depending on Country of origin replicated. Colder=stiffer warmer=looser
Saying which backing is better is like saying which religion is true so I will not give a solid on that one but I will say personally based on my opinion alone I "like" the all famous Birch Bark and the not so famous Glazed Pigskin.
A humidifier/dehumidifier will serve you better than a heat box and a good set of running legs if caught in the rain
+1
Do you have highly reflexed Korean hornbows?
What humidity do you keep your bows at?
I zealously worship shellac+tung oil, and birch bark, which I suppose is more reversible. Even though I've used neither (only tung oil)
maybe soaking birch bark in thin sinew glue would help with its flexibility and keep it from cracking?..
Yes, it becomes stiffer, but because it is strung, I expected it to lose the reflex and "set" in the strung form, thus losing draw weight.
If it just becomes stronger, it could be warmed a bit by pre-drawing it a few times. I've also seen stories on wooden bows, especially yew, that can break if shot cold.
well...the fact is I have spent more time doing it than thinking about it,lol
Humidity/moisture is more of your enemy than temperatures unless you go to the extreme ends.
Shooting my bows when they are all nice and in that perfect shape you seem to like so much because you stare at pictures, truth is they dont hold that shape at all most of the time and somehow I manage to still hit the target the same.
99.9% of your questions/concerns and just about everything else I have read in my few days on this forum could be answered by your own mind if you just invested a small amount of initiative and set aside a day or two and studied the laws of physics, chemistry and basic wood/leather working.
I keep my bows in 40%-60% humidity unless I have them out on a hunt or stump shooting trip, they re not as fragile as you think. If your birch bark is cracking premature then your bowyer screwed up in the application of hide glue to your backing/ ie, sinew
Back to the subject the thread is actually about.....
Taegeuk Horn Bow- I really love the fact that they did not cover up the truth and call it a semi horn bow as everything about it is as much a horn bow as one made a thousand years ago-only better!!!
I'm sure most of you just fell out on the floor--haha! Let me explain, things evolve plain and simple.
What happens today will be looked at has anctient history a thousand years from now, we only don't see it that way as we live in the moment.
The upgraded version of the horn bow is far superior to the old style sinew-fishbladder glue-hide glue-ect.. and the new synthetic glues actually bond and hold that bond in more extreme conditions and the replacement of sinew with bamboo or carbon cores or whatever the bowyer chooses is going to be more stable and last longer than sinew obviously.
I read a post on here somewhere I think may have been by
Korean Traditional Archery → Bows → Taegeuk Horn Bow (Gakgung)
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