possible italian version

I see the adventures of Odysseus are about to reach their end (by the way, all these years and I had never guessed THAT's how he managed to bend the bow!), and I was wondering if I could offer support for a possible italian translation of this great reenactment of the old greek myth. Translations are my line of work, so this offer doesn't come just on a whim.

I have no idea if this is the best way or not, but I was taught to put one end of the bow on the ground, with your right side of your right foot keeping the bow from sliding and the body of the bow behind your right leg and in front of your left leg.
  Taking your left hand pushing the opposite end of the bow to your right and downward, you lower yourself by bending your knees slightly and use your weight and the muscles of your legs to bend the bow and your left hand to put the draw string on the other end.  This seems to me to be the most efficient way to go about stringing the bow because your using your leg muscles instead of your arm muscles which in virtually everyone is the stronger set of muscles.

On recurve bows that's certainly the best way (not that the Greeks would've used them... they'd've used old-fashioned longbows, probably) and that's how I was taught to string them too, but given this was Odysseus' legendary bow I figured I should come up with some really wacky stringing method that none of the suitors would ever think of because it just wasn't done, and probably couldn't do anyway.

- Grant

I've got two bows, although I used to be damn good with them and practiced with them all the time, like so many other things, like shooting I just don't have the time to practice anymore.  Both as you say are recurve.  Never have even shot a compound bow or a standard english longbow.

Longbows are basically just big sticks bent by strings.  If I recall correctly, recurves have more oomph and accuracy.  I've shot compound bows but it's like using a machine, though given you can get more force out of the because you can force the draw much farther than with other types of bows I can see why big game bow hunters might find them useful.  By the way, I checked and recurves were in use throughout much of ancient Asia and there's a reasonably good chance the ancient Greeks at least knew of them.  The recurve was a standard weapon on the Roman army.  For some reason, though, they were largely unknown in Europe until fairly modern times.

I used to be quite good with both bow and pistol/revolver but, like you, haven't been to any kind of shooting range in years, and passable with rifle.  Still know how to do it, though, for all the good that does me.

Ever fired a crossbow or crossbow pistol?  I love crossbows, always wanted a crossbow pistol of my own, but they really are odd little toys.  Fairly good medium-range weapons if you have decent cover, and fun target weapons, but I can't imagine anyone using one out in the open in any kind of fight would survive for long, since they take much longer than a standard bow to reload.

- Grant

What I heard was the recurves at least were made by laminating several layers together, and the glues for them, while wonderful in dry climates, didn't do so well in damp.

I don't know how true this is, it's only what I've heard.

When I was about 8 or 9 years old my grandfather handmade a simple crossbow for me. 
     That was the year that my family had moved out of our cramped city house that my grandfather and greatgrandfather had built with their own hands to a 40 acre farm and large ranch house big enough for everyone. 
     Simple piece of sheet metal bent and curved in the right places and draw weight of about 30 pounds or so.  Just a toy really but I had a lot of fun with it was a kid.  I remember once that I speared a large catfish that was in the creek that ran along the northern edge of our property.  No way that I would have ate it though.  Large steel mill just upstream from us and lots of PCB's and mercury to be eatable.  Don't remember what even happened to it.  I think that the stock got damaged and it was thrown out but I still wish I had it back.  At least I still have my old Daisy BB gun. 

What I heard was the recurves at least were made by laminating several layers together, and the glues for them, while wonderful in dry climates, didn't do so well in damp.

I don't know how true this is, it's only what I've heard.

That's probably more or less accurate.  Of course, modern recurves are made with chemical bonding techniques so they'll hold together under any conditions.

Though I live in Las Vegas, and I can tell you glue dries out awfully quickly here.  Much of Persia, which used recurves, is the same climate or worse, so that makes me a touch suspicious of your explanation, but...

- Grant

When I was about 8 or 9 years old my grandfather handmade a simple crossbow for me. 
     That was the year that my family had moved out of our cramped city house that my grandfather and greatgrandfather had built with their own hands to a 40 acre farm and large ranch house big enough for everyone. 
     Simple piece of sheet metal bent and curved in the right places and draw weight of about 30 pounds or so.  Just a toy really but I had a lot of fun with it was a kid.  I remember once that I speared a large catfish that was in the creek that ran along the northern edge of our property.  No way that I would have ate it though.  Large steel mill just upstream from us and lots of PCB's and mercury to be eatable.  Don't remember what even happened to it.  I think that the stock got damaged and it was thrown out but I still wish I had it back.  At least I still have my old Daisy BB gun. 

Lemme get this straight...

Your grandfather made you a zip gun?!!!

(That's basically what a zip gun is: a makeshift crossbow,)

- Grant

Lemme get this straight...

Your grandfather made you a zip gun?!!!

(That's basically what a zip gun is: a makeshift crossbow,)

- Grant

Yep.  You have to remember that this was probably 1962.  We lived out on a farm and I had plenty of room to run around.  My granddad took me to the northern field and we shot his old Winchester 1890 pump action .22 long (not long rifle) when he had just bought the property.  I believe I was six at the time.  Even as late as my high school years 1967 to 1971 the "zero tolerance" laws didn't exist then and common sense prevailed.  I remember once when I was a junior in high school, the english teacher had just received a cardboard box with new textbooks inside while class was going on.  He asked the class "Does anyone have a knife so I can open this box?" and I and several other farmboys pulled out our pocketknifes and offered them to him.  He took mine and used it to cut open the box.  When he was done he handed it back to me.  Like I said common sense.  Try something like that nowadays and you get maced, tasered, handcuffed, thrown in the back of a squad car, thrown in the country youth lockup where your branded for life as a troublemaker and kicked out of school permanently.  Ahhhh progress.  

thanks. very helpful post. I read a few of your other posts and they all helped me.

Brian, You got me curious.  Helped you in what way?

Five ambiguous posts on zombie threads.  I'm wondering too.

I've gotten rather paranoid of late...

Most likely this is a "Brian Tomhson" is a spam bot. But until I see some bad behavior I'll give "him" the benefit of the doubt.