Re: (TFT) Penetration of armor by Longbows --> Rick has a study! 2

[Rick Smith <rsmith@lightspeed.ca>]

On Sun, 2006-09-24 at 21:09, Neil Gilmore wrote:
> > On Fri, 2006-09-22 at 19:40, Craig W. Barber wrote:
> > > Longbow versus armor or not?:  I'm surprised there are no contemporary
> > > accounts!  ...
> >
> >   My wife is a VIP in the SCA ...
> 
> Which Kingdom?

Antir

> 
> >   It is called:  "English Longbow Testing against
> > various armor circa 1400" by Matheus Bane (c)
> > January 2006.
> 
> It would be interesting to see.

> I wonder if he took into account the differences in padding used under full
> (c. 1100) mail and transitional (c. 1350) armour? Differences in metal
> content and treatment? Strength of bow and arrow? Etc. (I guess I'd have to
> read it...)
> 
> Neil Gilmore

He used a blocking material with a memory so you could
see the depth of the penetration and the deformation. 
(Even if the arrow didn't penetrate, a large enough 
deformation of plate or other armor could drive ribs 
into the lungs.)  He used both the armor and under -
padding in his tests.

There are 5 accounts of to make long bows from his period
and all are fairly similar self bows but with the heart
wood making them act something like a composite bow.

He used a 28" Oregon yew longbow with a draw weight of
75 lb for the experiments.  (Most historical accounts 
put the English longbow at a draw weight of 90 to 110 lb.)
In order to make up for the lower draw weight he shot at
the target at a much lower range.  He used figures and 
assumptions published in Physics Review in 1995, "The
Physics of Medieval Archery".  He calculated that at
point blank range it would match shots at 250 m, but he 
shot at 10 m range for safety.

Since most TFT fights are at point blank range, we 
should assume that the arrows have more punch than I 
said in my previous post.

He made sure that the arrows he used matched the 
existing arrows from period times.


He mentioned the uncertainty of the various sources as
to exactly what the armor is.  The experts disagree on
the details and very few samples survive that can be 
tested.  And even those tested don't say anything about
if they were TYPICAL or not.  He took his best guess
and made armor out of various types of mild steel. The
maille he constructed was typically made with 18 gauge
wire in a couple of levels of quality. 

However, he mentions this in passing.  There are not
big sections on the details of construction of the 
armor.  I get the impression that the author has what
he thinks is a good idea of what period armor is like,
built some, and put in his discussion and references to 
show he was not smoking dope.   

The report was 28 pages and not the 50 pages I guessed
before I hunted it down for Neil's questions.

As I said, I'll see if I can find out if he minds 
having people distribute his work.  (I don't think he
would object but who knows with out asking?)

Regards Rick S. 
=====
Post to the entire list by writing to tft@brainiac.com.
Unsubscribe by mailing to majordomo@brainiac.com with the message body
"unsubscribe tft"