Arrow Making and Maintenance – a Presentation by Alan Tarrant & Nik Langdon
The coaching team run regular arrow workshops. Here is the presentation pack used for reference.
Brixham Archers Arrow Workshop 2015
Wooden Arrow Making – a Presentation by John Marshall
On Monday 6th December 2004, club member and experienced Longbow Archer, John Marshall gave an excellent presentation on “Wooden Arrows and Longbows” to fellow club members.
Drawing on his many years of experience and undoubted knowledge and enthusiasm for the subject, John captivated and entertained the audience for a full evening.
Such was the quality and quantity of his information that the assembled audience did not want John to finish.
John talked about what to look for in the choosing of a longbow – such as wood selection – the quality of any laminations – horn nocks – string materials – bow efficiency – the difference that string follow makes to the stored energy, etc. There were quite a few very different samples of longbows available for him to enlighten us on the points that he was making
John then went on to tell us about wooden arrows.
He covered subjects such as wood selection – shaft diameter – straightening – the importance of grain orientation – nock and pile selection. The weighing and balancing of a set of shafts was particularly interesting.
We were shown how footed arrows are made and how to repair broken shafts.
John’s explanation of how to make a set of “Barrelled Arrows” was superb and his style of teaching was very easy to understand.
We were given the opportunity to practise using a spokeshave on a broken shaft.
One member was heard to say, “Is that all there is to it. I thought it would be more difficult”!!!!!
Maybe we will be seeing another home made longbow in a couple of weeks!
Many thanks to John for sharing his passion for archery and presenting such an interesting evening for the club.
Oh!! And thanks to his wife June, for the many times in the past that she has allowed her kitchen to be used by John in the pursuit of all this data.
John has been kind enough to supply the information in a easily readable format to share with everyone. Take a look and I am sure even the most experienced archers may learn something of use.