Fletchers-Corner

Greetings and thank you for hosting such a wonderful site. I am a museum curator in SW Missouri, USA. I have been "lurking" in yur site for some time, using babelfish to translate posts. I am sure you are aware of the translation error that is common with this type of translation.

I was wondering if someone would be so kind as to answer a couple of questions for me.

I was looking through the posts about building arrowheads from socket bolts and was wondering if you ar drilling the socket for the arrow to fit into, or does the bolt already come that way?

Also I an intrigued by the article on building fire arrows. I understand the proceedure for assembly but the babelfish translation on the componants needed was a bit unclear. If someone could tell me what theses items are, I would greatly appeciate your help.

Thank YOu in advance for any help

C-Wiseman

Hello "Lurker",

welcome at Fletchers Corner.
Don´t be shy to ask directly what you want to know... most of us are able to correspond in English.
If you tell us the postings you are interested in I think there are some guys here who will translate them for you. (Taran is an English teacher... and others can do it also).
Maybe as a museum curator you are interested in other things about historical themes - you will find also a lot of knowledge about that here (for example see Horsebow´s collection of arrowheads in his personal gallery, or Littlemongol´s mongolian equipment or Schneiderlein´s knowledge about clothing of middle ages and so on...)

Just ask!

Hi wiseman!

Greetings back to Missouri and welcome at FC!

I am sure, a lot of members will try to give you the answers to your questions! If you are able to stand through our english-mistakes, I hope for a long, interesting communication....

To fix an arrowhead there are naturally different ways; drilling a hole is one way, drilling a (thorn, mandrel?) is the second, filing a plate the third; except the first I made both, both works fine, first is anyway standard....

Using a thorn or plate demands a winding; looks like this:



Because of fire arrows-componants please tell us, what you did not understand; or try to translate single words by using this excellent german translator-site from munic-univertity:

http://dict.leo.org/

Rabe (Raven)

p.s.: what kind of bow(s) are you using?

Hi Wiseman, welcome to the FC!

Now I don´t know about socket bolts, but last weekend on a knife maker exhibition I met a man named Ulli Stehli. He is member of a historic society ("Society of Archer Antiquaries") and had on display a most interesting show board regarding "the smith´s way from iron piece to arrow head":

The first board features making a 6th-9th century hunting arrow head:


Here he shows how a 11th century Bodkin arrow head is wrought:

Nice to have you here.

Please give links to the threads/posts you'd like to discuss. A lot of topics have been dealt with in several threads, so we might end up talking about different things.

You could also cut and paste an German text into your posts here and we would attempt to clarify its meaning.

I have seen Babelfish translations of English archery sites into German, so I can imagine what you must put up with at your end.

RE: Arrowheads
The arrowhead Ravenheart gave a picture of in his post is a so-called "tanged" arrowhead (like the tang of a knife blade). The bolt has been filed or ground down until it was thin enough to be inserted in a pre-drilled hole in the arrow shaft.
As Ravenheart advised, applying a wrapping (thread, artificial sinew or the like) is imperative; otherwise the shaft will be split or it will shatter on the first impact, even if it is relatively soft target that was hit.

RE: burning arrows
Please cut and paste the post about ingredients that you would like to debate. Many knowledgeable people in that thread have pointed out that a lot of the information strictly belongs in the "don't-try- this-at-home" category.
Putting such information on display in a museum might land you in trouble - even if it is quite freely available on the web.

BTW: does anybody know which mixture Easton used for the flaming arrow used in the opening ceremony of the Barcelona Olyimpics?

Shewolf,
Thanks for the pictures of arrow heads, those are wonderful, I have never been able to find the sequence from start to finish like that.

Ravenheart,
I have several bows an Elm english longbow that just broke so now i have to make a new one. I have 3 fiberglass recurves 45#, 55#, 70#, 2 lemonwood (dagame) flat bows from the 1930's one is a longbow the other is a modified plains indian style with a pistol grip.
The current bow I am working on is Ipe (brazilian walnut) and hickory engish style longbow, I am also making a lighter version for my 13 year old daughter who has begun to shoot with me.
Taran,
Thanks for the warning of do not try this at home. The article i cannot translate is under Bauanleitungen...Pheile...Brandfeil. The items i cannot translate are "krepplebeband", "Feuerzeugbenzin" and wunderkerzen. Wunderkurzen does translate in the text body as "miracle candle" but I have no idea what that is.

Thank you all for you patience in dealing with a foreigner. My mother-in-law is German from Grosshostheim (sp?)but all I Have learned from her is how to say hello and that her pet name for me Sheisskopf is not that nice

Thank you
Chris Wiseman

Hi c-wiseman,

let's try to explain the missing words:

"kreppklebeband" also known as Kreppband

is masking band

"Feuerzeugbenzin":

is white gas

"Wunderkerzen":

is as far as I know a sparkler, but I think a picture will do it better:



The manual is not for a historical burning arrow but for a nice shot in the dark!

best regards,

Markus

Thank you Merdman2 That explains everything. I could just not figure out what a Miracle candle could possibly be...that make me understand

Thank You

Chris

@wiseman: Thanks for the listing of your bows
Must look the same in your rooms as in mime; maybe over 40 bows here, this time, rofl...(never counted)...

Sorry for your elm-bow! I LOVE elm, I favour it even over yew, (as good yew is hard to find today..) with the exception of osage, perhaps, but osage is also not easy to get in Europe...

I am everytime in making different bows same time; actually maybe 10, elm, yew, hickory, ash (@taran: is das richtig? Esche?), composite... Bow-building is my way to forget the working-stress.....

Would like to see one or two pictures of your self-made bows; if you want!!

Raven

P.S.: What is your point of view related to osage? Did not find osage in your bow-list... why?

Wellcome at Fletchers-Corner, Chris.

Here is the Translation of the Article "How to build a cheap Fire arrow". I´ve translated it a few month ago for another forum.

The easiest and savest way to build fire arrows is to use electric sparklers.
Take a cheap shaft and cut in a simple nock, then take the electric sparklers, you will need about 5 to 8/arrow according to the diameter of the shaft.cut away the wire, so you have only the burning end. Fix these with tape arround the top of the shaft. Then take a small piece of cotton and at the backend of the sparklers. Stuck this cotton in a glas filled with lamp oil. Hold the arrow to the ground and give light to the cotton. Now you will get to a hurry, pull your bow to the sky and release when the sparklers will begin to sparkle. Now you will have a nice medivial fireworks.
You can also make cheap feathers out of tape if you want.

But be careful if you try this in germany. You need the authority of the local fire department and there must also been somebody from the fire department at the place you will demonstrate this kind of fireworks.

I hope I could help you.

Sorry I have taken so long to reply, sometimes life gets in the way of your hobbies

Locksley, Thank you for the translation on the fire arrows, that filled in all of the missing gaps. I have made 2 dozen arrows that will be used as part of a Christmas Perty with some of my archer buddies. We will be shooting the arrows into a lake, but if you hear about an out of control fire in Missouri...I swear it was not me

Ravenheart, I think osage is a great wood but personally have not had much luck with it. In my opinion the quality of the bow is determined more by the maker than the wood used. Several years ago i harvested an osage tree that yielded 4 staves. I aged it and then proceeded to mangle the wood. I went through two staves without producing a usable bow. When I work with other woods this has not happened to me.
At the time i did not understand about following the back grain or the "snake" grain in the wood. In the years that followed I have built several bows but use white woods in their construction. I have learned so much that I am considering trying the osage again. Have to wait and see.
In my part of the USA osage was a popular hedge tree 100 years ago, today most farmers consider it a "weed" so it is fairly easy to obtain. When it warms up I will harvest a tree and see what I can do.

Thanks again to everyone for their input, you have all been very helpful

Chris Wiseman