Stabilizing unfletched arrows

[Stephen Selby]

I am reviewing an academic article by a Xibe researcher about Xibe archery. (It promises to be very good and I hope to be able to publish it.)

The author claims that the Xibe and other Central Asian groups would sometimes leave an arrow unfletched, then carve grooves in the arrow shaft in the potition where the fletching would have gone; and this was enough to stabilize the arrow in flight 'as a result of the turbulence created as the air passes over the grooves'.

I am unfamiliar with this idea. Has anyone heard of it?

[Bede]

Stephen,
There is evidence that unfletched arrows in Middle Eastern archery. Quite a few amaji arrows in the Indo-Persian style appear to have never been fletched and there are many miniature paintings from Iran showing one decorated unfletched arrow in a separate slit in the quiver, wghile arll the other arrows are normally feathered. Since many of the amaji arrows are decorated on the shaftment where the feathers normally goes, it could be argued that these arrows in the miniatures are unfletched amajis.

The amaji arrow was heavy and strong with a long tanged solid head. It was primarily used for shooting in the qighaj game where the target was on the ground and shot at from short range from the back of a galloping horse. Old texts also say that it could be used against armour. I suspect that the unfletched ones were used from short range against hard targets.

The Osmanli Turks used at least two types of unfletched arrows, the torba gezi and the hava gezi. The first was shot at very short range into a sack and had an iron point. It was used for practice like the Japanese using a makiwara. The second was shot outdoors at long range and was used to practise the form and release for flight archery.

My experience trying out unfletched arrows with a thumb ring is that they are controllable at really short ranges, then fly erratically for 20 or 30 metres, and finally straighten out and fly normally. This was done with very light points in the Turkish fashion. The cleaner the release, the better the arrows flew which reinforces their use in practice.

The Xibei were using Manchu bows with long arrows. I have seen several references to the need for heavy arrows with large fletching with these bows, but I think that traditionally trained archers might have been much more proficient than people experimenting today. People in New Guinea today have no trouble shooting long arrows without fletching.

The Chu repeating crossbow I researched had arrows with six-sided sections where the fletching was fixed. Three feathers were glued to the alternate ridges of the hexagonal cross section. The idea was old in China. In Europe, ridged sections were used for certain short crossbow bolts.

Whether the ridges had any real effect is arguable, but I do not doubt that the people using them thought they did. Maybe they are right.

[jack farrell]

Stephen; Payne-Gallwey reports in his book, The Crossbow, that such arrows were constructed and used. These were of complex construction where the "fletchings" were cut form a triangular cross-sectioned area of the shaft. I made some for a steel spring crossbow years ago. They would achieve the farthest flight, but would tumble at close range. If the bolt hit the target before straightening its flight, the fletched area would easily break. And so much work to make! Not nearly worth the effort. -j-

[Thomas Duvernay]

It's funny you should mention the Payne-Gallwey grooved arrow. I made some of those a couple years ago and they worked well. I used them in a repeating crossbow.

[jack farrell]

Thomas, You are a real woodworker! I would say that you ran these backwards on a router jig with a fluting bit and lifted them off as you ended. My technique was to run them against a stop which wasn't as strong a transition as yours. Better idea. -j-

[Thomas Duvernay]

Jack,

One thing I'll never be accused of is being a good woodworker, LOL! Actually, I fluted them by hand, with a gouge chisel (just like the Korean bowyer uses to flute the string channels on the siyahs). I marked three equidistant points around the shaft, and then started at those points with the chisel, pushing to the end. Quite easy, actually--the whole procedure couldn't have been more than three to five minutes per bolt.


T

[Dave]

Bede,

Re: your comment about people in New Guinea having no trouble shooting infletched arrows.

My uncle, who lived among the Dani tribe in Irian Jaya said that at one time they held a celebration for something or other. Part of the celebration was an archery contest. The Dani's started out at 20m, at which distance no one could hit the target. The distance was reduced further and further until they were shooting from anly a few metres away, which was their usual hunting range. Any further than that, and their arrows simply did not fly straight.

Dave

[Bede]

Dave,
It sounds to me like they were shooting with pig-hunting arrows. These have a large bladed head made from a section of the wall of a bamboo stem. The edges and the tip are very sharp, but the whole thing is not very aerodynamic. At short range it was used on pigs. I think the archery culture in the west (Irian Jaya) is broadly similar to the eastern side of New Guinea.

A friend of mine collects New Guinea bows and arrows and has written several articles on them. From memory, I think he said they used the long spindle shaped arrowheads in warfare and these fly quite well. I have seen film of them in flight and he closely observed the archers in New Guinea. He has some thick shields where the arrows have punched completely through and my friend met people who had arrow wounds where the arrow had entered one part of the body and exited another.

In his articles he distinguished different styles of bows and arrows in different regions. There are a large number of languages and cultures in New Guinea. The whole island has a rich, living archery tradition.

Bede

[jack farrell]

Stephen; Was cruising an old JSAA, vol. 34, p12., 1991, ARCHER'S DECEIT, by D. Elmy. There is a long discussion about shooting unfletched arrows. Several mentions to using "Chinese reed" are made. Turkish officianados also take note. Good info. There is also different info in Arab Archery about construction of unfletched arrows. -j-

[West]

I'm very interested in the idea of unfletched quarrels for use in a repeating crossbow. It would be an ideal solution. I wonder if the reduction in wood at the nock end reduces the weight there, making for weight in favour of the head of the bolt, which increases accuracy, as well as the turbulenceeffect of the shape.
An uncle of mine lives in the Queensland, and he has been many times to Papua. He recently wrote me a letter, with photographs of the arrows they use in various parts. The broad bladed bamboo heads were for close range hunting of pigs and large mammals, because at around 20', they planed and flew off, far away from the target. However, those with wooden heads were for warfare and hunting, because they were better weighted, and flew further and more accurately. They were often elaborately carved, and apparently they have many different purposes, and different names for the different arrows numbered into the hundreds.

[Thomas Duvernay]

Hmmm... what happened to the pics? I can't see them anymore.


T

[Romain]

The pics still show up in Beijing !

[Thomas Duvernay]

Strange...