ATARNarchive

My carpenter crapped out. A beginner's arrow-guide?

13 posts2006live thread
Russ Mitchell
I need to play with these for my research... and my carpenter dropped off the face of the earth. I'm good with felt, not bad with leather... and seeminly can't keep from severely injuring myself when working with woodworking tools.

Any notion where one could purchase one (the safer version is fine), or would anybody be willing to take a commission?
Ron Jachim
Do you have a decent picture of one? I'd give it a shot.
Bede
I am going to test a shah majra on this weekend. It is supposed to be the safest of the arrrow guides to use. I would not recommend anyone try to start shooting a guide without someone to show them how and adequate medical support available.

They can be used with three finger shooting, but are easier to control if you use a thumb guard. Leather ones are better for guide shooting because they are more controllable.

I will post some pictures on Sunday.
Russ Mitchell
That'd be great, both of you.
Skilled tutelage on the arrowguide I don't have... medical support I've got and in plenty, from former corpsmen to a physician buddy. And, a nice, dinky 22lb bow and leather thumbguard to start off with.

Thanks.
Thomas Duvernay
The bamboo overdraw works quite well; you can make it with the thicker "Martha Stewart" bamboo that was sold in K-Mart. The middle section of the channel is narrower than the end sections, to keep the arrow on track.

[external image]
Russ Mitchell
Thomas...

I remember this photo, but my attempt to replicate the same was a disaster. Do you have something closer-up?
Thomas Duvernay
I have a tong-a, but it's at my other place--I'll try and get pics of it the next time I'm over there.


T
Russ Mitchell
Wow, there are some subtle curves in that sucker. Thanks...
Stephen Selby
I need to play with these for my research...

I know I keep saying this, but please be careful with those things. They are really quite dangerous. :shock:
Russ Mitchell
:D

I hope to start with the kings-guide, which should be markedly safer... but I need to futz with them in order to understand a couple of crusading-era engagements. Don't worry, I have a wife who will finish the job all by herself if I get stupid and put a dart through my hand...
Thomas Duvernay
Before I took those pics, I shot it at a bag target, so a group of my wife's students could see what it does. I hit a dead-on bulls-eye--I decided to leave it at that one shot :P


T
Bede
Some comments on the shah majra (king's guide):

I have discovered some possible instability in the design which I am testing now. What I am worried about is a tendency for nocked darts to lift up their points if any upward pressure is put on the guide by the drawing thumb. This could allow the dart to damage the upper surface of the guide and exit at an unpredictable angle above horizontal. This could in turn hit the belly of the bow.

Unnocked darts can only be shot upwards otherwise they slide out of the guide and fall on the ground. Any friction fitting by using bigger fletching would reduce the performance of the guide.

Unfletched darts fly reasonably straight up to 30 metres. By shoooting an unfletched full length arrow both by itself and through the guide I could compare their flight performance. The guide shot straighter without the arrow wobbling in flight.

I think four fletched darts in the "+" configuration with prove successful. Other configurations are too hard to load into the guide. Very low fletching is necessary to avoid friction.