A fabled Númenórean bow

[Odigan]

In my travels I have happened upon an artefact which may be of great interest here. A legendary Númenórean hollow steel bow, crafted by smiths of old, in distant lands.

To wit:

"Shooting with bows on foot and on horseback was a chief sport and pastime of the Númenóreans. In later days, in the wars upon Middle-earth, it was the bows of the Númenóreans that were most greatly feared. 'The Men of the Sea', it was said, 'send before them a great cloud, as a rain turned to serpents, or a black hail tipped with steel'; and in those days the great cohorts of the King's Archers used bows made of hollow steel, with black-feathered arrows a full ell long from point to notch."

-Unfinished Tales, Description of Númenor

And here it is, a bow made of hollow steel...

[Odigan]

This is in fact a hollow steel bow, manufactured by the Swedish company Seefab starting in the 1930s up through the 1950s. Such alternative and innovative material use was popular during this era (as the advert below from 1954 attests - two steel bow makers on one page!). This particular one is marked as drawing 51 lbs., and is in very good condition. I've put a couple dozen arrows through it and it is indeed accurate and consistent, and fun! There are known issues of fatigue with metal bows, be they steel or (as the Par-X) aluminum, and given these are now "vintage" pieces with no way to know how much they have been used or abused, this is more of a concern. When they fail, it is catastrophic and can and has caused serious injury, so if you come across one, use all diligence in stringing and using them, and do so at your own risk.

Given the timeframe in which these were manufactured and when Tolkien was writing, as well as their geographic preponderance in England and Northern Europe, I would not be in the least surprised if these were direct influences to his reference to "hollow steel bows."

[Elleth]

How very cool!

I'd always assumed he must have been inspired some contemporary experimentation - but how neat to actually see one! Very cool.

[Manveruon]

Awesome!

[Greg]

Yyyyep. THAT is awesome. Now it just needs a numenorean midshipman's kit to go with it.

[Ringulf]

I almost picked one of these up a few years back on EBAY, got outbid for it, mores the pity, but they do appear once in a while.
I remembered the reference to the Numinorean bows which I felt would have been almost like big leaf springs, seeing that excerpt I realize that the tubular steel bow is the correct interpretation.
I think you are correct Odigan, this may very well have been what he was thinking of.
I was thinking this might be an interesting bow for me as a Dwarf to carry in the wood. The Dwarven skill in metalcraft and the fact that they made many different weapons for other races could have put this type of commission in their hands and then possibly crafted for their own use once they had the technology. Your warning taken into advisement, If one comes up again I will have to try a bit harder to obtain it!

[Odigan]

I remembered the reference to the Numinorean bows which I felt would have been almost like big leaf springs, seeing that excerpt I realize that the tubular steel bow is the correct interpretation.

Steel bows having a solid flattened - rectangular or ovoid - section were common in India during the Mughal era (16th-19th centuries), and there are written accounts of their existence even hundreds of years earlier. Such bows became widespread throughout Indo-Persia, but not because they are better bows in terms of performance. In fact, they are greatly inferior in terms of range and power when compared to traditional composite horn bows. Their advantage is in their being able to be stored for long periods without degradation, and (as the Apollo bow ad above also touts) their consistent performance in any weather.

Such bows were undoubtedly known to Tolkien, as they would be to anyone having ethnographic and historiographical tendencies, and especially given India's ties to England. The fact then, that he refers specifically to "hollow steel" indicates to me that such bows were not his inspiration, but that in describing Atlantean, er... Númenórean culture he was looking to portray not just ancient technology but the most sophisticated and advanced, now lost and unattainable.

I was thinking this might be an interesting bow for me as a Dwarf to carry in the wood. The Dwarven skill in metalcraft and the fact that they made many different weapons for other races could have put this type of commission in their hands and then possibly crafted for their own use once they had the technology.

The main reason the Indo-Persian bows lack sufficient speed and cast is because steel limbs are heavy, and therefore slow. Crossbow prods of steel are common, but they get around this by having draw weights in the hundreds and even thousands of pounds (and a few inches of actual draw length). On a hand bow, limb speed is essential, and so this is why having the ability to manufacture a hollow, tapering steel tube is essential to make the design successful.

I would argue that though the Dwarves are known for their skills in crafting and heat-treating of steel, they would not possess the ability to replicate the manufacturing process of a culture that had impenetrable armour, "darts like thunder... that pass over leagues unerring," and flying ships. I think that is exactly the point, that this was fantastic lost technology.

It is in fact technology difficult to achieve even today, as few manufactures are capable of producing a consistent tapered hollow steel tube. Think of golf club shafts. These are similar, but almost all are progressively stepped because of the length limits of the swaging dies. Drawing a tube as the Swedes did for the Seefab requires great precision and machinery (i.e. hydraulics) that so far as I am aware, does not exist in ME. Can such a thing be forged? Yes, there are many ways to do it, by tapered reaming and turning, hot or cold drawing, spinning, some crazy huge 4-axis EDM, or maybe magic. Forging something like this would typically involve wrapping a mandrel with sheet or ribbon, as Damascus gun barrels, and one could plausibly state that perhaps copies of Númenórean bows were made this way, but I think it's a bit of a cop-out. Tolkien after all does not specifically state that they are tapered, this is something we infer from known physical performance, as a non-tapered hollow steel bow would have much the same issue as the Indo-Persian style yet with added complexity.

My point being, that unless a Númenórean steel bow were to be found in some long lost hoard, I think it somewhat disingenuous for one to be in the hands of any other than a Númenórean.

[Ringulf]

Adding to that the tendancy for Dwarves to be rather pragmatic and with the facts you mention about flatsteel prods on crossbows. it does not seem to me that they would spend that much time on a venture that would be more artistic than technical and on a weapon they do not favor. Unless challenged as a commission or as a response in Racial pride of manufacturing. Ok so I succumb to your logic my friend, I still may have to find an old treasure hoard but until then...