Our new cheiroballista...

[Nerva]

Nevra, with all due respect, you are apparently very ignorant of what it takes to build a composite bow. I'm telling you this from someone who build bows.

Your quite right, but John Farringham does, and has been making recurves for over 40 years using an ash core, horn and sinew. If you want to take material preparation into account then the lifecycle takes quite a while, but constructing a bow takes a fraction of that. By the way, John has published may papers on bow research. One of his will sell for over £2,000.

I defy you to show me how in the world a composite bow can be build in one day and a week.

Oh stop being so melodramatic and put your toys back in the pram. As I've said, I'm not one making the bows.

By way of example of what it takes to build a simple self bow, here is the steps and time it takes from a in-progress replica Mohaw recurve I am currently bulding, Keep in mind this is a very simple bow, not a composite:

Hickory half log was seasoned for over a year;
Splitting into staves using axe and wedges took about 6 hours (splitting is no fun for me ;
Debarking the stave and removing the cadmium layer using a draw knife took about 45 minutes. If I had debarked the log sooner, it would have been easier;
Working the stave to early floor tiller stage took about 5 careful hours;
Working the stave down to the stage where I can cut in the string nocks using mostly a spoke shave took another few hours;
Next I will have to steam in the recurves, which includes making a steaming form our of hardwood, and then letting it dry (wet hickory is not something I want to work with), maybe 2 weeks total;
Then tillering it will take another 6 to 8 hours, maybe much longer, as that is the time when you go glacially slow, using only cabinate scrapers and sand paper to remove minute amounts of wood.
Decorating it using earth pigments and finishing it with bear fat will take perhaps another 8 to 10 hours.
Adding the correct wool yarn handle and tip wraps (for this particular replica) will take an addtional few hours, plus time for the shellac I will use on the yarn to dry.

I'm sure it will be a fine bow when finished :wink:

As I said before, I am building a small wooden machine. I said that before. And I said I will post results. Good enough for you?

Oh stop beating your chest man, I couldn't give a toss what your building but if your going to put torsion springs on a manually spanned machine then your living in fantasy land :lol:

Finally, and with respect, Randi has already addressed the issue of "scientific evidence."

Oh yes, very scientific :lol: :lol: :lol:

I pretty positive Alan does know about this forum, but in my opionion, will never bother to step into this forum and try to defend his questionable ideas

Dou you know, you have provided a prime example of why a man like Alan Wilkins stays a million miles away from debates like this. You, with no experience what so ever (can you speak Latin and Greek, have you reviewed the actual works of Heron, Biton etc and prepared your own models, translations etc?) think you can throw away cheap comments about a man like Alan Wilkins and dare to suggest that he's somehow afraid to address comments from the likes of yourself - how dare you sir, you go too far.

You sir provide a prime example of the ignorance and arrogance that is at the core of what drags competent research behind. Stick to constructing your Native American bows and leave Greek and Roman artillery to those who actually know something about the subject.