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type 16 war arrow
ChrisD:
Well, it is a very nice looking arrow - but that head looks like it contains an awful lot of metal and maybe wouldn't look out of place on a gatepost.
Enclosed are a couple of replica type 16s. The one on the left is about 10 years old, and is made of 3/8 inch ash, the other is more recent and is made of 1/2 inch Poplar with a Hector Cole head. Weights are 62.8 grams and 57.7 grams respectively, fletches are 6.5 inches long and total arrow length is of the order of 35 inches (one just over, the other just under).
Now I know that they are not exact MR replicas - but the lighter one is close and the heavier one wouldn't gain that much extra weight if it were so. Replace the head with a short type 10 and you get 2oz or so, which, interestingly enough is what appears as the lightest arrow in the test series at the end of the Hardy and Strickland book and which Simon Stanley shoots 357yds, thereby (in my humble view) indicating that 150lb bows were not the order of the day .
C
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duffontap:
--- Quote from: ChrisD on June 11, 2007, 03:48:20 pm ---Simon Stanley shoots 357yds, thereby (in my humble view) indicating that 150lb bows were not the order of the day .
--- End quote ---
I thought Medieval target ranges were out to just over 400 yards. Perhaps I heard wrong.
J. D. Duff
Very nice arrows all.
sagitarius boemoru:
I m frankly tired of another thread hijacked with "Ooo they did not have 150 lbs bows" and another blatlant non sequitur. When both experiments with copies of the artifacts in correct wood, measurements of arrows and preserved record of distances shows contrary.
J.
Lloyd:
--- Quote from: ChrisD on June 11, 2007, 03:48:20 pm ---Well, it is a very nice looking arrow - but that head looks like it contains an awful lot of metal and maybe wouldn't look out of place on a gatepost.
Enclosed are a couple of replica type 16s. The one on the left is about 10 years old, and is made of 3/8 inch ash, the other is more recent and is made of 1/2 inch Poplar with a Hector Cole head. Weights are 62.8 grams and 57.7 grams respectively, fletches are 6.5 inches long and total arrow length is of the order of 35 inches (one just over, the other just under).
Now I know that they are not exact MR replicas - but the lighter one is close and the heavier one wouldn't gain that much extra weight if it were so. Replace the head with a short type 10 and you get 2oz or so, which, interestingly enough is what appears as the lightest arrow in the test series at the end of the Hardy and Strickland book and which Simon Stanley shoots 357yds, thereby (in my humble view) indicating that 150lb bows were not the order of the day .
C
--- End quote ---
I'm not even going to address 150 pound argument.
Addressing only the arrow mechanics my 1/2" ash shaft weighs almost 1000 grains by itself, and it far from the heaviest I've ever made. As for the weight of historical war arrows there is a quote in the Great Warbow, that is I believe attributed to Charles I lamenting that no one can shoot "an quarter pound arrow" any more.
I think war arrows have a large weight range. I've had arrows of the same general pattern and the same batch of wood come out between 65 and 120 grams. I've had poplar shafts that ended up weighing more than similar ash shafts. Wood also varies a lot from one region to another. I have a set of 3/8" ash I'm working on that the bare shaft with horn insert and nock finished weigh around 50 grams. If I put 160 grain field points on those they would weigh more than your lightest type 16 does. With hand forged heads the weight variations can get very extreme. I seem to recall Hugh Soar commenting in Secrets of the English Warbow that he at one time received type 16s from several different smiths and how surprised he was by the variation in the weight and size of the heads.
Additionally, arrow #5 in the back of the Great Warbow is listed at 86 grams, and the point is a target blunt. Put a proper bodkin on that and you will be easily over 100 grams. So between the lightest and heaviest examples in the Great Warbow we pretty much have a range defined for us. I've made arrows that cover the entire range, this one just happens to be at one extreme end.
duffontap:
That Marshall head is beautiful. John should be very proud.
J. D. Duff
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