This is Thrand! Thanks very much for the shout out shield brother! Love your channel and great video on historical war bow arrows and well done!
@wildcat89856 жыл бұрын
Matt "Thickening the shaft " Easton.
@SlurponMuhdickKillTheState8 жыл бұрын
I like to use the word "swim". If you see high speed footage of arrows, particularly dense wooden arrows, they appear very much like a fish swimming through the water when you release them. And this is one of the reasons they penetrate so well even at relatively low velocity, almost magically. When they impact they flex like a spring, swim past and glance off things (like bones) that would stop something that was 100% rigid.
@jakoblindgren66048 жыл бұрын
Nice video For those interested: Modern top end target arrow are usually tapered or barreled but for different reasons. They are tapered at the front for aerodynamic purposes and at the back for less sensitivity on release. Of course target archery today are not concerned with maximum distance or penetration, it's accuracy all the way.
@Zmego12348 жыл бұрын
Never knew arrows were so complex and as usual thanks for including some history and your own experience.
@100dfrost8 жыл бұрын
Matt, I did try bow hunting in the past, I don't think you were born yet. It was a great way for me to lose arrows. I did use aluminum shafts on my hunting arrows. I remember finding one that had hit a tree, it had sunk into the tree about 6 inches, still a lost arrow. There was no way to dig that out! Great information on this video, thank-you. Dante.
@willnonya94388 жыл бұрын
All this physics talk is making this engineer giddy.
@christianpoulsen41648 жыл бұрын
Matt, to add to your point about fletchings then the wobbling effect in air also makes the arrow lose energy, so if it stabilizes sooner then less energy is lost before it hits its mark.
@willabby5858 жыл бұрын
I can't even begin to tell you how useful little things like this are when I'm writing. It makes for cool details.
@JustGrowingUp848 жыл бұрын
+Will Abby You still write using feathers? Wow, groovy! ;D
@willabby5858 жыл бұрын
TheFilthyCasual ... Bastard... lol
@RumpledQuiltSkin8 жыл бұрын
Ace vid as always Matt. Two quick points - firstly, peacock fletchings are actually rather dull to look at - they're just the light brown primary wings. They do make superb fletchings for war arrows however! Secondly, there have been no verified examples of linen thread whipping yet - only silk. The Mary Rose arrows were silk, as was the Westminster Abbey arrow. There is one arrow currently awaiting some form of dating which appears to have been bound with linen, but it is the only example ever found so far, and there's still zero proof that it's medieval, as compared to a modern replica.
@scholagladiatoria8 жыл бұрын
Will Sherman Interesting, thanks!
@OneMindAnyWeapon8 жыл бұрын
scholagladiatoria Yes only silk thread which is also mentioned in period commissions etc. The "other" arrows that Will mentions, as siad has not had a scientific dating done on it , but from examination across an number of features is not a period arrow
@Regolith868 жыл бұрын
Will Sherman Silk seems like an expensive choice. Why'd they use it?
@OneMindAnyWeapon8 жыл бұрын
It's strong and thin, so it will fit through the wb of the feather without deforming it, linen is thicker and deforms the arrow, as you can see in MAtts example, this increases the drag of the arrow and makes the feather less effective.
@19firebird868 жыл бұрын
+Regolith Because of strength to weight ratio, so you can have a very thin thread that is very strong.
@sonkew8268 жыл бұрын
+scholagladiatoria HUZZA!!!! someone finally did NOT mix up energy and momentum!!!! THANK YOU MATT!!!!!!!! i see you are trying to get into the physics of everything. so far you did very well indeed! take it from a student of physics. if you want maximum force you want maximum momentum, that needs energy, but that is all energy does, energy is not important in itself.
@tadejfu8 жыл бұрын
I believe your right about why the fletching was so long in those days. As you said its for stabilizing the arrow soon after being shot. I base this explanation on the way manchu arrows were constructed. The manchu tactics called for very heavy arrows shot at a relatively short distance. The shorter the distance became, the bigger the fletching became. Their fletching was twice longer of the arrow your showing, or even more.
@Jazzman-bj9fq6 жыл бұрын
Cool vid! I'm just now watching your archery stuff... Hope you post more archery vids in the future, going to be getting into traditional archery in a bit :D
@williamsaintamour87318 жыл бұрын
Great video, Matt. I was just teaching some coworkers to shoot today, and I will pass this along. Question: just as swords are not always used at full swing, did archers use bows at less than full draw for some sort of tactical reason (more control for plunging fire, tight urban setting, etc.)? A stout arrow half drawn in a 150 pound bow still has a lot of force.
@kamatong8 жыл бұрын
I had no idea about the barreled/tapered shafts but it definitely makes sense!
@RabidMortal18 жыл бұрын
My mom used to work in a nocking shop (...or I think that's where my dad met her)
@OneMindAnyWeapon8 жыл бұрын
The three primary feathers on the wings are the ones generally used for fletching,with the only the feathers from the left or right wings being used together....
@ryddragyn8 жыл бұрын
Good video. Thanks. A few points: -I've used peacock feathers for fletching. They are very thin and light (though kind of fragile) relative to turkey feathers, so I can see them being useful for flight archery. Goose feathers are somewhat similar in terms of weight. Both are fairly smooth. The rough texture ( and hence lots of friction for flight correction) of turkey feathers is probably part of why they are so popular. -The tapering and barreling of arrow shafts was also related to the strength and shooting style of the archer. As per Ascham in Toxophilus: "For those that be little-breasted and big toward the head, called, by their likeness, taper fashion, resh grown, and of some merry fellows bobtails, be fit for them which shoot under-hand, because they shoot with a soft loose, and stresses not a shaft much in the breast, where the weight of the bow lieth, as you may perceive by the wearing of every shaft. Again, the big-breasted shaft is fit for him which shooteth right afore him, or else the breast being weak, should never withstand that strong pithy kind of shooting: thus, the under-hand must have a small breast to go clean away out of the bow, the fore hand must have a big breast to bear the great might of the bow." If you can read through the antiquated language, it's evident that Ascham was basically talking about a rudimentary understanding of arrow spine.
@TheValakyr8 жыл бұрын
I think that 90° knock thingy is called a "spline". At least that is what is called nowdays in woodworking. Inserting a spline is a typical techinque to reinforce end-grain in order to prevent it from splitting.
@Panzervagon8 жыл бұрын
I've noticed birch is particularly tough as an arrow-wood, but unfortunately it tends to be very bendy, so you have to fire-straighten the shafts when you first get them. However with a 35-ish pound draw self bow, hitting a tree at nearly point blank, a 3/8ths inch birch arrow that I made for practice actually took about 6 impacts, and hasn't broken to this day.
@KincadeCeltoSlav8 жыл бұрын
gods...Great info Master Easton I thank You Again!
@SlurponMuhdickKillTheState8 жыл бұрын
Archery! Yes. I grew up with a bow. From the age of 10 to the age of about 20 I used my 40lb recurve bow at least a few hours per week. I miss it. I need to get another bow. I even made several arrows and forged steel heads just to see if I could. Worked pretty damn well too. I put one through a wooden fence. Destroyed the arrow but I got about 12 inches of penetration through some fairly new and solid wood about 3/4 of an inch thick.
@billsticker8 жыл бұрын
Have you heard of Oak tipped 'war' arrows where the last (forward) sixth of the shaft was 'footed' or 'peeced' with a heavier wood like oak and the rest of Hornbeam, Ash or Birch? Which would mean most of the arrow flexing of the 'Archers paradox' happens in the more flexible rear five sixths of the shaft whilst the stiffer and heavier tip tends to fly relatively straight. None of the researchers in TV 'documentaries' mention this mention of arrow construction, although the Worshipful Company of Fletchers have a small paragraph about it on their web site. They also omit the practice of 'waxing' (Coating with tallow or beeswax) a bodkin point as an aid to armour penetration. I think there are references to 'footing' in E.G. Heaths 'The Grey Goose Wing' and I think there was also mention in a commentary I once read on Roger Aschams 1545 treatise 'Toxphilus'.
@kiba3x8 жыл бұрын
Very educational video. Thanks Matt.
@agalstraangil8075 жыл бұрын
Length of fletchings depends of three things: 1. structure of the feather (stiff or soft); 2. height of the feather (are they narrow to the shaft or being like fluflu?); 3. are you using 2 or 3 feathers. I am personally shooting with bamboo shafts and use only two higher standing feathers (turkey and goose). I have to say, there are some benefits of that: first: the arrow is going smooth around the bow, second: longer feathers slide smoother above your hand/knuckles, third: the arrow istn´t slower because of longer feather-standings, it´s equal to using three short ones. and even if i´m using bamboo-shafts (as they are knotted and "imbalanced"), the results in precision are remarkably good.
@emeralddragongaming29304 жыл бұрын
There are quite crooked blades on that wall sir. You could be a teacher by the way , you have a gift to easily give your knowledge to others which makes a big difference between good and not so good teacher.
@tndutchman89768 жыл бұрын
Great video Matt! Wet fletching= slow arrows. Goose feathers have the advantage of natural water resistance, hence their value on an arrow for a war bow.
@HebaruSan8 жыл бұрын
Fascinating, I never thought the aerodynamics might dictate different arrow designs for different purposes, but it makes perfect sense. Are there any records of archers or archer units carrying multiple types of arrows to handle a variety of contingencies? A few distance arrows for the early stages, then some with a more frontwards center of mass for when things get close?
@qiangluo19748 жыл бұрын
when you have a thicker shaft on the pointy end it also more air dynamic in the flight. by making it thicker you, more weight is placed in the forward portion of the arrow. make it less likely to yaw. similar like a modern day rifled slug or barrier penetration hourglass steel slug.
@barretharms6552 жыл бұрын
The middle of the peacock tail feather was used for Fletching and it was wrapped around the shaft in order to quickly straighten out the arrow before it hit the target. Your peacock feathers were extremely important for when you were competing in rapid fire against moving targets on a short-range. Such as a pheasant flush. And especially good for the Poppin J, because in each case the other thing that rapping the peacock's feathers would do is it would rapidly slow the arrow. Making a very accurate very short distance Arrow. And if you cannot choose the sticks yourself to make arrows out of the next best thing you can do is choose your flights. The peacocks feather was what we leaves taste call a corkscrew pom-poms or fraied flight. Here in America there are some ranges that are rather short and they only allow you to fire fraied flight arrows & on those ranges hunting bows are banned. Basically because my 90 lb hunting bow has no problems going through sandbags and has no problems going through hay bales. As a matter of fact I found I don't bring my hunting bow to practice on roundhay butts. The first time I've practiced on a round hay but in a farmer's field I left him five arrows no I only shot off six arrows but the first time shot was the only time I got to they were somewhere in the large round butt I just couldn't find them.because the farmer has set in the butts out for his cattle not for my shooting them. And yes I was polite enough to remove the tarp before practicing and replacing the charts before I left.
@pommel478 жыл бұрын
Twining the fletchings to the shaft definitely is stronger than glue, especially in humid environments. It takes more time to twine, but then you don't have to spend time reglueing fletching at some inopportune time like just before or during a battle. With hunting arrows it doesn't make that much difference, since you can casuallycheck/repair them before the hunt, and may only use one arrow for the kill.
@MikeMafiaII8 жыл бұрын
Speaking of your history of archery, did (or do) you have any interest in any other traditional archery forms? (i.e Turkish,Mongol,Chinese,Korean,Native American and so on)
@scholagladiatoria8 жыл бұрын
Mike dN I'm interested in all forms of archery and actually my favourite bows to shoot are short recurves - I have a Hungarian composite, but I always really wanted a super short Turkish bow. I also have a Mongol bow, but it kicks a lot and I don't like it to shoot (the fault of the bow rather than the design).
@MikeMafiaII8 жыл бұрын
scholagladiatoria I can highly recommend the shorter Turkish recurves, finger pinch is an issue if you use a 3 finger draw though, thus the thumb draw is a more or less the norm. Anyway thanks for the great vids, would love to see more of this archery content too
@MikeMafiaII8 жыл бұрын
Christiån Kirkenes As for Native American archery, it's a very *broad term*. Generally you'll have more luck looking up specific tribes (i.e. Cherokee, Sioux and so on) Generally the bows are flatbows (sometimes backed with sinew), with some notable exceptions like the Sioux bow which is a reflex bow (kinda) *Most* Native-American archery, although I don't care much for the term because it's a generalization of a complex and diverse spectrum, is (most of the time) pretty basic using (often short) pinch draws, Mediterranean draws and the occasional thumb draw is seen as well. If you're interested i would recommend reading up on Ishi, you can mostly likely find a good biography on him if you do a search on Amazon or something along those lines. He was an important figure in modern archery, he together with Dr.Pope, the renaissance of archery across the USA and later world. Honestly though, I'm *no scholar* I just thought that a Mongol bow looked cool and started researching from there on out. Eventually becoming somewhat knowledgeable about all forms of archery, but the Asian styles is my main focus. I can *highly* recommend the study of archery, as it will help you as an archer.
@klyanadkmorr8 жыл бұрын
+scholagladiatoria I live in the USA state that used to host the INTERNATIONAL Horse archery competitions. Once I learned of it I wanted to go, 2yrs later it lost funding and hard for people from Asia to make it. Thus, I couldn't go Just as I finally had $$ & time. I learned archery in camp as a kid then picked up a competition bow in college then moved to compound for hunting with friends.
@robpayne38018 жыл бұрын
you're more than welcome to come down to Georgia and hunt on our plantation this fall. Bow season starts soon, but I suggest doing in the midseason... because its still so damn hot.
@desepticon48 жыл бұрын
+Rob Payne I'm not against hunting but the concept of a canned hunt leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
@Famine2k8 жыл бұрын
+desepticon4 How is hunting on someones property a "canned" hunt?
@Famine2k8 жыл бұрын
+desepticon4 How is hunting on someones property a "canned" hunt?
@desepticon48 жыл бұрын
Maybe I misunderstood. If it's just the animals that naturally inhabit your plantation, then I have no problem with it. However, if you are introducing and/or breeding animals for hunting, I don't neccesarily agree with that practice.
@klyanadkmorr8 жыл бұрын
+desepticon4 Around the US rural MANY land owners will allow screened & sometimes paying hunter to use their land. Mainly for wild population control in the region and wild life harming their farm crops or property. Small side income as big city folks or bigtime hunters from scarce wildlife states will PAY good.
@WritingFighter8 жыл бұрын
Could you follow up this great video with the bolts of crossbows?
@99IronDuke6 жыл бұрын
Matt could you do a video on medieval English arrowheads please?
@NonApplicable19838 жыл бұрын
Great video! Will you do one about arrowheads?
@timrichardson52202 жыл бұрын
The broad arrow was actually used not for the fact that they were the earliest ordnance but because a smuggler used this mark to transport his goods, to counter this the government of the time adopted this mark as the official mark of the war department to thwart this and he had proven it's effectiveness
@FuckYouYouFuck8 жыл бұрын
Longer fletchings definitely stabilise an arrow faster. Look at Manchu arrows which were optimised for shooting large game at close range, they have huge fletchings typically a quarter the length of the shaft, sometimes up to half the length of the shaft. I see a big difference in arrow stability between my bows shooting 3" and 5" fletched arrows. 5" fletchings will make an arrow straighten out much faster, an arrow with 3" fletchings wobbles much longer. Longer fletchings increase drag though. Which is why Turkish and Korean bows optimised for long range typically shoot arrows with very small fletchings.
@scholagladiatoria8 жыл бұрын
FuckYouYouFuck Great info - this totally agrees with my experience and theories.
@jonathong.42038 жыл бұрын
FuckYouYouFuck It's the surface area of the fletchings that does it, and a lower profile is A. less interference B. faster arrow. And finally, the further back the fletching the more stable, however that stability has downsides.
@Usammityduzntafraidofanythin8 жыл бұрын
+scholagladiatoria Great username too. :V
@projectilequestion8 жыл бұрын
+scholagladiatoria Have you ever done instinctive archery?
@Famine2k8 жыл бұрын
+FuckYouYouFuck Agreed. My own experience in making arrows backs this up. Light arrows + small fletchings = velocity. But heavier arrows require corresponding longer fletching to stabilise.
@haonanhuang91978 жыл бұрын
I love traditional archery as well, got few mongolian bow and both wood and carbon arrows for fun. The way I draw is thumb draw via both Manchu and korean style thumb rings. Please put more videos about traditonal archery those things.
@loganpollock16894 жыл бұрын
With that heavy bodkin point, larger feathers are needed to stabilize the arrow.
@gary00441877 жыл бұрын
hey, did you ever do a vid on the arrow heads?
@scholagladiatoria7 жыл бұрын
It will come.
@nikitaonassis60908 жыл бұрын
Would be good to bring on traditional users to comment on their method and usage. Then use historical finds to correlate and compare changes over time, how much remains similar to old form and how it has changed for present day use.
@HeavensBladeTM8 жыл бұрын
finally your long detailed video, I prefer them more :)
@hedgetwentyfour27088 жыл бұрын
Hi Matt, could you talk about different types of sword pommels in the future please? Regards
@Dowon8 жыл бұрын
Would the type of wood and tapering of the arrows affect how the arrow would bend when it is shot out? Would there be different ways to adjust to the archer's paradox?
@themastermason18 жыл бұрын
And then there's the egregious use of turkey feathers in The Adventures of Robin Hood.
@grantlandsmith8 жыл бұрын
themastermason1 Outrageous!
@tonyoliver21675 жыл бұрын
Matt, where do you and how do you acquire these historical longbow arrows?
@Tork7898 жыл бұрын
+scholagladiatoria Could you talk about different types of bows? Like turkish, mongol, longbow etc and how they compare to each other in draw strength, effectiveness etc?
@rhemorigher8 жыл бұрын
+Tork789 They're all equally effective - it is all about context dear sir. Is your picture/avatar Rorschach?
@Tork7898 жыл бұрын
+rhemorigher Not everything and every time is about context. And it's a picture of the young Stalin afaik.
@morriganmhor50785 жыл бұрын
It would be cultural appropriation for some ;-)
@mysticonthehill6 жыл бұрын
Very interesting. I know archers often carried many different types of arrows, but does this mean the perception of the long bow being a great distance weapon is false? Or at least false in the military context that it was used? Really interesting stuff Matt.
@davidharrison66155 жыл бұрын
thank you . very informative.
@Gubson Жыл бұрын
It’s also quite normal that a tree is thicker at the bottom and then thinning out. Of course it’s the same with the branches. 😊
@gaoth888 жыл бұрын
it is strange to think of how many people and items one needs for a good war-Arrow. Of course a stone or bullet would be easier, but slings got out of fashion for some reason. Imagine what could have been build if all those resources weren't put in a military apparatus. Nevertheless, I like how people thought about their materials and made it so advanced. :3
@ForgottenFirearm8 жыл бұрын
Actually, cedars live all over the place, including the Mediterranean, India, even reaching into China.
@ESA19968 жыл бұрын
How do longbows compare to crossbows? Striking power? Range? Also, how accurate where medieval bows and crossbows? Would it be possible to shoot down messenger birds leaving a castle?
@NBarker19938 жыл бұрын
really informative video
@BPOOHEAD1895 жыл бұрын
Question Matt. I know you published this video in 2015, but to jog your memory, in the video you said that longbow arrows that hit resistant targets are likely to snap about 1/3rd of the way down the shaft from the tip, which is why they made the front half of the arrow extra thick. But does that mean that after they made that development that the arrows ceased to snap? Or just that it's something the arrow makers vainly tried to do? I initially thought you were going to say that maximum thickness at the end would give maximum power, but you simply said that they made it thick because the arrows snap and I'm not sure if they still break or not with that development.
@fakename15458 жыл бұрын
Jewels of energy
@TracinyaLachance8 жыл бұрын
How long would it actually take to make an arrow like that? Like, how many arrows a day could a person reasonably produce?
@mikegrossberg86245 жыл бұрын
More than likely, "GI" arrows would be assembly-line produced, i.e. one person would make the shafts, one cut fletching, one make points. Then one person would fletch the shafts, and another would mount the points, then the finished arrow would be handed to someone else for making up arrow sheaves(usually 24 arrows), which would then be transported for storage or to the field of battle
@brianelkins86045 жыл бұрын
You can actually spit them out pretty quickly. I forge my own heads and every thing and it's nothing to knock out 2 dozen in a few hours so long as you got the materials at hand. The part that takes most of your time is whipping the fletching, especially if you do it right and make them small and tight such as the arrow in the video. It's easy, just time consuming.
@akumabito20088 жыл бұрын
How were these arrows made? Looks like a time consuming process, especially if you'd need tens of thousands of them to equip an army. Were the shafts whittled by hand or turned on a sort of lathe?
@davidpowell54376 жыл бұрын
The principal tecnique is called cleaving. Some timbers work better than others. Basically a straight grained log is cut to length, stood on end and then split by driving some sort of wedge into the end grain. Halves, Quarters, and further. An expert, using suitable timber, can produce "blanks" not much bigger than the required shaft size. They can then be finished with draw knife and plane
@sfswordfight6918 жыл бұрын
Was the choice of goose fletching and string done in part so that the arrows would be more likely to resist being damaged while not in use, by water exposure? How well did glues of the time resist water? Also, from friends shooting each other with modified target arrows with padded heads, we noticed that if the arrowhead is sufficiently big, it can interfere with the fletching's ability to stabilize the arrow. We needed more fletching. These padded heads were at least 2" diameter, so I'm not sure if this issue translates to an only somewhat bigger war arrowhead.
@macasiskaishak28086 жыл бұрын
peacock feathers i think would just be left and right wing feathers which are brown from what if seen when looking at actual feathers on the grown in a pen were my grandma kept him I have though using peacock feathers to make fletchings if I had the materials to make an arrow with and a bow to test it
@PeterOStecherClassicArchery8 жыл бұрын
I think you are right with the big-feather -theory - the same is true with hunting arrowsor trick shooting arrows - you may shoot close range and you want the arrow impact straight into the prey/target. I like your videos! Shoot Straight!
@Shoshun25 жыл бұрын
The Cedar has grown all over Europe and the middle east for thousands of years
@matthewoconnell47008 жыл бұрын
I have a question that you may know the answer to, would arrows of been made of various different spines? as an archer spine is incredibly important to get good arrow flight, I shoot a longbow and a too stiff spine will actually make a decent clack against the side of the bow and fly incredibly badly with a lot of power lost, to weak a spine and a similar thing will happen.With the large diversity in longbow power ranging from 100lb right up to potentially up to and even slightly over 200lb the arrows would need to be hugely different in spine for each of these bows to get decent flight.This, to me, poses a bit of a logistical nightmare, they were I believe transported in barrels by the English, would they have had different barrels with different spines? Or was this something they didn't really concern themselves with? which I find hard to believe but is possible.Any thoughts on this would be very appreciated.
@scholagladiatoria8 жыл бұрын
+Matthew O'Connell Actually it seems that with heavy warbows and arrows spine isn't really important - the reason being that above about 120lbs draw weight English longbows were used with 1/2 inch arrows that were so stiff it didn't really matter which bow shot them (arrows were mass produced munitions, supplied by the crown. So accuracy would be reduced, but heavy volume shooting, heavy hitting and better supply chains would result.
@matthewoconnell47008 жыл бұрын
Thanks a lot for the reply, I guess accuracy was a fairly low priority as you would be shooting into ranks of men, as long as it went somewhere roughly into the group its all good.
@davidpowell54376 жыл бұрын
I think it's all too easy to lose track of the implications of the fact that when the bow was a valued weapon of war the ammunition was, as Mathew points out below, Government Issue. Sourced from all over the country, manufactured to a pattern, stored in the Tower until needed, shipped out with the troops by the cartload and issued by the sheaf. These shafts then had to perform well with a range of draw weights, draw lengths and arrow heads. My personal opinion is that this is why the fletchings were so big - in order to stabilise quickly under all circumstances. No doubt, in periods of peace, retained archers would sift through locally held stocks to pick out the ones that worked best for them, possibly even trimmming fletchings if distance shooting was an objective. But in the field, all arrows had to suit every archer. As for spine, think about this. If you are holding a draw weight of 150 lbs or so, pushing into the bow with your bow arm and shoulder, as soon as you loose your bow arm is going to extend a little, pushing the bow out of the path of the arrow. I don't think "the Archers Paradox" is going to be very relevant here, the shaft doesn't need to flex to clear the bow.
@thatchannel1955 жыл бұрын
Greenie
@williamchamberlain22635 жыл бұрын
Q1: What glue were they using for the fletchings? Q2: Any indication whether they were using the peacocks' flight feathers or their display feathers --> could the fluff/filamentious part of the display feathers act like contemporary fluffy/'flu-flu' arrow fletchings.
@OzoneoceanMJM8 жыл бұрын
Tapered and barrelled arrows are still available for modern sport archery.
@umidontno0403948 жыл бұрын
So how can I get into traditional English archery? like getting the traditional equipment and maybe training.
@archereegmb80324 жыл бұрын
Hi Matt, The arrow it's the most important piece of an archer's arsenal. Do you know if there are any records of war arrows being 'spined'? It would of course be impossible to tailor arrows to each archer, but was there a general 'spining' of maybe 120-180 pounds draw weight? Much respect, Jim.
@qiangluo19748 жыл бұрын
Manchu bow were so far the most energy efficient bow. especially at draw weight higher than 80 lbs it can give much higher velocity than english longbows of same weight. but it just needs a lot of maintenance. its outstanding to use in cold and dry north. but once you go south where its warm and wet, it get out of shape fast. and its almost as big as a longbow and much heavier to carry around.
@CarnalKid8 жыл бұрын
There's no way to compare them, because a bow with a draw weight of 80lbs is not an English war bow.
@murphy4yt5 жыл бұрын
I have seen many references to the “clothyard shaft”. My understanding is that the cloth yard was a Flemish unit of measure equal to 28”. Is that why modern bows and arrows are based on a standard draw length of 28”? Great video, by the way. Greetings from the Colonies.
@mikegrossberg86245 жыл бұрын
Uh-uh. The "clothyard" was just that, 36"(which is why that's STILL the measurement today!) The modern standard is simply because that's the length it takes the majority of people to draw an arrow to the chest(a standard anchor point for target archery)
@mironbarabakh59708 жыл бұрын
+scholagladiatoria Matt what is that "metal gauntlet with blade attached"-fist.weapon on the right behind your head? Did you make a video about it? (i searched but found nothing :/ )
@klavakkhazga39968 жыл бұрын
Well if you look at modern athletics javelins for example, you can see how they are balanced and tapered for maximum distance.
@rogerwilco28 жыл бұрын
The physicist in in me has to tell you that it's either F = ma (force equals mass times acceleration) or E = 1/2 m v^2 (Energy equals a half of the mass times the velocity squared). You probably mean the second formula. I find your theory of the length of the fletching interesting. I think the primary effect would come from the area of the fletchings, a longer one might have a bigger area, while still not interfering with the bow too much. There could be other effects as well, like dampening more frequencies of vibration. It would be interesting to device some experiments.
@sonkew8268 жыл бұрын
+RogerWilco with v=a*t and P=m*v we get F=P/t, hence Matt is correct Edit: he did mention momentum (P) specifically
@badpossum4405 жыл бұрын
Is this why old drawings show arrows with a bulbous point.
@gabriel321654987af8 жыл бұрын
This may be a question that doesn't fit the video very well, but are the modern homemade bows made of PVC and fiber glass good bows? I suppose they are not at the same level as professional bows, but for someone that doesn't quite have the money to buy one made by a professional, a cheap homemade one doesn't seem so bad.
@joeyvanhaperen77154 жыл бұрын
I have heard of owl feather being used for arrows because a owls feathers make a lot less sound while flying. How common was this?
@miguelbatacan8 жыл бұрын
How Heavy Were War arrows? In terms of Grains? Ex. 400 grains.
@romulusbuta93184 жыл бұрын
You should show us on this video some medieval pictures with diferent tipes of arrow body and so.........!
@Zunbil8 жыл бұрын
You mentioned cedar (an American wood) being used to create European style arrows. Although a-historical in this sense, this made me a little curious about Native American archery traditions. Do you (or anybody else reading this) happen to know anything about this subject?
@TheOhgodineedaname8 жыл бұрын
NorwegianChris I assume you mean North American Natives as opposed to say the Aztecs (if those guys even had archers). I don't know an awful lot about them but I believe they had multiple kinds of bows, everything from sinew backed short bows to flatbows, and who knows maybe round or D-shaped self bows too.
@GunFunZS8 жыл бұрын
+NorwegianChris While I am no expert, it is my understanding that most of the North American Native bows were relatively short with fairly low draw weight. They were not particularly accurate or powerful, and most were basically round cross section. Their emphasis was on using woodsmanship to get close and being able to quickly make a shot. If you are running around through the woods, a larger bow would snag on everything and be very cumbersome. They did have some very clever hunting spears though.
@Aaron-ud6wk7 жыл бұрын
I replicate Native American bows (and hunt with them). I've got some knowledge on short sinew backed paddle bows made from Juniper and Cedar. I've built a few. Cedar has a relatively low SG (Specific Gravity/Density) so it's not the best wood for a bow. Yurok tribes and such used mostly Juniper along the West Coast and backed their bows with elk and deer sinew, mostly with a reflexed and recurve design. Try looking it up on California Sinew Backed Bow on KZbin.
@fidenemini1118 жыл бұрын
My theory regarding the size of fletching is different. First of all there were different types and sizes of fletching on English war arrows: images.yuku.com.s3.amazonaws.com/image/jpeg/13c169180d3039d715a92b26227cf6c9d4928479.jpg Yes, the large fletching quicker stabilizes the arrow, which is important for short range shooting, but at the same time it increases the drag. The other purpose of big fletching is to neutralize negative destabilizing aerodynamic effect, created by big broadhead. Broadheads were also used on English arrows. With modern bowhunting broadheads, the big fletching is also used for the same reason. I think at the first stages of the battle, when they loose volleys at maximum distance, archers could use arrows fletched with smaller, or at least lower profile flights.
@tbcoachniblick1208 Жыл бұрын
I have often wondered what happened after battle did the victorious side send out serfs or orderlies to gather arrows that were still usuable and not damaged from hard impact. This would help re supply an army on campaign unless they have fletchers and forgers traveling with them.... in all the battle details of the famous battles, this is never mentioned....???
@bryanchan88888 жыл бұрын
I watch both you and Skallagrim and have wondered who would win in a fencing match?
@deathguppie8 жыл бұрын
Could it be that the bulkier head end of the shaft was for recovery purposes. I agree that it may have helped carry momentum into the target, but once you've hit the guy it seems he'd be at least a bit incapacitated. From an ordinance point of view though. Going around a battlefield and finding broken arrows (government ordinance) all over the field would be a wholly sufficient reason for the strengthening of that area of the arrow.
@TomatoBreadOrgasm8 жыл бұрын
Wait, so to discourage people from poaching, which I imagine was already illegal, they made something related, but not the same, illegal? What am I missing? Very informative, as usual, Matt.
@kamilszadkowski88648 жыл бұрын
""Criminals won't shoot people if we ban guns!-----a year down the road---> "Why is the prevalence of stabbings increasing so much?!" "" - So, you think this is a bad way of thinking? So how do you explain the fact that it is effective? In countries with lower availability of firearms there is less murders, shootouts, robberies and so on. If you compare countries such as Germany or Poland to the United States the difference is colossal.
@scholagladiatoria8 жыл бұрын
***** Because you can only catch a poacher red handed. Someone with a bow and arrows in a royal forest is easier to find and catch, without having to wait for the moment that they 'poach'.
@TomatoBreadOrgasm8 жыл бұрын
scholagladiatoria And the odds are that they're poor and hungry and no one important will miss them? Jeez, where did that come from? I shouldn't be this cynical before the watershed...
@Regolith868 жыл бұрын
TomatoBreadOrgasm Poaching is the main reason silencers are NFA items in the US as well. The National Firearms Act of 1934 was passed at the height of the Great Depression (so there were a lot of people who were desperate for a meal and couldn't care less about game laws), and it was believed that silencers made it more difficult to catch poachers. So now you have to pay $200 and go through a bunch of red tape (not even counting how much the silencer itself costs) just to own a piece of safety equipment.
@TomatoBreadOrgasm8 жыл бұрын
Regolith So that you don't blow out your ears? I'm no expert, but I've used silencers, and they don't silence, they just make the sonic boom a sonic grunt.
@RevanAlaire8 жыл бұрын
If any of you guys are interested in films concerning archery, then I highly suggest watching the Korean film - War of the Arrows/Arrow: The Ultimate Weapon. It's on Netflix I think. Though not 100% accurate when it comes to bowmanship. It is a thrilling movie that showcases both different archery techniques and arrowheads.
@Daylon914 жыл бұрын
Actually the archery is very good. The character draws right and performs Khatra like they did. He was able to twist the string so it was a bow of maybe 45 ibs
@nullite45898 жыл бұрын
How long would it normally take someone to make a traditional arrow, then?
@Usammityduzntafraidofanythin8 жыл бұрын
What type of string was used with the arrow fletching?
@therealr0bert8 жыл бұрын
Does the arrow snapping on the tree cause the head to always fall, or does it sometimes stick in the tree anyway? I know, pointless question.
@raymondmorad69484 жыл бұрын
Wing feathers on peacocks are very similar to goose feathers.
@AntiBunnyStudio8 жыл бұрын
As an American interested in traditional archery, I hear your complaints about types of wood. I would love to get my hands on a classic style English longbow, but most of the ones I see are made from hickory, an American wood that has no business being part of an English longbow.
@TheOhgodineedaname8 жыл бұрын
What part of it is English per say? Did continental Europe have different fletching or something?
@giren00798 жыл бұрын
+DushinSC I don't know what about is English but I do know that different periods and different parts of the world did have differences in fetching. In the video he even talks about it a bit. Different feathers,different woods and thicknesses and different heads etc.
@TheOhgodineedaname8 жыл бұрын
Anzu Wyliei Ehm, I'm not sure if I am the most qualified person to answer that question but I heard Tod made really good reproductions: www.todsstuff.co.uk/crossbows/crossbows.htm
@TheOhgodineedaname8 жыл бұрын
***** True, but I wonder if an arrow produced in Normandy or Flanders would differ that much from one produced in England. I know certain swords were more common in certain regions but I can't imagine you have that much design freedom when it comes to warbow arrows.
@scholagladiatoria8 жыл бұрын
DushinSC The thing is, only England (in Western Europe) was producing large numbers of longbowmen using super heavyweight bows and these matching fat arrows with long fletchings. Some countries emulated the system (eg. Burgundy), but it really seems to have been England/Wales that developed the specific heavy equipment.
@iopklmification8 жыл бұрын
+DushinSC English arrows spin on the left.
@petevermouth55674 жыл бұрын
Ash arrows are hevier, and don't break a easily as cedar. I use birch which is somewhere between the two. Yes I shoot trees all the time, no problem.
@bazza7954 жыл бұрын
I notice that your arrow fletchings are not visibly glued, many I have seen have a mixture of beeswax, copper verdigris and pine resin between the the fletching and over the bindings. However you did say that it was not 100% accurate. All in all , as always a jolly interesting and informative video.
@LarsaXL8 жыл бұрын
Did the historical Americans use cedar or did they have another favourite?
@patrickkocurek63118 жыл бұрын
Whats the weight of a military arrow with tapering?
@Ottuln8 жыл бұрын
I would have thought that the varying thickness would be to address the archer's paradox due to the stiffness of the thicker shaft.
@jesuizanmich8 жыл бұрын
+Wreqt with a conventional long bow, one without a centre shot, you get the "paradox". So you, in fact, need the arrow to be elastic and bend in order to shoot where you aim it. The stiffness of an arrow is calibrated.
@Ottuln8 жыл бұрын
Laifs Exactly, and the thicker material used in these arrows would reduce that elasticity. I propose that the varying width of these arrows is designed to allow flex at those point to get around (he he he, pun intended) the paradox.
@Askorti8 жыл бұрын
Out of curiosity, how long would it take to make a batch of arrows, or maybe a single arrow? And how often was it possible to reclaim and reuse arrows? I suspect it was not very common due to how fragile those things were.
@rexbarron4873 Жыл бұрын
I can assemble a 36" war arrow out of it's component parts in about five minutes. A fletcher at the tower could assemble 180 arrows a day....... there was no whipping just glueing.
@frombaerum8 жыл бұрын
if a arrow was thicker in the front would that also make it hit the target harder since the arrow would give in less?
@grantlandsmith8 жыл бұрын
frombaerum The teardrop shape is also good for aerodynamics.
@Vykk_Draygo8 жыл бұрын
frombaerum Probably. The way I think of it though, is that having most of the mass up front imparts more force immediately through the tip. If you had an equally massive arrow, but the weight was focused in the back, then it would be more likely to glance off. Not because of give, but because the rear of the arrow would have more momentum that the front, and it would want to spin to maintain that momentum. For soft targets, it probably doesn't matter much. It's not a perfect analogy, but think of front, versus rear wheel drive vehicles. Front wheel drive will have a tendency to pull out of a turn under heavy acceleration, moving toward a more stable trajectory (straightening out), whereas rear wheel drive will push further into the turn, creating a less stable trajectory.
@Segalmed8 жыл бұрын
The arrow looks rather short to me for an actual longbow.
@jimheaton95038 жыл бұрын
Just a guess, but is the whipping on the fletchings there because they were using animal glue which may degrade if it gets damp? - I certainly found it helped in that respect when making primitive (Neolithic style) arrows.
@davidpowell54376 жыл бұрын
I would say that that is a good guess ( no actual evidence AFAIK) But think about it. Arrows needed to survive storage, sometimes for many years, usually in a stone building before damp coursers were invented. And then on campaign, if the arrows fell apart at the first heavy shower... The Mary Rose arrows carry traces of a copper rich coating which was applied between the fletchings after the whipping was done. It is considered that this was to protect the fletching from insect activity.
@TemenosL8 жыл бұрын
Matt, what do you think of this prevailing idea that English longbows with a certain type of arrowhead could pierce or defeat plate armor?
@MrLazyeyedhobo8 жыл бұрын
Janas Aurora I'm pretty sure he thinks its a silly idea mister janus!
@RumpledQuiltSkin8 жыл бұрын
It's perfectly accurate. There have been many tests using proper military weight bows (140+lbs) and lozenge-shaped heavy bodkins or Type 10 heads, and these pierce armour with ease. In fact, many of the informal warbow society events involve shooting through munitions-grade plate steel.
@TemenosL8 жыл бұрын
Will Sherman Why am I completely in doubt of this. The only evidence I have *ever* seen for arrows shot from warbows penetrating good plate armor has been at very short range. And even then it's quite possible that the arrow would be stopped by the padding, as it only penetrates just beyond the armor, and a thick aketon beneath that may very well catch the arrow or blunt it's penetrative impact. If you can show me some kind of video evidence for a longbow at range going clean through plate then I may change my mind. Otherwise, it is *not* accurate, and only being able to punch through plate at very dangerously close distances, to me, is not so much a viable way of shooting. Archers typically want to avoid the melee, and if they can only effectively fight plate at close ranges they may as well opt for pole-hammers.
@RumpledQuiltSkin8 жыл бұрын
Read the test results performed by Mark Stretton for details (Glade magazine and Secrets Of The English Warbow are good starting points) but here's a simple way of thinking about it - if warbows were not able to make a complete mess of plate, why were they the reason for success at Poitiers, Crecy and Agincourt? Do you think all the arrows were just bouncing off for 100 years? Until you see them in person, its very difficult to understand the sheer size and power of a half inch chunk of birch, armed with a 5" long iron plate-cutter (genuine name for this type of head, for a reason ;) ) weighing a quarter of a pound being propelled from a bow with a draw weight of 175lbs. Believe me, when you watch somebody like Joe Gibbs shoot at plate steel from over 200 yards away, you will never have any doubt what these things can do.
@TemenosL8 жыл бұрын
Will Sherman Well I'll look into this. Thank you very much!