10-14-2009, 09:19 PM
Regarding the breakage of most plumbata upon impact I think the cause may be the shape of the wooden shaft.
I was talking to an archer who does medieval reenactment and he told me that using perfectly cylindrical shafts
for arrows makes the missile brittle. He was referring to the round wooden shafts that you find in hobby shops.
But, he said, arrow shafts were not carved that way. They were subtlely multi-sided, i.e. more polygon shaped,
which gives the shaft much more strength. So he suggested buying square-shaped shafts and shaving the corners
off. I'd like to try it for my plumbatae and see if they break after the first few throws.
(The reason I care is that it's really fun to throw them so I'd hate to replace the shaft after doing so.)
~Theo
I was talking to an archer who does medieval reenactment and he told me that using perfectly cylindrical shafts
for arrows makes the missile brittle. He was referring to the round wooden shafts that you find in hobby shops.
But, he said, arrow shafts were not carved that way. They were subtlely multi-sided, i.e. more polygon shaped,
which gives the shaft much more strength. So he suggested buying square-shaped shafts and shaving the corners
off. I'd like to try it for my plumbatae and see if they break after the first few throws.
(The reason I care is that it's really fun to throw them so I'd hate to replace the shaft after doing so.)
~Theo
Jaime