THE ENGLISH LONG BOW.

[Peter Hudson]

In searching for more detail on Korean Bows I discovered a stone age find of a set of arrowheads in stone... and each almost 20 centimetres long .

Seev https://www.museum.go.kr/site/eng/re...w?relicId=2043

[fernando]

Originally Posted by Peter Hudson

In searching for more detail on Korean Bows I discovered a stone age find of a set of arrowheads in stone... and each almost 20 centimetres long .

Seev https://www.museum.go.kr/site/eng/re...w?relicId=2043

That reminds me i have a few examples from American natives in my curiosities collection.
(Age certified by an archeologist).

.

[Peter Hudson]

Please see https://www.google.com/search?q=fire...id:X6sr0HlSmVY

Just to re align with my original post on THE ENGLISH LONGBOW....
Regards Peter Hudson

[Peter Hudson]

This is the war head on an arrow for fire. Its the right hand one ...below.

[Peter Hudson]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2D1GkX1T6gQ is an interesting Video covering nearly everything about the English Longbow and a few other forms ...

Regards Peter Hudson.

[Peter Hudson]

I have always wondered what the effect is when arrows are greased before firing? Something tells me that the speed is either maintained better or increases the hitting power when goosegrease is put on the arrows...somehow preventing friction thus increasing delivery speed to the target...suggesting it was better for armour penetration... but I have no direct evidence to quote ...it being something someone said once? Can anyone throw some light upon this ?

Regards,
Peter Hudson.

[fernando]

If you don't have goosegrease at hand, do it with beeswax .

[kronckew]

I seem to recall Tod tested a few greased arrows at some point. He also tested the thinner armour used for the appendages and side armours. He also tested glancing arrows coming off the breastplate, along with the helmets above, some shattered and splinters went in thru the eye slits, which would have put a knight out of action (unless maybe he wore safety goggles ) Later helmets had narrower eye slits and snout breathing holes, decreasing their effectiveness at seeing, hearing, and breathing to where knights often raised their face covering when they thought they were out of range . Breastplates developed a diversionary V raised area or rib to redirect splinters. didn't always work. Early pate armour had thick mail around the neck at the front to stop arrows. It also didn't work all the time - plus the force behind even a stopped arrow hitting them there would smart. Later armour changed to articulated neck plates.


In any case, Tod did a few more video on arrows vs. plate, best to watch them all if interested. He even developed an arrow thrower device so he didn't need a 160 lb. draw bowman and could shoot arrows consistently ad infinitum.


Experimental arcaeology at its best. (I love his series on his trebuchet, and he makes more. I liked his rondel dagger vs. mail & plate armour as well, and got him to make me one!)



TWS Playlist <-linky

[Teisani]

Originally Posted by Peter Hudson

I have always wondered what the effect is when arrows are greased before firing? Something tells me that the speed is either maintained better or increases the hitting power when goosegrease is put on the arrows...somehow preventing friction thus increasing delivery speed to the target...suggesting it was better for armour penetration... but I have no direct evidence to quote ...it being something someone said once? Can anyone throw some light upon this ?

Regards,
Peter Hudson.

Making a suface greasy or non-stick doesn't necessarily reduce it's friction drag (viscous drag). If it did we would coat airplanes with teflon and save a lot of money in kerosene. So any improvement that you would see will not be due to drag reduction.

Aerodynamic drag in the low subsonic speed range that arrows travel in, is due to 2 reasons: viscosity of the air and longitudinal pressure distribution over the arrow.
The viscous part is due to the air sticking to the exposed surface of the arrow. So to reduce viscous drag you need to reduce this wetted area in ratio to the arrow's mass. Or change the material to a higher density. Like kinetic armour piercing rounds APFSDS for tanks use depleted uranium or tungsten due to their high density. Of course you will need to use a stronger bow to maintain initial velocity. Coating with a lubricant will not work.
The pressure drag is due to high pressure in the front, and a low pressure wake developing in the rear. For an example of a optimized shape, look at a symmetric airfoil. Blunt in the front (required for wings but not for arrows) and long gently tapering back (always a necessity).

So, for a medieval archer to improve, I strongly recommend a research and development programme in the field of computational fluid dynamics and material science, towards the development of depleted uranium arrows of an optimized cross-section distribution. Oh, and to train more, so he can chuck the damn things with gusto. I don't know... maybe hit the gym.