Talk:Recurve bow

why is "riser" called that? (explain better please)

From the article, I get that the riser is the central, rigid section of the bow. A sentence tries to explain why the word "riser" is an appropriate name, but fails. The sentence is incomprehensible to me and perhaps many other readers. The sentence is currently:

The term 'riser' is used because, in a one-piece bow, the centre section rises from the limbs in a taper to spread the stress.

When first reading it, the reader has not yet encountered some of the terms used. Even after studying the definitions of terms further below, I don't know what it means for the centre section to "rise" from the limbs. The center section is between the limbs. With the bow vertical as in use, the center is above one limb (it would be reasonable to say that it rises from the lower limb) and it is below the upper limb (which rises from the center). Perhaps a diagram of this is needed, showing the bow horizontal, lying down with its "back" up or with its "belly" up. One of these ways, perhaps the center is higher than the limbs on each side. But then the other way, the center is lower (and what is called a "riser" could just as well be called a "dropper"???).

And where is there any tapering? And what spreads stress, the tapering (whatever that is) or the rising? First of all, where does stress come from (i suppose from the bending of the bow, so basically the back of the bow is stressed in stretching and the belly is stressed in compression, I suppose. Why would tapering reduce stress? Or why would rising reduce stress? There is a lot packed into that sentence. --doncram 21:52, 2 July 2015 (UTC)

Unstrung shape

Quote from article, "An unstrung recurve bow can have a confusing shape" That made me curious and I would love to see a picture of an unstrung bow. I think it would improve the article - particularly for completely ignorant people like me. OrewaTel (talk) 12:51, 23 June 2019 (UTC)

Scientific journal

Added a citation to verify that recurve bows are the only bow type allowed in the olympics at the moment, got it from a Scientific American article, hopefully that counts as a reliable source. If not feel free to remove, I know some people are really OCD about that kinda stuff, just trying to help. --EliteArcher88 (talk) 22:16, 12 March 2020 (UTC)

"bonded by an unknown adhesive"

Citation needed, but I'd wager that the Mongols made their bows using Casein#Glue. It's been around since antiquity, and is very effective. Narky Blert (talk) 07:16, 26 January 2021 (UTC)

@Narky Blert: According to Mongol bow, animal glue was used, and the wood used was bamboo, not lemonwood (whichever type of lemonwood that was supposed to be). I've updated this article (and Adhesives, where the lemonwood info came from) accordingly. Lennart97 (talk) 16:30, 16 February 2021 (UTC)

@Lennart97:: both those changes make sense to me. Narky Blert (talk) 17:21, 16 February 2021 (UTC)

Picture

"2008 Olympic gold medallist Viktor Ruban holds two recurve bow specimens while in competition at the 2012 Olympic Games" might be a good illustration for this gold medallist, but it is not for the bow, which is hardly visible in the important details and recurve-model specifics. Lionni (talk) 07:54, 17 September 2021 (UTC)

Indian Bows

The inclusion of this in the main intro bit of the article is confusing. Why is it relevant to recurve bows in general? It should be included later in the article, if included at all. No one seems to have heard of the book from which it is pulled. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 73.82.9.106 (talk) 23:32, 20 December 2021 (UTC)