Making Medieval Arrows - Photodiary

[Karen]

Any chance that we can see this presentation yet - still get nothing on this link ?

[gino]

sorry, will get onto it.

[gino]

Ok, you should be able to download it at this link now:

Arrowmaking Powerpoint Presentation

[NoobArcher]

what would the crescent moon headed one have been used for?

[English Bowman]

I believe that the crescent head is for hunting small game.
The reasons behind this are a crescent head will do enough damage to kill a rabbit or bird with no problems.
If you go for a bird on the ground and it goes to take off, and you hit the wing, a normal broadhead will open the feathers and pass through harmlessly, a crescent head will gather the feathers and cut them, clipping the wing and grounding the bird.
If you miss with a normal broadhead it'll bury itself and you've probably lost it, a crescent head will snag and lay on the surface, you get the arrow back for another time

Daniel

[gino]

Yes I agree with daniel. You'll find a lot of people telling you it was for cutting rigging and sails on ship-to-ship fights or for even cutting the ligaments of a horse charging down at you but I don't believe those for many reasons I won't go into.
We know that to hunt small game they used blunt arrows similar to the reenactment ones used today but made with stuffed pouches of leather. This meant that they'd get a kill but not destroy the felt or feathers which could be used or sold to other traders. I believe the crescent head would be used more by poachers, you're more likely to hit the target (larger diameter) and it you do you'll almost certainly take it out even if you only clip it. Also it wouldn't bury itself in undergrowth, it'd get caught and tangled and would be easy to retrieve in a rush.

[Lord_Azrael]

Thanks for that Gino, you're a star!
I'm just in the process of constructing my first arrows at the moment and have the majority of materials required, except for the white feathers as Richard Head have run out at present.
Hopefully in the next few weeks I'll be up and running.

Luckily I've got a nice worksheed for woodworking and am now contemplating the installation of a small forge so I can make my own arrowheads!

[gino]

excellent, I have more photodiaries of wooden arrowmaking (splitting raw feather for example) they're all on AIUK but I'm currently makin a website so I can put them all in one place.

Also, when you make your own arrowheads in that forge you'll have to post your own photodiary