An arrow, in its simplest form, is a pointed stick fired from a
bow. This is neither particularly
accurate or
dangerous, so over the years, many improvements have been made to the basic design. For no particular reason other than because it makes sense to me, I will start at the back and work forward.
Notching
This is probably the first, and most important improvements in arrow design, and has stood the test of time. Little more than a
groove on the
butt of the arrow, the
notch serves to hold the arrow on the string. I imagine this was probably figured out fairly soon after the idea of the
bow and arrow, as it is nearly impossible to fire an unnotched arrow. Notching on
modern arrows differs little from notching on older arrows, except where materials
technology has allowed the notches to be made better (more durable, smoother, etc)
Fletching
Fletching is the term for the
fins at the end of the arrow, meant to
stabilize the
flight. The earliest fletches were slats of wood, but this was soon switched to
feathers, as wood created too much wind resistance, and weighed down the end of the arrow. Arrows typically had three or four fletches, 120
o or 90
o apart respectively.
The fletching in modern arrows differs greatly from older fletching in many ways. Feathers are rarely used, but this is more to avoid killing birds, and to avoid the
inconsistencies of
organic material.
Plastics are now the most common material, either in the form of fins, or imitation feathers.
Another modern development is the idea of
spiral fletching. Much like
rifling the
barrel to spin the
bullet increases accuracy, the spiral fletchings spin the arrow, stabilizing the flight even further. This lead to some changes in
arrowhead design, to be discussed below.
Shaft (yer damn right)
The shaft is fairly simple, and has changed little except in the materials area over the years. A good shaft should be
straight,
light, and
strong. It should also be somewhat
flexible, otherwise it will
shatter on impact, and that’s just wasteful.
Wood was the favored material for centuries, eventually replaced by
fiberglass. The length of the shaft, along with the
draw of the bow, was a determining factor in
power. A longer shaft could be drawn back further without falling off the bow than a shorter one.
Head
Pardon the
pun, but now we get
to the point. In the beginning, the arrowhead was just the end of the shaft,
sharpened. While this would be useful for hunting
vampires, it has a couple
major drawbacks. The first is that wood can only be sharpened so much, and that its too soft to hold a good
point for any length of time. The second is that an arrow that is fletched, with nothing but a pointed shaft for a head, is
weighted towards the butt, and much less likely to hit with the point.
Early arrowheads were pointy bits of stone, tied to the end of the shaft. In areas where
metalworking wasn't developed (like the
aboriginal people of
North America) this was eventually perfected, with chipped
flint arrowheads being made that were sharper than today’s surgical
scalpels.
On the
Eurasian continent metalworking led to many improvements in arrowhead design. The most common were the
broadhead arrowheads, which were
triangle shaped
blades, with a narrow
tang at the base to attach it to the shaft.
Common variations were
barbs to make them more difficult to remove, narrower points to increase
penetration, or wider points to make larger
wounds.
Some exotic arrowhead designs emerged, including
blunt, cone shaped heads meant to
stun, or at least
bludgeon, and "
frog-cutters", blades whose
striking area was the inside of a "V", meant mainly to cut
ropes (if this seems unbelievably difficult, keep in mind that the frog-cutters are a
Japanese invention, and they produced some of the most frightening
archers in
history. See also
Zen Archery)
Back to the standard broadhead. These
generic arrowheads came in two main types -
vertical and
horizontal, each with its own purpose. Vertical broadheads had the arrowhead running
parallel with the notch, meaning that the arrow would be fired with the arrowhead vertical. While the fletching could not be counted on to keep the arrow from
spinning all the time, odds are an arrow would hit with the arrowhead in the same
alignment it was in when it was fired. The
ribs of most, if not all,
quadrupedal animals, particularly those
hunted for
food, run vertical as well. This means for an arrow to have the best chance of getting past the ribs to the
vitals, its head must too be running vertical. Vertical broadheads were designed for
hunting with this in mind.
Now, if one type of arrow is for hunting, what was the other main use for arrows? If that isn't
obvious enough,
consider this: vertical arrows penetrate vertical ribs, so horizontal arrows penetrate horizontal ribs, which are most commonly found in
humans. That’s right folks, horizontal broadheads were meant for
war, designed specifically to
kill other humans.
This is why you sometimes see characters in movies holding the bow horizontally to fire. Its not some kind of
medieval gangsta-chic, but a case of trying to do
the right thing with the wrong arrow. The character has most likely found himself stuck with nothing but hunting arrows when
human-killing is
the order of the day.
Firing the bow in this
position lessens the power of the shot, as you can't draw as far with your body in the way, but it beats having your arrow stopped by a rib.
As I said before, the
invention of
spiral fletching brought about a change in arrowhead design. With the arrow spinning, the
orientation of the head was no longer an issue. Modern arrowheads are typically
razor pointed shafts, with three or four triangular
razor blades jutting out from there. Giving up on trying to slip between the ribs, these
bad boys just go for the nastiest wounds they can. Barbs are very common.