Does anyone on here know anything about archery?

I’m trying to get some details without going along to an archery group – I just know I’ll get hooked and spend pots of dosh on equipment and have even less time for writing!

All I need to know is –

Would an arrow stick into a seasoned oak beam?
Could you kill someone with one? (I’m talking longbow – not crossbow)
And how come you don’t slash your own wrist every time you release the bowstring?

Cheers
Dee

Dee,

The English Longbow as opposed to the modern bow needs a "pulling strength" of about 100lbs. Most women and many men, cannot pull the bowstring back far enough to shoot the arrow. (Arrows are shot, not fired).

The Longbow is a deadly weapon, even today, in the hands of an expert.

It will indeed penetrate an oak beam.

You can VERY, VERY easily kill someone using the longbow!

An archer wears a protective leather wrist band on his left forearm, assuming he/she is right handed to protect his arm from the release string.

The English archers at Agincourt decimated the French when the loosed arrows at the rate of 15 per man per minute. The French cavalry, men and horse were slaughtered and they were then four hundred yards away!!!

At the battle of Towton in 1461 - Britain's bloodiest battle - the Yorkist faction had as many as 20,000 archers. At 15 arrows per minute that's 300,000 arrows per minute - 5000 arrows per second. 28,000 died. Nothing came close to this killing score until the First World War.

One of the most fitting quotes regarding English archery was made by a Burgundian merchant in Brugges in the 1480's.

He noted in his diary that the weather was awful. The rain was a torrent. It was coming down so heavy it 'reminded me of English arrows'.

Kind of says it all.

Yes Dee. The longbow certainly can KILL!!

BE VERY VERY CAREFUL INDEED

Kind regards
Tez

Tez, thanks for that. Fascinating stuff and a reminder not to write off old technology just because it isn’t computerised.

I was wondering about the arrows used in modern sport archery. I know they come in different weights and with a variety of points – do you know anything about them?

Dee.