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Binding Arrows |
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I was, one day, putting plastic flights (as that's what I had lying around) on some arrows to make blunts and it struck me that despite the fact that these arrows were going to be destroyed quite readily, they looked rubbish. The plastic looked terrible, the blue and black colours didn't strike me as being historically accurate and the plastic nocks looked simply awful. So I threw them away(1) and started anew. I took a broken shaft and cut a crow's feather into shape and bound it. I liked the way it looked. I then went out and bought goose feathers, chopped them into flights and bound those as well. They looked even better. Through experimentation I have become better at it and through the help of Hugh Griffiths(2) I have more information about the binding of some arrows from the Viking Age. I came to realise that even if something is disposable or likely to be lost it should still look good if it's going to be seen by others. Now that I can do it, I think everyone should do it. So here's a brief tutorial on how to bind arrows with information regarding the accuracy of the reproduction. If you are really lazy, you can also get bound arrows from here. Sorry about some of the photo's being a bit blurry. I didn't look at them until after I had finished the dozen I was working on. I will try to get some better shots on when I get the chance. Shafts The shafts of Viking Age arrows appear to have been about 8 to 9 mm in diameter behind the head and 10 mm at the nock, but that tapers to about 6 to 7 mm above the nock (Paulsen). That includes arrows with wooden or antler heads. There are variations as an incomplete arrowhead from the same area had a diameter of 7 mm behind the head and a remnant that still contain traces of adhesive had a nock diameter of 11 mm and another fragment gave a shaft diameter of 11.5 mm. The arrowheads form a number of different finds from the same period would seem to support this diameter using an approximation of the width of arrowhead bases. The woods used were pine, birch and willow with pine and birch being in the majority of the limited remains. Flights The type of feathers used to make the extent Viking Age arrows are known from the keel impressions made on the adhesive used to bind the arrows from the boat chamber grave from Hedeby (ibid). They are believed to be of eagle feathers, but this information comes from just the one find, so it cannot be ruled out that other feather types were not used. There have been no finds that can tell us the total length of the fletches. Manuscript images such as the Martyrdom of St. Edmund c 1120 (The Life of St Edmund from Strickland/Hardy) and the Bayeux Tapestry 11th C can give us a an idea, as can the depiction on the Franks Casket c.700 (from Strickland/Hardy) and the Avars from Stuttgart Psalter c.820-30 (ibid) but unfortunately they are not the most accurate resource and slightly to young for the period and none are from the area where the arrow remains were found.. What they can indicate is the shape of the fletches. In this particular image the parallel or almost parallel, sided fletches follow a pattern oddly consistent with a child's drawing of an arrow. This is also a possible interpretation of the fletching depicted in the Bayeaux Tapestry. There also appears the curved pattern that is a longer version of the modern parabolic arrow. The modern parabolic's tail end is quite good but the length needs to be extended and the fore part needs to drop more rapidly towards the shaft in order to make a passable Viking Age looking flight. In addition, the adhesive is able to tell us that the fletches were placed in a spiral pattern and the direction of the pattern indicates that the right wing feathers were used on the boat chamber grave arrows (Paulsen). Binding No Viking Age binding has been discovered as yet. Thus we are left with just the impressions left in the adhesive (possibly birch tar (ibid)) of a shaft remnant also found at Hedeby. This adhesive covered the entire circumference of the shaft (not just where the keels sat) and thus we are able to see that the binding starts approx 10mm from the beginning of the keel and winds around the shaft at intervals of 4 to 6 mm to the end. The shaft remnant was destroyed in WWII and did not extend to the nock end of the fletching. Conjecture and experimentation leads me to believe a similar arrangement to the forepart of the fletching would be likely. The binding was of an unknown thread or very thin tape. Three or four keels are recorded on this example, but it's destruction leaves us with no clearer indication of the actual number of flights. How To
1. When cutting your fletches, leave a clear space of keel 1/4 of an inch in length on either end of your fletch. Here I have used commercially available full length turkey feather flights from an archery store.
2. Glue your fletches onto your shaft. You may want to add your adhesive to the entire shaft but I have glued unto the keel only.
3. Cut your fletches to shape.
4. Smear some glue approx 10mm in front of the keel as well as on the cleared section of keel. 5. Take a piece of linen thread(3) and lay it in the glue beginning from the nock end of the cleared fore section and run it towards the head for the entire length of adhesive.
6. Holding the end down on the glue begin to wrap the thread around the shaft in a very shallow spiral so that each thread touches the last until you reach the feathers. 7. Laying the thread along the face of the feather, push the thread through the edge of the feather by simply turning the arrow in your hand. You can also move the hand holding the thread around in the direction of the binding to make this go easier. The thread should probably only be about 2-3 mm into the feather. 8. Turn the arrow in your hand and repeat for the next two feathers (assuming a three fletch arrow) until you come back to the first fletch again.
9. Check to make sure you haven't gone too wide in your binding (6 mm is the max found so far on Viking Age arrow shafts). 10. Now wind your next thread in parallel to the previous one. Don't be able to go back and try one segment on either side of what looks good to try to find the best line. 11. When you come to the end of the feathers, add glue to the cleared keels and beyond the edge but leave one section free of glue.
12. Take another piece of thread about 15 cm long, make a loop and lay the thread down the shaft so that the loop will extend beyond where the binding will finish and the other ends dangle down the shaft towards the point. 13. Bind the binding thread over the new thread tightly over the keels, but a little looser over the shaft where there is just wood (and glue and the new thread). 14. When you have bound to the edge of the glue cut off the thread leaving about 5 cm extra.
15. Tuck the trailing edge of your binding thread through the loop left above the binding, and pull the ends of the new thread down towards the head. This will pull the binding thread under the binding.
16. Cut off the excess that dangles under the binding and you are done. Conclusion This method gives you a quite reasonable representation of a Viking Age arrow's binding and is incredibly easy. It simply takes a little patience. And since it's now on the Internet, everyone should be able to find it and have no excuse.
References Sorry, I'm missing all the details on some of these references. Arrows and Bows from Hedeby (Pfeil
und Bogen in Arrow Heads from Coppergate (York): Anglo-Scandanavian Period (850-1066) Arrowheads of Birka; Wengraeus, Erik The Boat Chamber Grave of Hedeby; Mueller-Wile, Michael The Great Warbow; Strickland, Matthew and Hardy, Robert; 2005; Sutton Publishing Limited; Phoenix Mill. UK Metalurgical Analysis of the Coppergate Arrowheads; Ottaway, Patrick and McDonnell, J.G. La Tapisserie de Bayeux, Edition Ville de Bayeux
Footnotes 1. This a lie. I actually took the flights off and reused the shafts for a non-reenactor friend's arrows which I bound for free as an experiment. Want not.. 2. Hugh lent me some articles which contained some very telling information regarding the binding of Viking Age arrows, as well as shaft dimensions, shape, and heads. Gods bless, Hugh. 3. I have been using Gutermann 100% linen thread. I like the green-brown thread (Col. 4010), the off-white (Col.4011) and the brown (Col.1314). The black (Col.7202) is a little too black for my taste but does contrast nicely against a pale shaft and white fletches. The mustard yellow (Col. 4013) doesn't show up very well against an arrow shaft (hence I now use it as the thread I use to pull the binding thread through), and I didn't purchase the pure white or red as I thought they looked too out of place. If you are on a budget, you won't be unhappy with the green-brown. |
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