Main Discussion Area > English Warbow
Medieval arrow shaft production methods
JNystrom:
--- Quote from: willie on November 30, 2018, 04:39:32 pm ---
--- Quote from: burtonridr on November 30, 2018, 11:26:38 am ---JN, thanks for the info and that video is pretty cool, he can really split those really thin!
--- End quote ---
it would be interesting to see how he got those slats so thin. ash is used for baskets in North America, but a green log is pounded with a mallet until the growth ring can be peeled from the log. never tried it with a conifer
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These baskets are made fresh, contrary to arrow splitting. It might still be worth of a try, you can allways straighten the shafts if they dry all wonky.
Trick with the splitting is, allways split equal parts. Use a knife and start the split from exactly middle. You want the slight bending happening in the split to be equal, this will prevent the split from wandering off to one side.
JW_Halverson:
--- Quote from: JNystrom on November 30, 2018, 09:15:49 am ---Come on Del... I've got to know your beef, but I don't agree with you that there is any stubborn "know it all" guys around. What i have found in archery circles that there are quite down to earth guys who experiment and know their stuff, but still are open for discussion.
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Oh, my sweet summer child....
You are pretty new here and apparently haven't read too far back in the archives, yet. *sigh* Fun times! LOL!
WillS:
In my opinion you do what you have to do, to get the results.
I've spent a lot of time in the Mary Rose storerooms while working on various research projects, and have had the opportunity to examine a large number of the shafts there. The ones that are in very bad condition and didn't preserve well are the most interesting, as the grain structure and tool marks become immediately apparent. What I realised quickly was that there is no one way of doing them. Some shafts were simply coppiced saplings and shoots that fitted the dimension specs, others were (for lack of a better phrase) "hacked" from split timber, with heavy tool marks and mistakes (just like some of the bows) and others were beautiful, carefully made and finished. Some had the slots for the cow horn inserts sawn, some were split with a blade. Some were bound neatly, some were shockingly disorganised. Some had the fletching compound applied first, some had no compound and some even had no binding or nock inserts.
The bows follow the same pattern, with many looking like your average £100 eBay job from a beginner, right up to the most astonishingly beautiful and lovingly crafted tools. I guess when you've got hundreds of bows and thousands of arrows to make quickly for a campaign you just have to get on with it. Today we're obsessed with perfect bow tillers, perfect finishes, perfect arrow shafts and straight fletchings, but it certainly seems from that one collection that back then they were focused on simply getting the job done.
The same can be seen with medieval arrowheads - some were beautiful, some were horrendous.
Personally, when I make my replicas of the MR arrows I use split timber which is then taken down with a small wooden block plane with a flat blade to the correct taper and cross section. It's a very quick process after some practice and I've done over 50 in one day before without too much trouble. Once you get into a rhythm it just flows. This method has given me results that have been placed alongside the originals and look identical, right down to the tiny tool marks from the blade digging in and the way the tapers are formed (the tapered MR shafts aren't a straight taper from head to nock).
JW_Halverson:
I am sure it was a comfort to the Frenchmen to be shot with one of the better made arrows!
Next time you are playing with those original arrows, snap some pics. I'd love to see some of those.
WillS:
I've got albums and albums of photos, but unfortunately I'm not allowed to share them! There's a bit of a trend in the UK at the moment for museums to only allow photos taken to be for personal use, and quite often many forms need filling in even for that! Some museums are very accommodating but it's a short list
The Mary Rose in particular is incredibly difficult to gain access to at the moment - it's not their fault in the slightest, as a few people have abused the access granted to them and published all sorts of images and details they shouldn't have, but a few years ago anybody could book up and fiddle about with the bows but that's all been shut down now.
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