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Best Warbow arrow instructions
Heffalump:
Why not make yourself up half a dozen Standards as a compromise Buck? They'll fly a lot better out of your 50# bow ;)
http://www.theenglishwarbowsociety.com/standard-arrow.html
Cheers,
John :)
Buck67:
Heffalump, thanks for the info on the Standard arrow. I had no idea such a thing existed.
WillS:
Standards will still be a bit much for 50# I think. If you make up some "Standards" using 11/32 shafts you can get some proper accuracy. Not much point making a set of expensive arrows if you can't hit things with them.
It might also be worth noting that in terms of "war arrows" the ewbs standards are a bit inaccurate - they should still be half inch, but they've been slightly bastardised to get maximum flight results. Mark Stretton for instance still makes his standards half inch thick, with a half inch type 10 head. He just uses lighter woods like poplar and limewood rather than ash. The 3/8" diameter is the minimum size, but most people make them that size for distance.
I may be speaking out of turn, so I apologise if it seems presumptuous, but I assume you want to shoot them at targets? If so, with a 50# bow a 3/8" ash arrow will just go off to the left and drop quickly. Takes a fairly chunky bow to get them working nicely. Of course, if you just want a nice looking set of medieval war arrows that are historically accurate to use for shooting into the air then I'd stick to half inch, and choose a period of interest to determine head type.
There haven't actually been any discoveries yet of an arrow that's less than half inch diameter (the Westminster Abbey arrow is barrelled up to half inch)
Buck67:
Will, I got started building"Historic" arrows when I got a copy of Jim Hamm's Encyclopedia of Native American Bows, Arrows and Quivers. Some of the "War" arrows require a 3/8" hardwood shaft. I shoot them once to make sure I did it right and then I try to trade them for pictures of dead presidents. Some of the Pottawatomie, Iroquois and Choctaw arrows in the book are very similar to the Standard and War arrows as far as size of the shaft. Others are lighter and were obviously meant for hunting. For most of my shooting I use a Hickory self bow that is about 42#. My target arrows with this bow are 5/16" Poplar and seem to work fine. My 55# bow is a fiberglass center shot recurve that ought to shoot the Standard arrows OK.
It appears that shooting the English Longbow/War Bow is a young man's game and I really don't need to mess up my shoulder trying to shoot anything over 50#.
WillS:
You're never too old to make big holes in things ;)
My point was that there aren't any medieval arrows found that are 3/8". The ewbs standard is a sort of hybrid flight arrow / replica thing. It's fine for a "close enough" arrow, but I wasn't sure if you wanted a true "medieval" arrow or not. Personally I think the "real deal" always should be half inch.
I still use 3/8" a lot, because I'm not shooting heavy enough bows yet to always need half inch arrows. I just recently finished a new set of arrows based on the ewbs standard and I kept them 3/8". They'll be shot from a 95# bow as roving arrows.
I'm sure you already know this, but the native American arrows weren't designed for use against plate armour - medieval English arrows were all half inch thick to carry the large heavy heads needed for that exact use. The 3/8" ones are a modern flight equivalent of a medieval arrow. According to Mark, it's only a very recent change - the standard arrow was always half an inch, until a few people got too obsessed with distance records and started making their standard arrows at the absolute minimum allowed - which happened to be 3/8".
Either way - whether you go for the medieval half inch, or the more recent 3/8" approximation, they'll still look like medieval arrows :)
Post pics if you make them - Iove seeing new arrows!
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