Brass goggles meets Middle Earth...

[akumabito]

Yeah, but it looks cool.. and isn't that sorta the point of costuming?

[TimeTinker]

That bow would not work effecitvely.  There is the phenomena known as archer's paradox - the fishtailing effect caused by compression against inertia of the arrow as the string is released.  Double strings would certainly compound that (it would be virtually impossible to match the two bows so that force was even - with natural materials even harder) and make the weapon innaccurate at best - wildly innaccurate at worst. (The even force during loosing also contributes to archer's paradox.)

Most of the technological advances in bows are about allowing an archer to draw a heavier weight.  The pulleys etc of a compound fundamentally increase the power an archer can bring to bear.  In a simpler form the sears (the ends of recurve bows etc which seem oddly angled when compared to a self bow) work as a lever and actually make the latter part of the draw easier.

The picture you have shown does have a bow with stylised sears.

All in all it is true fiction.  It looks interesting though.  Might be a pain in the ass to wander round with though.

(Anyone interested I have some superhighspeed footage of me using bows for a TV doc that shows paradox etc really clearly.  I can't post it anywhere because of copyright issues but can show anyone face to face - asylum goers maybe?)

[psychichazard]

Unless I am much mistaken, the costume is intended for Lrp, so needs to be functional, too. Projectile weapons for Lrp need to be as accurate as possible to reduce the risk of injury, a double bow would be quite unpredictable, i expect. (See the above post)

[Mina]

I love the bow idea.  (I`m an archer so am biased though )
Would you wrap the limbs in anything? The sketch suggest leather?

I'm an archer too
I hadn't really thought about wrapping the limbs, but it's a possibility.

I can imagine huge aesthetic potential in a compound bow. I usually shoot my self-made long bow in the field, and use very low draw weight bows for Larp. A kids compound bow might be safe and cheap enough for this.

My thoughts exactly. I plan on heading down to the local sporting goods store to check out what they have. Find something I like, buy it, and mod it sufficiently to look awesome but still keep its functionality.

And about the costume itself, I personally think it looks pretty awesome, but would still love any constructive criticism anyone has to offer.

[Atterton]

Have you ever heard of the Chinese repeating crossbow? That could be used well as an advanced medieval weapon.

[psychichazard]

As to the actual costume, i can only suggest longer boots, possibly gaiters, to keep those ankles free from brambly anguish.

[Mina]

Have you ever heard of the Chinese repeating crossbow? That could be used well as an advanced medieval weapon.

I did consider one of those, but I figure that a compound bow has more potential to be s'punked.

As to the actual costume, i can only suggest longer boots, possibly gaiters, to keep those ankles free from brambly anguish.

it will mostly depend on what kind of boots I can find at the local goodwill, but I will keep that in mind

[Sir Robert]

For some ideas try:

http://alleycatscratch.com/lotr/

[Mina]

For some ideas try:

http://alleycatscratch.com/lotr/

You'd be surprised how many times I've visited that site in the past few years

[akumabito]

Question to the archers here: would a compound longbow work? Seems it would make a warbow with a 200lbs draw weight somewhat more manageable..

[psychichazard]

Do you mean basically a longbow-sized compound bow? Well, it could work. But I've  only ever seen one archer who draws over 200 pounds, and he's remarkable. He uses a very specific technique to manage that, and uses a custom-built longbow (and arrows that are like broomsticks in order to use that energy without exploding as they leave the string.) I've no idea if a compound bow would make it significantly easier.  

[costumemercenary]

I can imagine huge aesthetic potential in a compound bow. I usually shoot my self-made long bow in the field, and use very low draw weight bows for Larp. A kids compound bow might be safe and cheap enough for this.

Have you ever heard of the Chinese repeating crossbow? That could be used well as an advanced medieval weapon.

There's a lengthy (coincidentally?) discussion about that on a different forum, which included a photo of a larp repeating crossbow:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

[Mina]

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I think I'm in love.....

with the crossbow, that is

[Thistle]

I have a very old book called simply The Crossbow, the variations on a basic crossbow are amazing.
I have two, one Barnett Wildcat 3 and another unnamed, pretty old, woodstocked one. Both are 150lbers and I love them both!