Traditional Culture Encyclopedia - Traditional stories - Ancient bow and arrow made of what

Ancient bow and arrow made of what

Materials for making bows were adapted to the local conditions. According to the record in the book "Kao Gong Ji - Bow Man", "six materials" were needed for making bows, i.e., "dry, horn, tendon, glue, silk and lacquer".

"Dry" to Tsuge for the top, _ wood, Quercus second, bamboo for the bottom. The south only bamboo, from this point of view, the southern bow second to the northern bow. "Horn" that is, the horn of the beast, buffalo horn for the top, there is no buffalo in the north, to the sheep's horns instead of the northern bow inferior to the southern bow. "Tendon" refers to animal tendon, "glue" refers to swim bladder glue, "silk" refers to tendon wire to make the bow stronger, and "lacquer" is used to prevent moisture and corrosion. is used to prevent moisture and corrosion.

The traditional horn and sinew composite bow is made of delicate materials and has a complicated process, which is roughly divided into six processes: repairing the bow tire, sticking the horn, gluing the handle, laying the sinew, pulling the string, and applying the lacquer.

The bow tire should be made of good wood, and the length and thickness should be even, and then the horn piece should be glued to the inner side of the bow wall with boiled swim bladder glue to ensure even thickness and tight bonding, and then the cow's back tendon or cow's hoof tendon should be split, and then wrapped around the bow wall with a rope, and then finally the string should be drawn and lacquered. The work process is complicated, each of which must not be sloppy, or made of bow will be turned bow, the so-called "turned bow killed cattle".