The nomadic empire appeared as a result of a combination of many circumstances. However, the main one could be the invention of the bow, the effectiveness of which is comparable to firearms.
After the unification of nomadic tribes in 1206, Temujin was proclaimed Genghis Khan. By 1215, the Mongols conquered most of the Chinese Jin Empire. In 1221 Urgench was taken, Khorezm ceased to exist. In 1234, the rest of the Jin empire goes into history. From 1237 to 1241, most of the Russian principalities were defeated. In 1241 nomads invade Eastern Europe, in 1243 they conquer Anatolia. Baghdad fell in 1258, and the famous stronghold of the Assassins - the fortress of Alamut - was surrendered in 1256.

All Mongol commanders could not be as talented as Genghis Khan, and their armies were not the most numerous. However, the rapid expansion of the nomadic possessions did not stop for several decades after the death of Genghis Khan, regardless of who led their armies. Due to what, then, did the Mongols manage to change the course of history?

New battle tactics

Contemporaries often left memories of the high-profile victories of the Mongol warriors. Historical sources note an unusual manner of fighting nomads: horsemen quickly moved across the battlefield, changing the direction of movement, often retreat was their tactic. At the same time, the warriors, perfectly mounted on horseback, did not stop shooting at the enemy for a minute, even during the retreat. The pursuing enemy was losing strength and concentration. The Mongols, seeing that the advantage was already on their side, immediately changed direction and launched a counterattack.

Other scenarios prepared by the Mongols were: crushing the enemy forces into parts and organizing an ambush. The enemy, exhausted and carried away by the pursuit of the main forces of the nomads, received a side blow from a detachment that had taken cover in an ambush.

The effectiveness of the battle of the Mongol horsemen during the retreat was higher than that of most warriors of that time, when they fought face to face. Chroniclers paid special attention to the ability of the Mongols to shoot from a bow. Cases of aimed shooting at hundreds of meters were described. Not only people, but also horses became victims of deadly arrows. The power of this type of weapon made it possible to immediately kill animals, which influenced the battle with enemy cavalry: it is much easier to hit a horse because of its size, and once a horse is killed, the rider is also disabled. Horde hundreds brilliantly used their trump cards: mobility, the ability to keep a distance and possession of small arms.

The invention that changed the course of history

Many historians (here it is worth highlighting the well-known Russian specialist, Doctor of Historical Sciences Sergei Nefedov) point out that the invention of a new bow design played a decisive role in the victories of the nomads. The warriors of the Eurasian steppe used a bow with a composite (multi-component) design for a long time. The wooden arc on the sides in the center of the bow was tightened by the craftsmen with bone plates. The revolutionary invention of the Mongols was that they got rid of one plate, and the second was placed frontally: earlier, the lining strengthened the structure, but now the bow has become much more elastic. This advantage was not used by sedentary peoples, since the tensile strength of wood, which they most often took for making bows, is several times lower than that of parts made from animal bones.

In addition to increasing power, the innovation made it possible to greatly reduce the size of the weapon and use it with maximum benefit when riding. With a sufficient number of arrows, the horsemen could conduct intense fire on the move, which was comparable in effect to the use of automatic firearms. At the same time, the power of an arrow fired from a new type of weapon was so great that it was not inferior to the power of the first guns.

Coincidence

The features of the Mongolian bow were also the complexity of production and operation, which also prevented its use by other peoples. The manufacture of Mongolian composite bows can be compared to the forging of samurai swords. Layers of wood and bone plates, like the layers of metal in Japanese swords, were connected to each other using a special technology. The production of weapons required considerable effort. Moreover, it was not feasible everywhere. In a humid climate, for example, it was impossible to achieve the necessary strength of the structure: it was not possible to dry the glued parts.

The special way of life of nomads also gave an advantage in mastering a new type of weaponry. In order to pull the bowstring as strongly and often as possible (riders could do this hundreds of times during the hours of battle), it is necessary to have special training. Nomads learned to shoot and ride from childhood. As a result of many years of hard training, a reflex skill was developed to fire on horseback. Neither Europeans nor Arabs could use new weapons at the same level.

Another factor that influenced the success of the use of the Mongolian bow by a certain community of tribes, historians consider the inaccessibility of heavy weapons for most nomads. Metal armor and swords are found only in a few burials of the Horde: most likely, they were available only to rich warriors. As a result, a special battle tactic was predetermined. The army, for the most part consisting of lightly armed archers, could constantly move away from a head-on collision with the enemy, exhaust and shoot him, and often on the battlefield it did not even come to the use of swords and spears.

The new battle tactics that appeared along with the Mongolian bow made it possible for the nomads to make a qualitative leap in the art of war and create an empire on a scale never seen before.

Making onions is a process that requires precise adherence to technology. Only in this case, you can count on a good result. With a well-made bow, you can send arrows straight to the target, while it must be powerful enough to hit the game, which as a result will become the prey of the hunter.

Taking on its manufacture with their own hands is primarily for those who already have experience in hunting with such weapons, however, with the right approach to business, anyone can cope with the task. Consider how to make a bow for hunting with your own hands, using materials and tools that are available to everyone.

Varieties of bows

The main parts of such weapons are the bow and bowstring. By design, bows can be divided into two main groups:

• simple - for these models, the arc is made of one material - wood or PVC;
• composite, or composite - the arcs of such bows are made of several materials.

The form is distinguished:

• classic bows - an arc of such hunting weapons has one bend, in a bent form it has a D-shaped appearance;
• recursive - their arc bends three times and has an M-shape.

Also, bows can be divided into simple and collapsible. The arcs of the former are made from a single piece of material, while the latter consist of several parts.

From natural materials for the manufacture of composite arches, wood can be used - for the middle part, horn - for the inside, as well as tendons that are attached to the outside. This three-piece design provides the weapon with good elasticity, flexibility and power.

Today, in the manufacture of industrial collapsible bows, high-strength modern materials are used that have optimal properties - fiberglass and carbon fiber, aluminum and magnesium alloys, and so on.

The device of such a weapon can be quite complicated, but making it yourself at home is a task that requires some experience, as well as a lot of time and effort.

With your own hands it is better to make a simple non-separable bow. With the right approach to business and the observance of technology, its accuracy and power will be enough for hunting.

Tools and materials

To make such a bow, you will need a minimum set of tools:

• hacksaw;
• plane;

To give the arc the desired bend, it is better to use a special slipway. It can also be made independently from a board and several bars.

To make a simple non-separable bow with your own hands, you need:

• wood or PVC tube to make an arc;
• strong rope, rawhide ribbon, wire, thick fishing line for making a bowstring;
• thick rope or other suitable material for the handle.

While pulling the bow, his shoulders should bend, while the bowstring practically does not stretch.. The arrow is sent to the target precisely due to the force of the arc of the weapon, which straightens at the moment of the shot.

How to make a bow out of wood?

Consider how to make a hunting bow out of wood. The best material for this is yew - it was from it that the best examples of such weapons were made in the Middle Ages. However, it is difficult to get such a tree, so other species are usually used instead. It can be:

• hazel;
• juniper;
• Rowan;
• ash;
• larch;
• cedar.

A good bow rod should:

• not have cracks, it is also better to select rods without knots, but the presence of a small amount of them on the surface is not critical, the main thing is not to try to cut them when processing the rod;
• have a length of one meter to one and a half meters;
• be dry;
• be direct.

For the manufacture of a bow, you can also use several thin rods of the same length, while they must be securely fastened by pulling in several places with electrical tape or other suitable material. This option is suitable if you need to quickly make a bow in field conditions from what you can find at hand.

Wood harvesting

Harvest wood to make a hunting bow with your own hands, better in winter, at a temperature of -10 degrees or slightly lower. If you look for a suitable rod in the fall, you won’t have to wander through the snowdrifts in search. It is necessary to cut it off, while the length of the rod should be several tens of centimeters longer than the estimated length of the bow. This is necessary, since the ends of the rod may crack during drying.

Before making a bow, the wood needs to be dried for a long time, on average three months is enough. For this, a room with room temperature is suitable in which the bar must be hung.

At the same time, it is not necessary to remove the bark, and it is better to paint or varnish the ends, which will not allow moisture to evaporate, then the future arc will dry out evenly along the entire length. A rod that has a slight curvature can be straightened over the steam.

In field conditions, drying can be done quickly with the help of a fire, the main thing is to do it carefully, do not lower the wood too close to the fire and do not dry it out. Such an onion will be more fragile and less durable than dried at room temperature.

Making a bow from a wooden rod

When the rod is dried, it must be processed with a planer, while the shoulders should not become cylindrical, but flat. The arc of a simple collapsible bow does not consist of a single piece of wood or PVC, but of two separate arms that are attached to the top and bottom of the handle. The handle in this case is easiest to make from a wooden block or cylinder of suitable thickness. At the same time, in the central part they can be turned, making a comfortable grip under the arm.

If it is intended to make a simple bow with an arc from a single piece of wood, and not with two separate limbs, the rod in the middle should be left round in section.

It is important that the shoulders have the same length, width and thickness, only in this case the force on them will be distributed evenly, and the bow will hit accurately.

Then the workpiece must be given the desired shape - in the form of a simple arc or M-shaped. To do this, the wood is heated over steam and fixed for a while in a special slipway, which will fix the desired shape. Such a device can be made from a board by attaching several bars to it. It takes about a week to keep the bow in the slipway.

When the arc is ready, notches must be made at its end and the bowstring must be fixed. You also need to braid the handle. To get a reliable installation, the fixation points of the bowstring and the handle must be glued.

Making a bow from skis

Skis are a great material for making a bow bow, which often does not even need to be processed. Therefore, if there is a suitable pair available that is unusable, there is no need to harvest rods or look for other material. Can be used with both wood and plastic skis, the second option is preferable.

To make a bow, you need to saw off the two ends of the skis of a suitable length, which will be the shoulders, and fasten them to the handle. The handle itself can also be made from skis by fastening the cuts of the desired length in several layers and processing them so that a comfortable grip is obtained. After that, you only need to fasten the bowstring, and the bow is ready for use.

The optimal length of the finished product is about 1.3 m. If a bow made from skis exceeds a length of 1.4-1.5 m, its power will be insufficient, since such a long arc cannot give the arrow sufficient momentum. Also, the shoulders should be narrow - so, in order to make an arc from wide skis, they must be turned from both edges.

Making a composite bow, each limb of which must be made from several different materials rather than one, is a more complex process. However, such a weapon is made according to the same principles as a simple homemade bow for hunting. If you approach the matter correctly, a bow made with your own hands will hit powerfully and accurately, and at the same time it will be able to serve for quite a long time.

Once again, let us return to the question of why the Mongol warriors were so strong. The answer is quite simple - the skillful use of their weapons and excellent tactics built on this skill, and excellent organization. And while the conquered and neighboring peoples did not learn how to deal with this, the Mongol army was practically invincible.

One of the points of the pseudo-historical revisionists from the so-called "alternative history" who deny the reality of the Mongol invasion is the attacks on the Mongol bow. At the same time, for some reason, they refer, as an example of the "falsity" of history, to the author of a school textbook, Ser. 90s S. A. Nefedov, who wrote: " The main weapon of the Tatars was the Mongolian bow, "saadak" - it was thanks to this new weapon that the Mongols conquered most of the inhabited world. It was a complex killing machine, glued from three layers of wood and bone and wrapped with tendons to protect against moisture; gluing was carried out under pressure, and drying lasted several years - the secret of making these bows was kept secret. This bow was not inferior in power to a musket; an arrow from it pierced any armor for 300 meters, and it was all about the ability to hit the target, because the bows did not have a sight and shooting from they required many years of training". Here, over these lines from a school textbook, the alternatives mock as they can, they say, historians came up with the Mongols, and in order to explain their victories, they allegedly came up with a super-bow that pierces any armor from 300 meters. It is not difficult to understand why the alternatives are so attached to Nefedov - except for him, none of the historians wrote this. I don’t know what exactly made Nefedov write such lines, but I think he simply misunderstood the information he read. However, in some articles you can read that an aimed shot of a Mongolian bow was equal to 150-200 m In fact, this is not so.Nevertheless, the Mongolian bow became exactly the blitzkrieg weapon that provided the Mongols with triumphant victories.

As for the bow itself, there was nothing magical and incredible in the Mongolian bow. It was the most common composite bow, common throughout Eurasia (including Russia). This bow has been known to the nomads of Central Asia since the time of the ancient Huns. The Mongols also did not know any magic arrowheads. As shown by S. Khudyakov and a number of other researchers of the weapons of Asian nomads, Mongolian arrowheads are a traditional set of arrowheads known throughout Eurasia. The Mongolian bow has been studied in sufficient detail. Length - 150-170 cm, tension force - 80 kgf, starting speed arrows 80 m / s, aimed shot in modern archery competitions common in Mongolia - 60-75 m (and not 150-300 m, as some authors write), arrow flight range - 250-300 m (there are historical information about the shot up to 750 m, but this is already under special conditions). Not only the Mongols, but also their opponents were armed with the same composite bows. Nevertheless, the Mongols managed to turn their bow into a blitzkrieg weapon for several decades, with which they conquered the mighty empires of China, Central Asia and the Middle East, defeated the formidable armies of Russia and Europe. So why did the star of the Mongolian bow rise and why by the 1280s. did this star go down?

Nomads, since the domestication of the horse, have been riders. The horse became the main means of warfare for the nomad. " Tatars are born and grow up in the saddle. By themselves they learn to fight. From spring to winter [they] chase and hunt every day. [This] is their livelihood. Therefore [they] have no foot soldiers, and all are mounted warriors", - writes a Chinese official in the essay" Meng-da bei-lu. "The bow was the main tool for the subsistence of nomads, for whom hunting was no less important than cattle breeding.

"They eat meat, not bread. They hunt hares, deer, wild boars, marmots, wild sheep (from the bones of their spine you can make spoons), gazelles (their backs are yellow, and their tail is the size of a fan), wild horses ( they look like donkeys) and fish from the rivers (it can be caught after the onset of frost) ...

Their custom is archery and hunting. When their ruler organizes a wild hunt, large masses of people are always sure to gather. [They] dig holes and stick stakes [in them]. [The latter] are interconnected with hair ropes, and [shreds] of felt and bird feathers are tied [to the ropes]. [It] is like catching hares with a net among the Chinese.

[Ropes] stretch [around] up to 100-200 li. Since feathers [and pieces of felt] sway in the wind, the frightened animals do not dare to run across. After that, [people] surround [the fenced area, gradually] pressing [animals to the middle of the circle], catch and beat [them]...

Battalion hunts [among the Black Tatars] begin on the ninth moon and end on the second moon. Since during the hunt [people] eat the meat they got on the hunt all the time, then [at this time] they slaughter sheep a little."

Xu Ting, Peng Dai "Brief information about the black Tatars" (Chinese authors called the Mongols Tatars).

Plano Carpini confirms this information about the Mongols (more broadly about the nomads of Central Asia):

“Men do nothing at all, with the exception of arrows, and also have some care for the herds; but they hunt and practice shooting, for all of them, young and old, are good shooters, and their children, when they are two or three years old , immediately begin to ride and control horses and ride them, and they are given a bow according to their age, and they learn to shoot arrows, for they are very dexterous and also bold

Girls and women ride horses and dexterously ride horses like men. We also saw how they carried quivers and bows. And both men and women can ride long and hard. Their stirrups are very short, they take great care of their horses, moreover, they guard all property intensely.

Plano Carpini "History of the Mongols", IV, 4, 2-3.

The Georgian "Centennial Chronicle" reports about the Mongols:

"At the same time, they gained courage and were chosen archers, impeccably throwing heavy arrows from their tight bows, the blow of which no armor could withstand. They were especially dexterous on horseback, because they grew up on horseback, did not know armor, except for a bow and arrows" .

"Kartlis Tskhorevba"

Thus, from childhood, the Mongols learned to hold a bow in their hands and shoot on horseback. It is extremely difficult to get into a running game, like a hare, and requires a lot of preparation. The Mongol had such training all his life, starting from childhood, because the survival of his family depended on the ability to accurately shoot from a bow.

Mongolian archers exchange fire with Japanese samurai. "Myoko shurai ecotoba", XIII c.

The most formidable weapon of the rider was the bow. The nomads had melee weapons, but they were powerless against the dense formation of infantry, especially against the phalanx, bristling with spears. The Mongols did not have infantry as a kind of troops - there was little sense from it in the steppe, and the Mongols also did not have large urban settlements where infantry could be used. However, the infantry was powerless against the cavalry, armed with bows. True, only on the ground, where the cavalry had room to maneuver. To fight the dense infantry formation, heavy plate cavalry was needed, where the rider, and preferably the horse, would be protected by strong armor. However, despite the ability to extract and process iron, the Mongols experienced a huge shortage of metal. Iron was simply not enough for armor. Moreover, there was not enough iron for arrowheads. Iron deficiency had to be covered with leather armor and bone arrowheads (which were just smeared with poison, which medieval authors write about - iron tips did not need poison). "Meng-da bei-lu" reports that some tribes of the Mongols did not have iron: " The so-called wild Tatars are very poor and even primitive and do not have any abilities ... Those who are farther from the Chinese lands are called wild Tatars. They do not have utensils and armor, and use only bone tips for arrows.".

Due to such a deficiency of iron, the Mongol tribes suffered severe defeats, and from the middle. 12th century in general, they became easy prey for the slave traders of the Jin empire, which every three years sent punitive expeditions against the Mongols to the steppe.

"When the Tatars were [still within] their own state, [during the reign of] Da-ding (1161 - 1189) of the Jin robbers, rumors spread in Yanjing and the Khitan land that the Tatars kept coming and going and they will push the emperor so that [he] will have nowhere to go. The leader [of the state] Ge Yong found out about this from the outside ... and said with alarm: “The Tatars will certainly be a disaster for our state!” And then he gave the order to urgently send troops to [their] miserable backwoods and exterminate them.[In the future] every three years troops were sent to the north to exterminate and destroy [the Tatars], and this was called the “reduction of adults” [among the Tatars]. to this day, the Chinese all remember it. [They] say that about twenty years ago in Shandong and Hebei, in whose house there were Tatar [children] bought and turned into little slaves, they were all captured and brought by the troops."

"Meng-da bei-lu"

Buryat horse archer, 1895

The Mongols could not oppose anything to the plate cavalry of the Jurchens - they did not have iron for the plate cavalry. Mongol warriors clad in metal, who became popular with the light hand of the researcher M. Gorelik, exist only in the ardent fantasies of reenactors. In fact, the Mongolian army actually had no armor. Plano Carpini writes that only noble warriors had swords and armor:

“But everyone should at least have the following weapons: two or three bows, or at least one good one, and three large quivers full of arrows, one ax and ropes to draw tools. The rich have swords sharp at the end , cutting only on one side and somewhat crooked, they also have an armed horse, shin covers, helmets and armor.Some have armor, as well as covers for horses made of skin ...

The helmet on top is iron or copper, and what covers the neck and throat all around is made of leather. And all these pieces of leather are composed in the manner indicated above.

The mention of copper helmets is really remarkable. Such helmets came from ancient times, but the lack of iron did not supplant them. Instead of a brilliant, well-armed army of the Mongols, their opponents actually saw an army of homeless people armed at random. The Georgian "Centennial Chronicle" writes that in the 20s. 13th century The Mongolian army had neither armor nor swords:

"And so, because of our sins, the Lord betrayed our country to the Tatars, he was fully mastered and expelled. Having learned about his flight and hiding in the fortresses, Genghis Kaen sent (in pursuit) after him two leaders - Iamu and Salpian, of whom the Georgians They are called Seb and Jebo. He ordered them to go through the lands of Khorasan and Iraq, and, as long as they had the strength, to scout those countries. And they moved with twelve thousand horsemen, without armor and food, but only with bows and without swords.

"Kartlis Tskhorevba".

The German Emperor Frederick II bitterly writes that the Mongols put on captured European armor, and actually considers Mongolian lamellar armor obsolete:

“They are dressed in undressed cowhide, donkey or horse skins. Their armor [is made] of iron plates sewn [on the skin]; they use them to this day. But, which we can say not without regret, now they are armed with loot defeated Christians with weapons better and more beautiful, so that, [according to the plan of] an angry god, we may be delivered over to a more shameful and terrible death with [our] own weapons."

Matthew of Paris "The Great Chronicle".

Mongols with bows, 1931-32

Elsewhere, Matthew noted the lack of iron among the Mongols, but attributed this to Mongol courage: " In order not to take flight, they are well protected by armor in front, [and] not behind", as well as " From the back they do not have armor, in front, however, they are protected by armor.". The reports of medieval authors that the leather armor of the Mongols did not break through should be attributed to the fear sown by the steppe warriors. In fact, the Mongols simply did not have metal for a full-fledged armor. Even after the creation of the empire, the Mongols did not manage to fill the lack of iron The Flemish monk G. de Rubruk, who visited Karakorum in 1253-54, writes that out of twenty Mongol warriors, only two had iron armor, and even the guards of the khan were dressed in coarse leather armor:

"Between the sea and the mountains live some Saracens named Lesgi, mountaineers who are also not conquered, so the Tatars who lived at the foot of the Alans mountains had to give us 20 people to lead us through the Iron Gates. And I was glad about this, because I hoped to see them armed, for I could never see their weapons, although I was very interested in them. And when we got to the dangerous crossing, out of 20, two turned out to have armor. I asked where they got them from. They said that they got armor from the aforementioned Alans, who know how to make them well and are excellent blacksmiths. Hence, I believe, the Tartars themselves have few weapons, namely, only quivers, bows and fur shells (pelliceas). I saw how iron shells (platas) were brought to them from Persia ) and iron helmets, and also saw two who seemed to Mangu armed in arched shirts made of hard leather, very ill-fitting and uncomfortable.

"Journey to Eastern Countries", ch. fifty.

Thus, Genghis Khan faced the huge problem of arming the army. If he managed to organize an army, breaking it into tactical units: " Let's say about the division of the troops in this way: Genghis Khan ordered that one man be put at the head of ten people (and he is called a foreman in our language), and one who is called a centurion was put at the head of ten tenants, and one was put at the head of ten centurions. one who is called a thousandth, and one was appointed at the head of ten thousandths, and this number is called darkness among them". There was nothing to equip this army for battles with plate feudal cavalry and trained infantry.

Genghis Khan found a simple and effective way out - the massive use of the bow. Genghis Khan left his descendants an oral decree that had the force of law, a bilik, where he demanded:

“Just as our merchants [urtak] come with clothes woven with gold and good things [tangsuk] and are firmly convinced of getting a profit from these fabrics and fabrics, the emirs of the army should also properly teach their sons throwing arrows, horseback riding and martial arts and exercise them in these matters, and to make [them] brave and undaunted so that they are like persevering merchants in those arts [resourcefulness and enterprise] that they know."

Rashid ad-Din "Collection of chronicles".

Marco Polo describes Genghis Khan's military reform thus:

"This Genghis Khan ruled the country well. What else can you say? It's even surprising how many Tatars gathered here. Genghis Khan saw that he had a lot of people, armed him with bows and other weapons of theirs and went to fight foreign countries."

"The Book of the Diversity of the World", LXV.

Thus, the Mongols had a huge army of mounted archers. This army was divided into smaller units, up to a dozen, who knew how to fight both individually and together. The Mongols achieved this by the introduction of cruel iron discipline and many years of military experience. The bet in battle was made on a long-range battle. The Mongols tried not to engage in close combat.

“You need to know that whenever they see enemies, they go to them, and each one throws three or four arrows at their opponents; and if they see that they cannot defeat them, then they retreat back to their own; and this they do for the sake of deception, so that their enemies pursue them to the places where they ambushed them, and if their enemies pursue them to the aforementioned ambush, they surround them and thus wound and kill. large army, they sometimes depart from it for one or two days of travel and secretly attack another part of the earth and plunder it; in doing so, they kill people and destroy and devastate the land. And if they see that they cannot do even that, they retreat back ten or twelve days' journey. Sometimes also they stay in a safe place until the army of their enemies is divided, and then they come furtively and devastate the whole earth. For in wars they are very cunning, as they have been fighting with other peoples for forty years and even more.

Plano Carpini "History of the Mongols", VI, 3, 3.

Mongolian arrowheads. From the collection of D. Simonyan.

Thus, the armies of the Jin Empire, the Sunn Empire, Khorezm, the principalities of Russia and other opponents of the Mongols were defeated. The massive use of the bow, the maneuvering tactics of exhausting the enemy, luring into an ambush by a deceptive retreat, and knocking out the enemy's horses were the key to Mongol victories for a long time. Despite its effectiveness, the bow, however, is not some kind of super-weapon. Otherwise, firearms would never have supplanted the bow. The fact is that the bow is effective in combat only at close range. The Arabs determined an aimed shot from a bow at 60 m. Above this distance, the penetrating power of the bow dropped sharply, as did the aiming - the arrow simply bounced off the armor without causing harm. Anna Komnena, describing the European crossbow, writes: " Started from huge force an arrow, wherever it hits, never bounces back...", i.e., an arrow from a bow bounced, but not a bolt from a crossbow. Albert of Aachen describes the battle of the crusaders with the Arabs in 1097, where the enemy's arrows practically do not cause damage due to the distance: " From time to time, the Turks, hoping for their large numbers, having gathered their forces, gave a courageous rebuff and threw arrows into the air, falling in frequent hail. But as soon as this cloud of arrows dispersed, as faithful ones, constantly keeping spears in their hands, with which they hit the enemy, they rushed at him again and, spreading death through his ranks, finally forced the Turks, defeated and placed beyond the possibility of defending themselves, to flee over the abysses. mountains and escape along the paths known to them alone". Although above Albert describes a terrible bow shot at close range: " Gerard of Kerisi, also pursuing the enemy on a beautiful horse, saw a Turk stopping on the top of a mountain with confidence in his own strength, and daringly rushed at him; but the Turk, piercing his shield with an arrow, hit him between the liver and lungs, and, knocking him over dead on the ground, took his horse with him".

The remains of one of the victims of the Mongolian archer. Found at the site of the Zolotorevsky battle.

The Mongolian bow differed little from the Arab and Turkish bows of that time. It was only effective at close range. But from what distance did the Mongols fire? Archeology provides the answer. Rashid ad-Din writes about the palace of Khan Ogedei: " Each side of that palace was as long as the flight of an arrow."As archaeological excavations have shown, the Ogedei palace had dimensions of 45 by 55 m, i.e. for the Mongols, the flight of an arrow was 45-55 m. This is the distance of an aimed shot when the arrow retains penetrating power. From such a distance, an arrow could (Plano Carpini recommends using double armor against the Mongols), break through the shield, stun with a blow to the helmet, hit the enemy in an unprotected place. A tumen volley of several thousand arrows, fired at close range, produced a stunning effect on contemporaries. Divided into hundreds and tens of tumens the Mongols scattered, leaving the pursuing enemy, snarling with arrows, hitting enemy horses, and at a good moment again uniting and raining down on the enemy a hail of arrows.If the enemy fled, then the Mongols pursued him sometimes for several days, killing those who fled.

“They (Tatars), who were camped on the banks of the Berduja, now called Sagim, instantly saddled their horses and entered into a fight. And a fierce battle broke out. We were angered by the Almighty for our unbelief and our sins, and the Georgians and their soldiers fled, and King Lasha himself, and a myriad of Christian souls perished.

"Centennial Chronicle", "Kartlis Tskhorevba".

Such tactics impressed contemporaries, who were simply frightened by the Mongolian bow. A certain European poet in the "Poem about the Mongol invasion" conveyed the impression of the Europeans from the bow of the Mongols:

The bow will pull, the mouth will bare,

Long-range shot will sting,

Three times the important will belittle,

Thrice resistant will knock down!

From his cursed arrow

Neither shield nor armor will save;

Dick, furious shaggy people,

How to run from the adversary?

Their spears are tarred

ignited by fire,

Their arrows fly far

Their arrows pierce steel

Their arrows hit, but ours do not,

And the enemy, fierce, follow us,

Like a leopard for a sacrifice, spins,

It's falling like rain!

The Arab writer Muhammad al-Nasawi describes the battle near Isfahan (1227), where the left wing of the Khwarezmian army was ambushed:

"When the Sultan crossed and came out on a steep bank, and the sun was already beginning to hide, those hidden in ambush came out of hiding from the left wing [of the Sultan's troops], like a raging fire that leaves nothing. They hit the left wing and threw it back to the center [of the Sultan's troops] It was only one blow, but so [strong] that the legs were torn off the ground, and the necks were off the bodies. Those who carried the banners were defeated, the blood froze in the veins from the blows of the swords, and fountains of blood gushed like beams of sparks cut from flint, but the khans and emirs, the commanders of the left wing, stood firm, remaining true to their oath until death.

Only three of them survived: Kuch-Tegin-Pakhlavan, Hajib al-Khass Khanberdi and Amir-Ahur Odek. Ahash-Malik fought until he fell, studded with arrows, like a hedgehog [needles], and died for his faith."

"Biography of Sultan Jalal ad-Din Mankburna", ch. 61.

Master Rogerius describes the defeat of the detachment of the Kaloch archbishop by the Mongols:

“The Archbishop of Kaloch, Ugrin, very hard endured the fact that they, like robbers, confused so many good people, and even harder that the king seemed to him and his people to be cowardly. Therefore, going out, contrary to the command of the king, with a few of his people, he wanted to fight the Tatars. But they, turning their backs, began to retreat a little. The archbishop, seeing this, began to pursue them at full speed. Having reached the swampy area, they quickly passed it. The archbishop, without turning, for he was very close to them, hurriedly entered the swamp, and since he and his people pressed the ground with the weight of their weapons, he was no longer able to cross the swamp or return. The Tatars, quickly returning, surrounded the swamp and, sending arrows with rain, killed them all there.

"A woeful song about the ruin of the Hungarian kingdom by the Tatars", ch. 21.

Successfully combining the mass use of the bow and the maneuverability of the cavalry, the Mongols conquered vast territories with fire and sword, leaving death and destruction in their wake. However, the weakness of the Mongols was also in the bet on the bow. Being excellent archers and horsemen, the Mongols were weak in hand-to-hand combat. Lack of iron armor and poor preparation for hand-to-hand combat ended for the Mongols with heavy losses in close combat. They could not compete on equal terms with professional feudal armies in close combat. "The Tale of the Devastation of Ryazan by Batu" tells about the attack of the detachment of Evpaty Kolovrat, who imposed close combat on the Mongols and inflicted enormous damage on them:

"And they rushed after the godless tsar, and were barely able to catch up with him in the Suzdal land. And they suddenly attacked the resting army of Batyevo, and began to flog without mercy, and brought confusion to all the Tatar regiments. The Tatars became like drunk or distraught. Evpatiy fought so mercilessly that the swords were blunted, and snatched<он мечи>Tatar, and chopped them. The Tatars thought it was the dead who were resurrected! Evpatiy at full gallop fought with strong regiments and beat them mercilessly. And he fought with the Tatar troops so bravely and courageously that the tsar himself was frightened ...

And he sent his brother-in-law's son, Khostovrul, against Evpaty, and with him many Tatar troops. Khostovrul boasted to the king that he would bring Yevpatia alive to the king. And large Tatar forces surrounded everyone, wanting to capture Yevpatiy alive. Khostovrul entered into single combat with Evpatiy. Yevpatiy, the hero by force, cut Khostovrul in two to the very saddle. And he began to flog the Tatar army and beat many famous heroes of the Batyevs, cutting some in two, and cutting others to the saddle.

The Tatars were frightened, seeing that Yevpaty was a giant hero. And they aimed an innumerable number of battering rams at him, and they began to hit him with them, and they killed him with difficulty.

The inhabitants of Kozelsk inflicted considerable losses on the Mongols, destroying four thousand Mongols in a sortie. This seems like an incredible exaggeration, but these descriptions are confirmed by foreign sources.

"And when one of the Tatars, as usual, approached Pest, he, armed and sitting on a horse, went out to meet them. And when they were already supposed to converge, the Tatars, as was their custom, showing their backs, disappeared. spurring his horse, he overtook one of them and hit him with a spear so that the broken shaft of the spear threw the Tatar from his horse to the ground. blade, cut off his hand with one blow. He, falling out of the saddle, immediately died. The other Tatars, turning to flight, picked up the fallen one and, together with the horses, brought him to their army. "

Master Rogerius "Sorrowful song about the ruin of the Hungarian kingdom by the Tatars", ch. 23.

"Jalal ad-Din met him with the firm intention of waging jihad and diligently defending Islam. He ran into him at Parvan with cavalry like mountain streams and warriors [brave] like lions. When both detachments appeared, he himself rushed to the center of Toli -Khan, upset his [battle] order, threw his banners under the hooves of the cavalry, forced him to flee and leave his position. And [then] swords of revenge fell upon the Tatars. Sitting in the saddle of hatred, Jalal ad-Din cut off the ends of the neck veins with swords, separated the shoulders from the places where they converge. How else? After all, they caused great suffering to him, his brothers and father, his state, his relatives and close associates who guarded him. He was left without a father and offspring, without a master and without a slave, misfortune threw him into the steppes, and dangers led him into the desert.

Toli Khan was killed in the heat of battle, in the midst of the attack. Many prisoners were taken, so that the servants brought the people they captured to him (Jalal ad-Din) and drove stakes into their ears, settling scores with them.

Muhammad an-Nasawi "Biography of Sultan Jalal ad-Din Mankburna", ch. 36.

Mongolian arrowheads.

In the already mentioned battle near Isfahan, the Mongols suffered heavy losses and retreated: " As for the damned [Tatars], they returned from Isfahan in fear. Although they were victorious at the end of the day, the swords took more [people] from them than from the Muslims, and they turned back, defeated"(M. al-Nasawi).

Plano Carpini names another method of fighting the Mongols:

"All who wish to fight them should have the following weapons: good and strong bows, ballistas, which they are very afraid of, a sufficient number of arrows, a club (dolabrum) from good iron, or a long-handled ax (the points of arrows for a bow or ballista must, like those of the Tatars, when they are hot, be tempered in water mixed with salt so that they have the power to pierce their weapons), also swords and spears with a hook to be able to to pull them from the saddle, as they fall very easily from it, knives and double armor, since their arrows do not easily pierce them, a helmet and other weapons to protect the body and horse from their weapons and arrows.

Ballistas are crossbows, because the version of Carpini's book written by C. de Bridia leaves no doubt about this:

"And the ballistarii, located in front of the army and spaced in at least three [rows], must throw arrows before they can reach the battle order of the tartars, [that is] in the best way and in time so that their own battle ranks either run or are and if the enemy turns to flight, the ballistarii with archers, and those who are in ambush, pursue them, while the army gradually moves behind them.

This was the cure for the Mongolian blitzkrieg - to drive the Mongols further than a distance of 45-55 m in order to deprive their bows of lethal power, and also to get close to the Mongols in close combat, preferably depriving their cavalry of maneuver. As soon as the opponents of the Mongols understood this by the 80s. 13th century Mongols' successes ended everywhere. This is exactly how Mamai nga Kulikovo field was defeated - in a cramped field, in close combat, where the bow became useless. The Mongols could still hold on to what they had conquered, but they no longer had the strength to make new conquests. Star of the Mongol empires in the XIV century. began to roll, and the enslaved peoples got a chance for revenge, from which no bow could save.

The Mongolian bow has a reverse kibiti bow. This means that both the bow itself and the ends of the bow are curved outward in a special way. Traditional manufacturing techniques for these weapons included the use of wood, birch bark, and reinforcement with horn overlays.

Unlike other bows, they had an additional lateral bend in the form of an overlay made of leather, wood and horns. It was arranged to protect the nomad from the return blow of the bowstring on the wrist of the left hand, which largely determined the methods of firing shots. Including, striking contemporaries, the traditional shooting of nomads from behind. That is why the Mongols did not need traditional bracers used by other peoples.

Making this bow is a long, patient process. It was created from several layers of wood, covered with birch bark on the outside. A rather small (up to 170 cm long) bow of the Mongols had incredible lethal power, piercing not only the armor of European knights, but also the warrior himself through and through.

The Mongolian bow consisted of three main elements: wood, bone, horn and glue. The bow was made by a special craftsman. All other parts of the Mongol archer's equipment, such as a quiver, bow or bow case, arrows, were also made by specialist artisans. The quiver and bow were made of specially dressed leather. The skin was soaked for seven to ten days in a wooden barrel of salt water, then brushed, stretched and kneaded to the desired state. The quiver consisted of two wooden planks connected wooden frame and covered in leather. The belt for carrying the quiver was thrown over the right shoulder and the quiver hung at the right hip. The number of arrows in a quiver could be different - from four to fifteen, depending on the type of hunting and the type of arrows. The headband was cut from one large piece of subtriangular leather, with the seam located on one side and only up to the middle of the cover. In the upper, narrow part of the bow there was a loop through which the shooter's belt was threaded. The cover was worn on the left side in an inclined position, as the most convenient for riding a horse. The bow in the sheath was in a taut state, with the string down, the tree up, and was only half covered with a sheath.

Contrary to popular belief, the Mongols almost never used poison arrows. Their weapons were already deadly enough. Arrowheads had a wide variety of weights, sizes and configurations. Many of them were not just a part of the weapon, but also a kind of traditional mascots of nomads.

The bowstring was made from the vertebral tendons of animals. They were divided into threads, twisted together, getting a tight and elastic bowstring. To avoid injuries during shooting, the nomads used a special ring that protected the fingers of the right hand.

The technology for making Mongolian-type bows was extremely complex and required high technical development. Master archers possessed excellent knowledge of the properties of all the composite materials from which the bow was made: various types of wood, horns, bones, birch bark tendons, glue, varnishes, etc. For the manufacture of the wooden base of the bows, the best types of wood were selected High Quality, for overlays - horn and bone plates without the slightest flaw. The most carefully selected tendons and birch bark, varnishes and raw materials for the preparation of glue.

In Western and Central Asia, the technique for the production of composite bows has reached such perfection that when dressing onions, the climatic features of the regions where they will be used, the purpose of the bow for certain purposes, and the individual addition of the archer were taken into account. Depending on these factors, the ratio and quality of its constituent parts, the length, width, magnitude of the bend and the shape of the bow were determined. From design features and the shape of the bow very much depended on its power, the amount of effort applied to pull it and keep it taut. 31 It has been experimentally proved that with the optimal ratio of bow and arrow, the correct distribution and combination of composite materials, the size and shape of the bow depended on its range, arrow flight speed, its penetrating ability and stopping effect.

FROMtrills

The manufacture of arrows, hollow inside, provided a whistle during the flight. This brought mortal horror to the enemies of the nomads. This, of course, is the similarity with the whistle of a certain type of Mongolian arrows, called "singing death." Both of them believed that whistling arrows scare away evil spirits. Mongolian arrows made a sound with a kind of whistle located at the tip. The most powerful Mongolian bow, as many historians believe, had an arrow range of over 300 meters.

The end of bow making was accompanied by a special ceremony of opening the bow, which consisted of pronouncing a wish-blessing erool, where praise for the virtues of the bow was combined with wishes of good luck to its owner. Following the pronunciation of the wish-blessing, a libation was made on the “head” of the lukaairag, for which the shooter chose one of the ends of the bow, to which the hadak accompanying the wishes was attached. The libation was carried out with the help of a ritual wooden spoon, on the deep part of which there were nine or twelve small pits. The ceremony ended with refreshments for those present. The first use of the arrow was also accompanied by wishes and a redemptive anointing.

In relation to the bow, the Mongols had a number of prescriptions and prohibitions, which subsequently passed to the gun. These include, first of all, the prohibition to step over the bow (gun), as well as rubbing the bow (or gun) in case of misses with the blood of predatory animals, so that the weapon becomes more deadly.
Archery to this day remains one of the favorite traditional entertainments of the Mongols and, along with national wrestling and jumps plays a significant role in the annual folk festival nadam, the roots of which are associated with military sports and go back to the distant past of the Mongolian people.

First we cut out the blanks. I took maple this time. You can also use other wood, say, ash, walnut, elm, etc. The main thing is to choose a piece of the trunk that meets at least the most basic requirements: namely, the absence of cracks, knots, sagging, internal tears and displacements of the layers, the layers must be uniform and located along the plane of the future shoulders, and not across. It is almost impossible to find such a blank in wood shops where sawn boards are sold, so it is better to take a log.

Deciduous trees are rich in sap, which include various sugars. Without going into details, let's just say - they are harmful to the work of the shoulders. Accordingly, first of all, we get rid of intra-wood juice. To do this, cook in hot water, sluggishly walking, and not beating with a key, for 40 minutes, up to an hour and a half, but you should not overdo it. Experience is the best teacher. The task of this stage is to get rid of the juice in the wood, so that in the future it does not crystallize and does not tear the fibers from the inside during repeated bending, and also to make the wood pliable for bending and drying on the template.

While the wood is hot, we wind it to the template and leave it to dry in a cool place. So, they say, they used to make skis. We repeat the same process for the second shoulder.

Next, when everything is dry, we make a handle from comfortable wood. I also took maple. You can also birch, it is quite consistent with the task.
According to the size of the owner's hand, as he imagines holding the bow, the dimensions are adjusted, a wedge is made at both ends for gluing. We mark with a pencil the places of gluing on the shoulders. It is time to mark the shoulders and ends of the handle during the fitting process so as not to be confused when gluing. Cut out the wedge for gluing the handle.

We cut out the bars for the saya horns. We make them square in cross section, about 4 cm. We cook, too, and very quickly on the template - bend and fix. Why fast? Because with a large, relatively thick, cooled wood does not bend! Or maybe even crack. Which is not always critical, because then you still have to adjust the geometry, remove excess wood.
Then, when after a few days the tree has dried, we adjust it to the upper ends of the shoulders. The same process - preparation for gluing on the wedge.

Now an important stage - we pass all the surfaces to be glued with a toothed cycle (see photo), to obtain uniform parallel grooves, to increase the area of ​​the surface to be glued. The pitch between the teeth is about 2 mm.
We breed in a water bath (60 degrees) pre-prepared tendon glue. The volume is at the bottom of the can. We prime the surfaces for gluing. The layer dries up - we put a new layer. So up to 7 times. As you work, the glue in the jar becomes thicker. The primer is getting smoother. This is such a simple trick.
Then it remains only to heat over any heat source and - dock for gluing.

Then we glue the parts of the bow and give it the necessary, according to Turkish traditions, shape and size. There are a lot of sources, one of those that you can use is such a simple scheme:

And in the meantime, we get the following picture:

Among other operations on wood is the removal of 1-2 layers from the back of the bow where the shoulders should work.
Tendons play a special place in the manufacture of onions. They should be told in more detail, bearing in mind the questions that the interested public likes to ask.
The tendons of cattle are used. You can buy them in the markets of Moscow, and other cities, I hope, where carcasses of bulls, cows and calves are butchered for beef for consumption. These tendons do not go anywhere, butchers usually chop them and add them to jellied meat sets. In short, how do you agree? Butchers are a peculiar audience, you need an approach to them.
The tendons of the neck and dorsal tendons do not contain as much collagen as the tendons of the hock, which work more during the life of the cattle. Therefore, ask to cut the tendons from the legs, but not in pieces, but entirely.
Small tendons will go for glue, it’s better to chop them into cubes anyway, and the longest hocks should be saved for sticking on the bow. It is necessary to remove excess films from the tendons, carefully remove all fat under running water.
You can use both layers of the tendon, and the outer shell, and the inner, proper tendon.

First of all, before drying the tendons, it is better to remove the sheath from them. It also dries, and also sticks. The inner fork is longer, but harder to fiberize. The shell splits more easily. It is necessary to dry in the shade, ultraviolet has a bad effect on collagen. If on the street, then under a canopy, and preferably indoors. For example, like this:

Ready-made "glassy forks" are stored for a long time in a cool dry place, somewhere in a closet, in a box, but without precipitation. In general, they should look like this:

Before gluing, they must be split into fibers. For this, a special device is used, which helps to turn the "glass" into threads. There she is:

Who said it would be easy?
Now about another purpose of tendons - to become glue.
This is a very difficult process. Many have fled the race without defeating him.
The method of cooking in a pressure cooker: beef (Achilles) tendons, cleaned of fatty films, thrown into boiling water (ordinary, from a tap) and wait until they shrink, drain the water.
Clean again from the remaining films and any cuts. The veins themselves will have the consistency of rubber, and a translucent, yellowish color. After - cut them into cubes-pieces and put them in glass jars that fit into your pressure cooker in size. Fold so that the veins occupy one third of the volume of the jar, fill the jar with two thirds of distilled water. Banks - in a pressure cooker, place them so that the walls do not touch each other or lay rags between them. Pour into the pressure cooker to the bottom of the water to cover the pan on which the jars stand.
Close pressure cooker.
Raise the valve.
Put on fire.
As soon as steam comes out of the valve, not much, but only starts to go, close the valve.
After, from the moment steam starts to flow from the closed valve, note the time - 2 hours.
Two hours have passed - remove the pressure cooker from the heat and let it cool without opening the valve!
It has cooled down to the point that you can keep your hand on the wall of the pressure cooker - we take out the jars, pour the contents through a sieve into a dish in which we will evaporate the glue.
Evaporate, stirring constantly, until the consistency of thick vegetable oil, then pour into plastic trays (container from herring in pieces - suitable), to which the glue will not stick tightly and - cool in the refrigerator.
The glue has cooled down - we take it out of the container and cut it into pieces with a knife dipped in water - we hang it on a rope and dry it.

We remove the completely dried glue cubes from the ropes and put them in hermetically sealed jars, they should be stored in a cool, dark place.
As necessary, we take out the cubes and dissolve them in a water bath at a temperature of about 60 degrees Celsius.
Another non-trivial topic is horns. The task of the horns, which are glued to the belly of the bow, is to work on compression. What is a horn and why did it turn out to be so suitable for making bows that for many thousands of years no one came up with anything better?
First of all, a horn is hardened intertwined hairs, so to speak, flesh from the flesh of an animal. So evolution ordered that part of the hairline took shape in keratinized growths. Accordingly, the horn has a structure similar to felt, or more precisely, with a braided woolen rope. It is known that when twisting, the fibers that make up the hairs are so closely intertwined with each other that they are able to retain their shape after repeated attempts to change it.
If you examine the structure of the horn in detail, you can see that it consists of spirally twisted structures, which also consist of smaller spirally twisted structures, and so on, down to very very microscopic sizes. Thus, it turns out that in the form of a horn we have a perfectly balanced spring system that works best for compression, which is not surprising if you look at how animals use their horns: shocks, damping falls, like mountain goats and rams, and almost never - in tension.

Without going into further details, we note that no one has come up with anything better than this natural damping spring.

So, we take the horns of an Indian cow, which differ in their length, and which can be bought at any store selling goods for historical reenactors. They play the role of signal horns there.
We saw with a narrow hacksaw with fine teeth. It is necessary to cut according to outside horns, where the length of the plate is maximum.
So, the horns are sawn and with the help of a flat cycle they are given a flattened profile. The purpose of cycling is so that when flattening the horn plate does not burst.

Now boil and flatten, flatten, flatten.
Who will needlework - pay attention to the profile of the end of the plate.

Cook first. The end of the horn plate is visible in the tank, if noticeable.

Here the water boils for 40 minutes. Plus or minus 10 minutes doesn't matter.
The main thing is to prepare the "conditioner" in advance in order to install the plates with minimal heat loss.
We take the plate with tongs - hot! - we put it between two pieces of powerful plywood. It can be seen in the photo. We squeeze it with our hands and put it in the conditioner. There are two ordinary hydraulic automobile jacks. We press hard. The degree of dope is strictly individual. When on the second plate I heard a vile, soul-grabbing crunch, I realized that it was too stupid. But there's nothing left to do. I forget about them for 3-4 days. I go in twice a day to squeeze, shrinkage ..

He took the horn out of the conditioner.
Here's what happened. On the pictures you can see the markings with a pencil, how it will be necessary to cut the strip even. Cut with a fine-toothed hacksaw.

The cut plates turned out like this:

Due to the lack of normal horns, you can use not two strips, but .... six!
It is rather difficult to choose a uniform strip of horn from cow, even long Indian horns. A lot of cracks, you can see they are vigorous.
You can cut a few smaller strips from almost-nowhere-good-horns. Cut out 10-15 centimeters of a normal horny plate.
The flattened plates must, as already mentioned, be cut to give the desired shape, and it is necessary to take up scraping and sanding so that the plates are uniform, if not quite the same, but close to each other in dimension, so that continuity is observed between them at the joints.
It is better to skin by hand, only on early stages you can use electromechanical devices, but be very careful not to spoil this, now very expensive material.
Yes, and inner surface horn plates must be cleaned of the film that lines the horn from the inside, otherwise no glue will help.
The horn plate is glued to the flat surface of the shoulder. The cross section of the shoulder at this time is strictly rectangular. But the horn, especially the cow horn, has one side flat, the other slightly convex, see photo. When you cut off everything superfluous from the horn plate, it turns out to be narrow (along the width of the shoulder), and flatter than originally. Then, with loops, the edges of the plate, already glued to the shoulder, must be rounded off. And on the other hand, under the tendons, roll the tree along the edges and choose the excess in the working part. Well, you can make a beautiful transition near the sayi. That is, the aesthetics already begin. And it turns out the lenticular cross-section of the bow shoulder.
Glue the horn on the belly of the bow. The bonding method is standard. First, with gear cycles, we direct grooves on the horn and on the shoulders. The depth of the grooves is up to 0.5 mm, which is quite enough to significantly increase the area of ​​the bonded surface. We prime with liquid tendon glue until all the grooves are filled. Further, the primed surfaces are heated over an electric stove and pressed tightly against each other. Tie with string and fasten. Then you need to warm it up thoroughly so that the glue bubbles. Now, when it dries, it will shrink and attract the glued surfaces with incredible force. The readiness of gluing can be understood by loosening the fasteners - since shrinkage will occur.

After the horn has dried, it is the turn of a more precise fit with plows and cycles of different curvature, in accordance with the templates, of the wooden component.

Finally, it's the turn of the tendons. Working with them is very painstaking, requires a lot of patience and perseverance. In addition to a hammer, which breaks dried tendons, a steel comb and industrious hands are also needed.

The resulting fibers must be impregnated with tendon glue. It looks like this:

It is necessary to ensure that the weight of the tendons for both shoulders is the same. But keep in mind - it is the tendons that give the strength of the bow. The number of tendons should be reasonable - so that you don’t get a bow for Hercules, which will only be suitable for decorating a wall and waiting for a hero ...
Now a very serious moment. Nothing greasy can be carried around. Up to the point that it is forbidden to eat fat, otherwise you can inhale such that all the tendons fall off. Hands in rubber gloves. And now, up to varnishing the finished onion - never touch it with your bare hand.
Now you need to glue, glue and glue. Sometimes scrape in cycles. And glue again.

About glue: In total, three types of glue are used in the process:
1. primer (very thin glue),
2. medium in concentration (for tendons) and
3. high concentration (for the horn).

The split and straightened fibers are immersed in the glue in a bundle, soaked, now nothing should be distracting (phones are turned off, we do not respond to the doorbell), until the tendons run out, the process cannot be stopped. The number of tendons is determined empirically.
The tendons overlap along the bow, overlapping each other at the tips. This is the whole point - the tendons, as the glue dries, they are so intertwined with each other that they form a uniform vitreous shirt that retains plasticity as long as there is at least a drop of moisture inside, and it is always there.

After an hour of fixing the glue, and it starts to "get up" literally in a matter of minutes, when it is not enough for the skin of the hands, it is necessary to wrap it with a bandage made of a rubber bandage, previously cut into convenient pieces.

Now it dries for a day or two.
The adhesive surface is leveled with scrapers. At the same time, the protruding fat is removed. It is never completely removed. After each drying will come out.
The second layer of tendons is placed using the same method, only the place of gluing is slightly different.
It is also dried, wrapped with rubber, dries for a day or two, unwound, leveled ...
A third layer is laid, which already covers both the sidewalls and the handle, in short, everything that is needed.
The tendons will compress the shoulders, and wrap them towards each other. How wrapped depends on the material. In fact, the wrapping of the shoulders in the "ram's horn" does not mean anything. More precisely, he says, but about something completely different. If the bow is folded into a ring, it means that it has never been fired from it. This means that no one can say whether it will shoot or break at the first test.
If it has lain like this for a long time, then, most likely, you will have to soak it, remove the old, petrified veins, peel off the horn and stick everything fresh ...

This photo shows traces of a rubber bandage. The bandage has already been removed, the bow dries open.
These photographs show the condition of the tendon covering: the tendons are transparent, as is the glue that connects them, but individual fibers can still be distinguished. Since the material is actually the same (raw tendons and glue welded from the same tendons), the connection is obtained on the verge of an alloy.
In the second photo - trial sanding in order to level the surface of the tendon coating. It's still early. The mass grabs onto the steel. Let it dry out some more.
The next stage: an additional "tourniquet" of the tendons is placed on the dried tendons. More precisely, it builds up layer by layer, thread by thread, forming something like a comb along the axis of the bow.
I purposely photographed the raw tendons so that they can be seen better, due to the whitish-cloudy color. When they dry, they will not differ from the rest of the tendons.

Those who will make the bow themselves need to be patient (this is understandable) and prepare the materials for five bows, no less. It won't work the first time, that's for sure. From the second and third - too. Further options are possible, as smart people say.
The process itself is very delicate and requires, in addition to patience, also a lot of experience, which comes only with the number of bows made.
There are a lot of moments that cannot be described, because it is impossible to catch.
For example, how to describe that the moisture content of the tendons on the bow should be measured with the lips or cheek?
If the bend of one shoulder began to differ from the bend of the other, what should I do? And it also depends on where the deviation happened ...
Should I add tendons, or reduce cycles? And then the tendons are cut...
In the production process described, the horn had to be peeled off and replaced twice. Hidden defects. The cows were vigorous. Defects were revealed after the sticker.
I had to pick up pieces. The option with a solid overlay on the handle did not work, it began to lift up other pieces. I had to return to the textbook - docking in the middle of the handle with a bone gasket.
And so on ad infinitum.
For example, the shoulders were an obvious screw, the propeller - where there, even hang it on the plane. Even with a glued horn, the inversion remained.
After gluing the tendons and drying, the rotorcraft disappeared. It remains to slightly correct the mirror sides of the horns (saya), removing just a couple of millimeters on the wedge. So that the bowstring goes along the axis.
What if you don't know all this beforehand?
Only experience is the son of difficult mistakes.
Be brave, brave ones, and do not look back at those of little faith.
The bow was polished from the sinew side. Blatant bumps and scuffs were mercilessly skinned.
The main concern is not to tear the tendons.
Then the skin of the lamb was dressed. The hair is removed, the skin is dried and mashed. Got parchment.
Purchased decided not to use. It is expensive today and the sheets are smaller than the aforementioned lamb.

The skin was primed with diluted glue. Then, soil was applied to the tendons, after which the skin, previously loosened into strips, was pressed against the bow. Wrapping with a rubber bandage is already traditional. Winding traces are still visible. Excess skin is cut off with a scalpel. The horn is not covered with skin. Only the tendon bandages at the junctions of the horny bands are covered with skin.
The leather is rougher than parchment. Now a certain amount of moisture is preserved inside the tendons and wood, which ensures the operation of this ancient composite.
No, in reality everything is much more complicated than in this description. For example, it was decided to put the onion in a damp place, where water leaks from the pipe and intensive evaporation takes place, so that it gains more moisture, otherwise it is dry.
Then - on the tepeliki, heat-bend-withstand, heat-bend-withstand. And so on, until it takes the desired shape.

The mysterious process of heating. The coals are natural. Although, in all honesty, an electric stove is more convenient.
Well, here it is. Thank God! The lengthy technological process is over, now only fine tuning. Build, build and build. Well, and all sorts of decorations.
Feelings are amazing. It stretches comfortably, after getting off the filly - you clearly feel a jerk, like on a blocker (more precisely, on the contrary, on a blocker, like ...). The arrow comes off smoothly. Even in close quarters, at 12 meters, it comes into the shield evenly - at least check the square. WindFighter - no, no, yes, it will throw the tail of the arrow back and forth. And here - every shot is like a carbon copy. Not a target, but a comb. I apologize for the lyrical digression.

There are a few more important, in my opinion, points on which the attention of readers should be focused.
The symmetry of the shoulders is laid during the carpentry processing of blanks. Ideally, you make one, then an exact copy of it - the second. Usually they are led in one direction, so that as a result this lead is compensated by itself. If insignificant.
Tepeliki allow you to bend your shoulders equally, to give them the desired bend. In fact, you don’t have to do this, you can leave your shoulders straight, as Tuvans, Mongols, Jurchens, Tungus, Manchus and many others do.
And before the greenhouses, while the assembly is in progress, the whole thing is evenly adjusted, cycling in cycles. On the shoulders, 1-2 layers are also removed, exactly where the shoulder should work.
And as soon as I glued the tendons, and even closed it with skin - that's all, there's nothing to scrape off here.
Tendons are best kneaded and smoothed while they are still yielding. Well, if very large irregularities have formed - you can. But cutting the tendons is not worth it. Only the upper layers are processed, and then, we must try to thin, and not cut down.
If it turned out completely unsuccessfully, then soaking and disassembling the bow is to be done, and - a repetition of the past.
Tillering helps to see the shortcomings of the work of the shoulders. As necessary, heat the area of ​​the shoulder that needs to be corrected and try to fix it on the tiller.

Actually - a device for tillering is a bar with cutouts for a bowstring at different distances from the bow. You warm, hold on the first line, then you warm, hold on the second line, and so on, until you reach the maximum intended draw of the bow.
About cycling.
The horn cycles repeatedly. And in the process of preparing the horn strip, and after gluing the shoulders onto the wooden base. Here you need to follow the profile, it is advisable to make templates for the selected type of bow and scrupulously compare them.
Dried veins should be cycled very carefully, and then, if there is absolutely no other way out. The scraping of dried veins is shown only to give aesthetically smooth surface so that the glued sealing coating (leather, parchment) has a pleasant look for the eye and does not cause rejection to the touch.
Below are some close-up photos of different sections of the onion. The bow began to undergo the procedure of "decoration". The horn is painted in a nice black color. The horns (saya) are painted red and bone plates are glued to the very tips to strengthen the tips and prevent chips from careless handling. All this is covered with a thin layer of varnish and is still drying. Next, I plan to apply as beautiful patterns as possible. The work will be manual, so everything is possible ... I hope it will not be very scary))))))).