# Bow and arrows question **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 18, 2024, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bow-and-arrows-question/1004401 "2024-07-18T02:23:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2024, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bow-and-arrows-question/1004401/1 "2024-07-18T02:23:49Z")
The ancient problem was how to construct a bow that was both elastic and strong using only available natural materials. A lot of ingenuity went into bow design. But recently I saw a video for what seems like a clever solution: combine multiple bows into a single unit. Each componant can be thin enough to be flexible, but combined have enough total strength to be useful. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/53aV9mxRL_A/hqdefault.jpg) ](https://img.youtube.com/vi/53aV9mxRL_A/hqdefault.jpg) But I’m sure I would have heard if any bow making traditions had tried this. So is there a catch I’m not picking up on? ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2024, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bow-and-arrows-question/1004401/2 "2024-07-18T02:43:14Z")
I guess you are talking about some variant of composite bow: > **[Composite bow](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Composite_bow)** > > A composite bow is a traditional bow made from horn, wood, and sinew laminated together, a form of laminated bow. The horn is on the belly, facing the archer, and sinew on the outer side of a wooden core. When the bow is drawn, the sinew (stretched on the outside) and horn (compressed on the inside) store more energy than wood for the same length of bow. The strength can be made similar to that of all-wood "self" bows, with similar draw-length and therefore a similar amount of energy delivered ... Different pieces/materials combined together, instead of a single piece of wood. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2024, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bow-and-arrows-question/1004401/3 "2024-07-18T02:59:38Z")
No, I think what the image shows might be considered a compound bow, although maybe that’s not the right word either. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2024, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bow-and-arrows-question/1004401/4 "2024-07-18T03:04:14Z")
There’s also the yew tree, which is effectively a naturally occurring composite bow source. A yew tree has an inner core and an outer core, which have different elasticities. If you cut a piece so that it is half outer and half inner, it makes a natural composite bow. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2024, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bow-and-arrows-question/1004401/5 "2024-07-18T03:04:20Z")
Perhaps a new term is needed, like “tandem bow” or “stacked bow”. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2024, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bow-and-arrows-question/1004401/6 "2024-07-18T03:29:23Z")
I would call it a combination of the [cable-backed bow](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cable-backed_bow) and the [laminated bow](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laminated_bow). The separation of the lames might make it easier to repair. But I doubt if a hunter or a warrior would want to deal with the complexity. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2024, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bow-and-arrows-question/1004401/7 "2024-07-18T03:32:26Z")
is there a link to a video? ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2024, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bow-and-arrows-question/1004401/8 "2024-07-18T03:33:19Z")
> [@mbh](#): > > The separation of the lames might make it easier to repair. But I doubt if a hunter or a warrior would want to deal with the complexity. They are not very efficient but at the same time not bad either and can be made out of woods that might not normally be suitable for a single piece self bow. There is a name for them that is eluding me right now. They are also referred to as stacked bows as said above. Cable backed bows I believe it the most common name. ---
**Author:** ![Toxylon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f05b48/32.png) [@Toxylon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toxylon)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2024, 11:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bow-and-arrows-question/1004401/9 "2024-07-18T11:12:23Z")
Every bow-wielding culture in the world (which means most of the world) found suitable natural materials and constructions to make and use bows and arrows for feeding and defending their families. That’s the beauty of it. Even if we restrict ourselves to wooden bows, there are literally tens of thousands of tree and shrub species that make excellent bows. I have used roughly 60 different woods myself. And no, bows out of yew wood aren’t anything special. They are only special within certain bowmaking traditions. Modern people, especially engineers, are big on efficiency gains, but that misses the mark when it comes to feeding and defending your family. Simplicity, dependability and unobtrusiveness are key features here (and also forms of efficiency). Shaping and bending to form four thin slats (as in the pic in the OP) of wood using simple tools, before even having a bow to shoot, is a lot of work for questionable gain. Lots of extra high-strength string needed, as well. In general, bow-wielding cultures put lots of effort into their arrows, which are by far the most important component of the weapon system. The simplest bow with great arrows is infinitely deadlier than a super bow with so-so arrows. Let’s try using the multi-limb bow while sneaking up on a deer in dense bushland. Those extra limbs with their extra strings will catch vegetation like a mother, creating lots of extra noise and motion that flags game. Even simple recurved ends on a bow tend to have this problem. The multi-limb bow multiplies it. A silent shot cycle in itself is important as well, with low-velocity, short range projectile weapons such as natural material bows. I wonder what kind of noise the multi-limb bow makes on release? At least the main bow slapping against the closest extra limb must be noisy as hell. Slightly loud bows make deer jump the string, meaning they duck the arrow, spooked by the launch noise. A really loud bow alerts game across a mile, as well. Native Americans of the West commonly carried their bows in bow quivers, attached to the arrow quivers, for easy, hands free transportation. No way to carry the multi-limb bow like that. When Manhattan Project physicists (and keen archers) Klopsteg, Nagler & Hickman studied the bow and arrow in detail, they concluded: “the adoption of a specific [bow] design was accompanied with a very good reason and science has only been able to make slight improvements.” Of course, they had no way to know about the compound bows of the latter 20th century and beyond. But those have nothing to do with pre-modern times, materials or realities. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2024, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bow-and-arrows-question/1004401/10 "2024-07-18T15:17:44Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > is there a link to a video? Found this:[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QH6r-EIprzg&pp=ygUJSHlkcmEgQm93](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QH6r-EIprzg&pp=ygUJSHlkcmEgQm93) The video calls that a “Penobscot bow”, although I don’t know if that’s a self-coined name or not. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2024, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bow-and-arrows-question/1004401/11 "2024-07-18T16:09:12Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > Penobscot bow Self-coined by the video author? No. Apparently this is an established type of American native bow, albeit comparatively modern. > **[Cable-backed bow](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cable-backed_bow)** > > A cable-backed bow is a bow reinforced with a cable on the back. The cable is made from either animal, vegetable or synthetic fibers and is tightened to increase the strength of the bow. A cable will relieve tension stress from the back of the bow by raising its neutral plane: the border between the back of the bow that stretches and the belly of the bow that compresses when bent. A good cable-backed bow can thus be made of poor-quality wood, weak in tension. The material, the diameter, the dis... > One variety of cable-backed bow is the Penobscot bow or Wabenaki bow, invented by Frank Loring (Chief Big Thunder) about 1900. It consists of a small bow attached by cables on the back of a larger main bow. Of course, there’s a difference between “a small bow” and “an absurb buttload of smaller bows”, but I imagine the operating principle is the same. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2024, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bow-and-arrows-question/1004401/12 "2024-07-18T16:25:08Z")
Actually, the video title says it is a “Hydra” Penta-Bow, with the one being buit a “Penobscott bow build”. ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2024, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bow-and-arrows-question/1004401/13 "2024-07-18T16:30:20Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > The video calls that a “Penobscot bow”, although I don’t know if that’s a self-coined name or not. Yes, thats the word I was looking for. I haven’t played with bows and arrows for a while now and the name just wouldn’t come. I have never seen multi layered bows as in the picture however.