not to take away from what is truly a remarkable feat by a disabled archer...... but like i said in the previous post... compound archery is very different from traditonal archery.... and especially longbow archery..... in fact they are as different as night and day.....
compound bows no matter how they are shot.. are always more accurate, and are able to shoot an arrow farther, than a traditional bow... ..however... most people who have grown up with compound bows.. and never shot anything else,.cannot even bring a traditional bow of equal poundage to a full draw.... .
unfortunately ... most won;t even understand or admit that until they are handed a heavy traditional bow and given the chance to show what they can do.... and even then .. after they have failed.... some will try to insist there must be some special technique for drawing back a tradtional bow rather than admitting it;s simply a matter of practice and years of conditioning... they have never worked to develop...
it;s a test and scenario that plays out from time to time on most every archery range where both compound and traditonal archers are present.. ....
why not?..... hundreds of people practicing various ages of ancient technology are building
their own versions of trebuchets today.... ..when i saw this i knew i had to post it.... and
also wondered what the cavemen in quest for fire could have done if they had only figured
this out.. ... they had all the primitive tools and materials necessary... including an ample
supply of big rocks..... ....one day when we are an extended multiple night venture into
the rainforest i am going to build one of these things myself...
warning.... video may not be hyper-fundy approved... displays male upper body nudity.. but at least he has knee length shorts on
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1st samuel 17; 49 "and david put his hand in his bag, and took thence a stone, and slang it, and smote the philistine in his forehead, that the stone sunk into his forehead; and he fell upon his face to the earth".
some people claim that something as simple as a primitive slingshot could not have done
that kind of trauma to goliath.... and caused a stone to be embedded in his head as if
shot from a gun.... ..they also claim that even if it could have... it would not have been
possible for a young man like david to make the weapon himself out of the simple tools
and materials he had.... and for a youth to be able to sling a stone with such force.....
the video demonstrates otherwise... and also shows how anyone could make a primitive
slingshot and with practice, become deadly with it just like david did...
a good video from kevin hicks.... the warwick castle archer.. .. on how to prepare a
traditonal self bow for shooting.... (or a bow made out of a single stave of wood)....
.... everything he does here is great advice... . i do most of it the same way he does
with my bows that are self bows.. . there are a few things i do differently.... for one -
.. i don;t stand any bow on the floor on either limb to store it.. ... i have seen severe
curvature and weakning of a lower limb on other archers bows who have done that..
.
i have a bow rack similar to a gun rack that my bows lay horizontal on.. (with arrow
quivers suspended from the hangers).... .. and i also keep a strip of seal skin wrapped
around the riser on the arrow contact point to prevent the kind of burn in.... (or wear
in)... he describes, that carved a groove in his bow... and i also use regular tru-oil made
for gun stocks to oil mine... i also oil my wood traditional hunting arrows with true oil too
.... and then both are waxed with gun stock wax made by the same company....
...... ..... (birchwood casey).....
. for some of us... a properly kept bow is more essential than it may for others....
...without the numbers or weight of arms.... speed and accuracy are key...
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from time to time friends have ask me to make a video or write a book on how i
make the traditional hunting and medieval type arrows we use... i am not any
where close to doing something like that yet..... and not sure i ever will be...
but here;s a video from kevin hicks... the former warwick castle archer who now lives in canada... on how he makes his own medieval type arrows.... it;s a time honored method that is very similar to the way we make ours.... there are some ways ours vary from his and i;ll tell about those below the video..... and one day i might make my own video on how to do this... .. but for now take a look at how an english castle archer makes his....
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shafts....
so one of the first things i do differently in making arrows is i measure the spine strength
in pounds for each shaft... after it has been cut to size..... the spine strength is the amount
of pounds it takes to bend the arrow 1 inch.... (which it will do naturally the moment it is shot
from a bow.).... if an arrow bends too much.. or not enough... it will be innaccurate and might
even break under pressure of the string..... ...the other thing i do differently is i oil the shafts..
usually with regular true oil... the same kind made for gun stocks and then let it dry..... we use
the same oil on our bows as well.. a lot of the hunting we do in the rain and the extra protection
the tru oil provides makes a huge difference in longevity of both bow and the arrows.....
fletchings...
kevin uses mostly goose feathers ... primary wing or flight feathers... for his fletching.. but
goose feathers are hard to find here... so we use turkey... both wild and domestic depending
on the type of arrow... and always primary wing or flight feathers too.. they can come from either wing of the bird as long as all the feathers on one arrow come from the same wing...
if you mix right and left wing feathers on the same arrow it will fly like a drunken corkscrew.
.
... but other than that the way we attach them is very similar to what you see in the video..
with one exception... i use a 5 and 1/2 inch fletch most all of mine.... but i cut a 9 inch fletch for my dads arrows... i also leave a 3 inch tail on the trailing edge of the quill.... that is folded
under the main body of the fletch and lashed to the shaft of the arrow with the rest of the
fletchin folded down over it and lashed tight.... this makes a fletch much stronger than the
standard medieval method... it also tends to strengthen the arrow shaft itself at the point
where it will be stressed the most on the shot...
.........................
in a previous post i was talking about how some forum members might actually have ancestors who were longbowmen.. and who fought in the wars of that time period..
. . (my adopted dad does).... so i thought this video on interesting facts about
longbows would be good.....
on a side note.... traditional archery is actually very good exercise and an excellent method of maintaining upper body strength for anyone getting older and concerned
about muscle losss..... and it;s also useful for strengthening the body core..
. (when proper form and method are used).....
so... this video is billed as arrows vrs armor.... but it;s actually more of a longbow
vrs crossbow contest... and in this video they make it look as if they can be equal in performance.... and that might be true if the draw strength and length of cast are equal in both devices..... . but one thing they always forget in these kinds of comparisons is that crossbows can take as much as 5 to 10 times longer to load
and set up than what it takes for a longbowman to string-draw and loose an arrow..
but anyway...it;s an awesome video coz it shows one of the worlds top longbowmen in action.... not many alive today can draw and shoot a bow that heavy.... .every shot is litrally holding back 160 pounds with only his fingertips....
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It looks like the longbow guy has a curvature of his spine. I've heard that when graves from hundreds of years ago are exhumed, the archeologists can tell who were the longbowmen by the shape of the spines and arm bones.
It looks like the longbow guy has a curvature of his spine. I've heard that when graves from hundreds of years ago are exhumed, the archeologists can tell who were the longbowmen by the shape of the spines and arm bones.
i never noticed that about him.... but i guess it;s possible... . .. ...... he does have a weird way of drawing that puts a severe arch in his back.. and also of bringing the bow up to a semi-high draw position before lowering it as he draws it back.... though his style works for him and he has become successful with it - it;s not actually proper form..... and i was always told it;s a sign of being overbowed in the way of draw weight.. ..most compound bow archers do an extreme high draw and then wrangle the bow back into the compound lock position..... ..and that;s a very poor form common to people who take up archery as an adult and who never built the proper form or proper bone/muscle structure as a child.....
and that brings me to an opinion i have on this particular archer i was hesitant to bring up simply because what he does works for him and because he shoots so well..... ... but it looks as if he started out as a compound bow archer and transitioned to the longbow..... ..
proper longbow form starts low in the bow hand....and brings the bow up as the drawing hand pulls the string back... and the primary movers are actually the upper back muscles.. the arms play a secondary but important part providing steadiness and control.... . .it;s a motion that literally squezzes the back together and opens up the chest..... it;s all done in one smooth upward motion and the bow is never brought above the level at which the arrow will be loosed....
that;s the way my dad shoots and the way i was taught... and while i was not a child when i started shooting i wasn;t really a fully developed adult either.... so i still had time to build the proper form as i built up bone strength and muscles at the same time.... and before i hit that age where my body form was set and not going to change further.... .... over the years of gradually increasing the strength of the bows i used, my shoulders got wider and thicker ..upper back muscles grew.... and both my arms got stronger... but i am definitely stronger in the right arm than the left though you can;t tell by looking.. and as far i know my back is still arrow straight... nobody ever mentioned it wasn;t....
however.... the ring finger on my drawing hand has a permanent inward curve to it due to that being the finger that bears the most weight when i draw back on the bowstring.... it;s one reason i frequently hit the wrong keys with that finger when typing and have to go back and proofread and re-edit all the time... it;s why i am always hitting this -> ; instead of the key next to it.... .... the other reason is dyslexia... plus also thinking in one language trying to type in another.... all together those things make my typing and posts a general mess..... ... but my arrows fly true and as straight as a... well.... an arrow.....
this is actually a very good video... it is one of a whole set of videos this youtuber
made on the effects medieval arrows had on armor.. he is using a crossbow which
shoots an arrow at the same speed a warbow would have.. and so in the opinion of
those working with him it is a good substitute and can provide accurate data... ..
... but i;m not too sure about that... . it might be simply because i hate crossbows..
but i would trust the results of these kinds of tests better if he was able to use an
authentic heavy warbow.... ..but not many can do that in this day and age.....
if you have watched this one or went back to look at some of his other videos on
youtube.... you will see something that makes me cringe every time it happens.
.. and which is also the reason i don;t like taking part in any kind of experiment
like this... arrows shattering and breaking into pieces on impact with a hard target.
i work really hard making traditional arrows and put a lot of time into each one.. i
don;t like breaking them - even by accident... ..i am sure he feels the same way...
.
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was being seriously wounded by an arrow in battle....during the medieval age..
automatically mortal?... if all you know of the medieval age comes from movies
and television dedicated to that period of time.. you could be led to believe it was... ... and that once a combatant was shot by an arrow or otherwise skewered by some primitive projectile.. there was nothing left for him but a few days of agony followed by the eulogy and a funeral.. .but accounts from the period indicate medieval medicine might not have been as .....ahem.... "medieval" - as we have been led to believe...
and in some ways was no more barbaric than many of todays surgical practices....
.
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. yeah... i know.... the knight in this picture below is probably beyond help.... but i thought it was a really awesome picture anyway.... and besides, who knows what a really talented surgeon might be capable of....
i actually learned about this battle through researching medieval artwork that showed the correct way of shooting an english longbow... and that was under-
-taken in an effort to dispute what self appointed historians who have never
even seen or handled a english longbow were claiming - and using medieval
artwork done by artists who had never even seen a battle, as their reference..
but anyway.... that;s an argument not adressed in this video - which explains
something else i learned in the course of my research about how french mounted
knights had been warned - prior to this battle - not to charge on horseback into a
massive group of english archers.... they were told that they and their horses would
be cut to pieces by the arrows.... but the pride of these noble knights would not allow
them to fight on foot like a common soldier, or allow other soldiers better prepared to
fight against archers, to go in ahead of them... so they charged on their warhorses directly
into the ranks of archers who were shooting arrows point blank into them, and they met
the fate they had been warned about....
i found that pretty fascinating....
.
the painting above is actually part of a much larger panel describing the battle...
not really an archery video.... but one about another battle in the hundred years war
.. and this time between scotland and england in which the scots were victorious....
but another reason i like this is he starts off playing a tune from the era on an ancient recorder - - an instrument i;ve been trying to learn for over a year now....
..plus the quiver of medieval arrows in the corner looks almost exactly
like a quiver of arrows that is hanging on my bowrack...
.
i like this story in the video below because it tells of a battle where the archers
were used as the initial first attack force..... . and then when they were out of
arrows - instead of stepping aside and allowing english cavalry and infantry to
charge forward - the archers drew their own swords and axes and attacked
the oncoming survivors of the enemy force themselves.. .. and sent them
running for their lives..... ..
but my dad is kinda.. blah..about this story, because it tells of an english force
defeating the scots.... but even he admits it;s still a good battlefield account
that a lot can be learned from.... .(and the fact the quiver of medieval arrows
in the corner looks similar to the one hanging on my bowrack is pretty awesome
too.... ..except i use dark red silk lashings on my arrows instead of black)
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so.... what did a medieval archer involved in a battle do once all his arrows were gone?..
hollywood movies would have us believe they dropped their bows and ran away.... but did
they really do that?... ..granted these men were commoners that had been enlisted...
they were not professional soldiers like mounted knights or men at arms.. .. but they were
still fighting for their own country and might have even had an enemy army bearing down
on them.... ...i agree with the maker of this video that not only would archers have been
expected to continue fighting but that they would have been trained and armed in a way
that would enable to do it.... ..
.... ...well... yes... that would be possible... . there were battles where archers reused enemy arrows that fell short.... as long as the arrow didn;t break when it hit the ground or the arrowhead didn;t dislodge and become lost in the dirt..... and they shot those back with good effect...... ... but most of these medieval archers on both sides only lightly secured their broadheads to the arrow shaft with soft wax - so that when attempts were made to pull it out of a human body the broad head came off and remained inside .. ... where it would continue to tear internal issue and cause bleeding in a person still alive.... ..there were even some elaborate medical devices invented to help find and remove embedded arrowheads.... (i think i have a video of that being demonstrated around here somewhere)....
... where it would continue to tear internal issue and cause bleeding in a person still alive.... 
..there were even some elaborate medical devices invented to help find and remove embedded arrowheads.... (i think i have a video of that being demonstrated around here somewhere)....