Main Discussion Area > English Warbow
Medival iron point question (Re post)
Urufu_Shinjiro:
In doing some research and viewing other conversations and experimental tests among historians there are two answers, the official answer being that "no one really knows", and the answer that rises to the top of the speculation and especially the results of experimentation is that these arrowheads were for small ground game, rabbits and such. The rope cutting thing, rubbish, in experiments they rarely even hit the rope edge on let alone cut it. The horse thing, again rubbish, most experiments done on that kind of hide either with fleshy or boney backing the two prongs stuck in and that's about it. With birds they didn't do much to cut feathers in flight or that sort of thing and did more damage to the bird on direct strikes than one would desire, blunts are a much better, and well documented mind, option for birds. Smallish ground game though seemed quite susceptible to this type of point as not too much damage done, the width made for larger chance of hitting, and the shape acted like a judo tip in that it would flip the arrow or prevent loss in brush. Again, no one really knows for sure, but that's where I'd lay my money...
meanewood:
It seems we are getting confused about the type of head in question.
The initial post was concerned with the crescent shaped head but the thread has gone down the road of a discusion about swallow tailled heads!
No one has suggested the crescent shaped head was used to kill horses.
Sorry about getting sidetracked.
mikekeswick:
If they were used primarily to kill horses then they would work on any large animal....what do people use to go hunting today? Physics hasn't changed much.....
The way to actually work this out is to make some and then use them on various targets. Whatever they work best on now is what they worked best on then. Pretty simple really!
Pat B:
A wide crescent would have poor penetration on a horse, I would think, especially if the horse was suited for battle. And I think it would not be practical for an archer to carry arrows with such a big head. They must have a specific application or they wouldn't have made them but what that would be baffles me.
WillS:
....hunting.
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