Editing Composite bow (section)

===Advantages===
The main advantage of composite bows over [[self bow]]s (made from a single piece of wood) is their combination of smaller size with high power. They are therefore more convenient than self bows when the archer is mobile, as from horseback, or from a chariot. Almost all composite bows are also [[recurve bow]]s as the shape curves away from the archer; this design gives higher draw-weight in the early stages of the archer's draw, storing somewhat more total energy for a given final draw-weight. It would be possible to make a wooden bow that has the same shape, length, and draw-weight as a traditional composite bow, but it could not store the energy, and would break before full draw.<ref name=TBB/>

For most practical non-mounted archery purposes, composite construction offers no advantage; "the initial velocity is about the same for all types of bow... within certain limits, the design parameters... appear to be less important than is often claimed." However, they are superior for horsemen and in the specialized art of flight archery: "A combination of many technical factors made the composite flight bow better for flight shooting."<ref name=Kooi>{{cite journal |url=http://www.bio.vu.nl/thb/users/kooi/kobe97.pdf |title=An Approach to the Study of Ancient Archery using Mathematical Modelling. |first1=B.W. |last1=Kooi |first2=C.A. |last2=Bergman |journal=Antiquity |volume=71:(271) |pages=124–134 |year=1997 |issue=271 |doi=10.1017/S0003598X00084611 |s2cid=36104959 |access-date=28 October 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061121144334/http://www.bio.vu.nl/thb/users/kooi/kobe97.pdf |archive-date=21 November 2006 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The higher arrow velocity is only for well-designed composite bows of high draw-weight. At the weights more usual for modern amateurs, the greater density of horn and sinew compared with wood usually cancels any advantage.<ref name="ottoman-turkish-bows.com"/>