Traditional target arrow and replica
medieval arrow.
Modern arrow with plastic fletchings
and nock.
An
arrow is a pointed
projectile that is shot with a
bow. It predates recorded history and is common
to most
cultures.
Structure
Schematic of an arrow with many
parts.
A normal arrow consists of a shaft with an arrowhead attached to
the front end, with fletchings and a nock at the other.
Arrow sizes vary greatly across cultures, ranging from eighteen
inches to five feet (45 cm to 150 cm). However, most
modern arrows are two-and-a-half to three feet long (75 cm to
90 cm), similar to the length of English war arrows (which
were made to be half the height of the man who shot them). Very
short arrows have been used, shot through a guide attached either
to the bow (an "overdraw") or to the archer's wrist (the Turkish
"siper"). These may fly farther than heavier arrows, and an enemy
without suitable equipment may find himself unable to return
them.
Shaft
The shaft is the primary structural element of the arrow, to which
the other components are attached. Traditional arrow shafts are
made from lightweight
wood,
bamboo or
reeds, while
modern shafts may be made from
aluminium,
carbon fiber reinforced
plastic, or composite materials. Composite shafts are typically
made from an
aluminium core wrapped with a
carbon fibre outer.
The
stiffness of the shaft is known as its
spine, referring to how little the shaft bends when compressed.
Hence, an arrow which bends less is said to have more spine. In
order to strike consistently, a group of arrows must be
similarly-spined. "Center-shot" bows, in which the arrow passes
through the central vertical axis of the bow riser, may obtain
consistent results from arrows with a wide range of spines.
However, most traditional bows are not center-shot and the arrow
has to deflect around the handle in the
archer's paradox; such bows tend to give
most consistent results with a narrower range of arrow spine that
allows the arrow to deflect correctly around the bow. Higher
draw-weight bows will generally require stiffer arrows, with more
spine (less flexibility) to give the correct amount of flex when
shot.
Footed arrows
Sometimes a shaft will be made of two different types of wood
fastened together, resulting in what is known as a footed arrow.
Known by some as the finest of wood arrows, footed arrows were used
both by early Europeans and
Native Americans. Footed
arrows will typically consist of a short length of
hardwood near the head of the arrow, with the
remainder of the shaft consisting of
softwood. By reinforcing the area most likely to
break, the arrow is more likely to survive impact, while
maintaining overall flexibility and lighter weight.
Arrowhead
Various Japanese arrowheads
Native American arrowheads
20th century field points
Modern replicas of various mediaeval
European arrowheads
The arrowhead or
projectile point
is the primary functional part of the arrow, and plays the largest
role in determining its purpose. Some arrows may simply use a
sharpened tip of the solid shaft, but it is far more common for
separate arrowheads to be made, usually from metal, horn, or some
other hard material. Arrowheads are usually separated by
function:
- Bodkin points are short, rigid points with a
small cross-section. They were made of unhardened iron and may have
been used for better or longer flight, or for cheaper production.
It has been mistakenly suggested that the bodkin came into its own
as a means of penetrating armour, but research has found no
hardened bodkin points, so it is likely that it was first designed
either to extend range or as a cheaper and simpler alternative to
the broadhead. In a modern test, a direct hit from a hard steel
bodkin point penetrated Damascus chain armour. However, archery was
not effective against plate armour,
which became available to knights of fairly modest means by the
late 1300s.
- Blunts are unsharpened arrowheads occasionally
used for types of target shooting, for shooting at stumps or other
targets of opportunity, or hunting small game when the goal is to
stun the target without penetration. Blunts are commonly made of
metal or hard rubber. They may stun, and occasionally, the arrow
shaft may penetrate the head and the target; safety is still
important with blunt arrows.
- Judo points have spring wires extending
sideways from the tip. These catch on grass and debris to prevent
the arrow from being lost in the vegetation. Used for practice and
for small game.
- Broadheads were used for war and are still
used for hunting. Medieval broadheads could be made from steel,
sometimes with hardened edges. They usually have two to four sharp
blades that cause massive bleeding in the
victim. Their function is to deliver a wide cutting edge so as to
kill as quickly as possible. They are expensive, damage most
targets, and are usually not used for practice.
There are two main types of broadheads used by hunters: The
fixed-blade and the
mechanical
types. While the fixed-blade broadhead keeps its blades rigid and
unmovable on the broadhead at all times, the mechanical broadhead
deploys its blades upon contact with the target, its blades
swinging out to wound the target. The mechanical head flies better
because it is more streamlined, but has less penetration as it uses
some of the kinetic energy in the arrow to deploy its blades.
- Field tips are similar to target points and
have a distinct shoulder, so that missed outdoor shots do not
become as stuck in obstacles such as tree stumps. They are also
used for shooting practice by hunters, by offering similar flight
characteristics and weights as broadheads, without getting lodged
in target materials and causing excessive damage upon removal.
- Target points are bullet-shaped with a sharp
point, designed to penetrate target
butts easily without causing excessive damage to them.
- Safety arrows are designed to be used in
various forms of reenactment combat, to reduce the risk when shot
at people. These arrows may have heads that are very wide or
padded. In combination with bows of restricted draw weight and draw
length, these heads may reduce to acceptable levels the risks of
shooting arrows at suitably armoured people. The parameters will
vary depending on the specific rules being used and on the levels
of risk felt acceptable to the participants. For instance, SCA combat rules require a
padded head at least 1 1/4" in diameter, with bows not exceeding
and of draw for use against well-armoured individuals.
Arrowheads may be attached to the shaft with a cap, a socketed
tang, or inserted into a split in
the shaft and held by a process called
hafting. Points attached with caps are simply slid
snugly over the end of the shaft, or may be held on with
hot glue. Split-shaft construction
involves splitting the arrow shaft lengthwise, inserting the
arrowhead, and securing it using a
ferrule,
sinew, or wire.
Fletchings
Fletchings are found at the back of the arrow and provide a small
amount of drag used to stabilize the flight of the arrow. They are
designed to keep the arrow pointed in the direction of travel by
strongly damping down any tendency to
pitch or yaw.
Some cultures, for
example most in New
Guinea, did not use fletching on their
arrows.
Fletchings are traditionally made from
feathers (often from a
goose or
turkey) bound to the arrow's shaft,
but are now often made of
plastic (known as
"vanes"). Historically, some arrows used for the
proofing of armour used
copper vanes. Flight archers may use razor blades for
fletching, in order to reduce air resistance.
Artisans who make arrows by hand are known as "fletchers," a word
related to the French word for arrow,
flèche. This is the
same derivation as the verb "fletch", meaning to provide an arrow
with its feathers. Glue and/or thread are the main traditional
methods of attaching fletchings. A "fletching jig" is often used in
modern times, to hold the fletchings in exactly the right
orientation on the shaft while the glue hardens.
Fletchings may be straight or
helical, i.e. arranged with
a slight offset around the shaft of the arrow to provide a slight
rotation which improves accuracy. Most arrows will have three
fletches, but some have four or even more. Fletchings generally
range from two to six inches (152 mm) in length; flight arrows
intended to travel the maximum possible distance typically have
very low fletching, while hunting arrows with broadheads require
long and high fletching to stabilize them against the aerodynamic
effect of the head. Fletchings may also be cut in different ways,
the two most common being
parabolic (i.e. a smooth curved
shape) and
shield (i.e. shaped as one-half of a very
narrow shield) cut. Whenever natural fletching is used, the
feathers on any one arrow must come from the same side of the
bird.
With conventional three-feather fletching, one feather, called the
"cock" feather, is at a right angle to the nock, and is
conventionally placed so that it will not contact the bow when the
arrow is shot. However, many modern target archers have no "cock"
feather on their arrows, thus improving accuracy. Four-feather
fletching can have the advantage of no cock feather, so making
nocking the arrow slightly easier, though some four-fletched arrows
are not evenly placed in order to make the fletches towards the bow
closer to vertical.
A
flu-flu is a form of fletching,
normally made by using long sections of full length feathers, in
most cases six or more sections are used rather than the
traditional three. Alternatively two long feathers can be spiraled
around the end of the arrow shaft. The extra fletching generates
more drag and slows the arrow down rapidly after a short distance,
about 30 m or so.
Flu-Flu arrows are often used for hunting birds, or for children's
archery, and can be used to play
Flu-Flu
Golf.
Nocks
The nock serves to keep the arrow in place on the string as the bow
is being drawn. Nocks may be simple slots cut in the back of the
arrow, or separate pieces made from wood, plastic, or horn that are
then attached to the end of the arrow.
Modern nocks and traditional Turkish nocks, are often constructed
so as to curve around the string or even pinch it slightly, so that
the arrow is unlikely to slip off.
In English it is common to say "nock an arrow" or "notch an arrow," when one readies a shot.
See also
Notes
- Stone, George Cameron (1934). A Glossary of the
Construction, Decoration, and Use of Arms and Armor in All
Countries and in All Times, Mineola: Dover Publications. ISBN
0-486-40726-8
- Turkish Archery and the Composite Bow. Paul E. Klopsteg ISBN
1564160939 ISBN 978-1564160935
- Royal Armouries: 6. Armour-piercing
arrowheads
- Hunting with the Bow and Arrow, by Saxton Pope.
http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext05/8hbow10.txt "To test a steel
bodkin pointed arrow such as was used at the battle of Cressy, I
borrowed a shirt of chain armor from the Museum, a beautiful
specimen made in Damascus in the 15th Century. It weighed
twenty-five pounds and was in perfect condition. One of the
attendants in the Museum offered to put it on and allow me to shoot
at him. Fortunately, I declined his proffered services and put it
on a wooden box, padded with burlap to represent clothing. Indoors
at a distance of seven yards (6 m), I discharged an arrow at it
with such force that sparks flew from the links of steel as from a
forge. The bodkin point and shaft went through the thickest portion
of the back, penetrated an inch of wood and bulged out the opposite
side of the armor shirt. The attendant turned a pale green. An
arrow of this type can be shot about two hundred yards, and would
be deadly up to the full limit of its flight."
- Strickland M, Hardy R. The Great Warbow. Sutton Publishing
2005. Page 272
- http://www.huntingblades.com/mevsfiblbr.html
- SCA marshall's handbook
- Gardens of War: Life and Death in the New Guinea Stone Age.
Robert Gardner. Deutsch 1969. ISBN 0233961402, ISBN
978-0233961408
- Massey, Jay(1992). "Self Arrows" in The Traditional
Bowyer's Bible - Volume One, Guilford: The Lyons Press. ISBN
1-58574-085-3
- Stone, G.C. "A Glossary of the Construction, Decoration and Use
of Arms and Armor"
External links