How are bows and arrows made?

As we all know, in ancient China, the tools used in the war were mainly cold weapons. We often see soldiers holding different weapons. The most common weapons are knives, swords, spears, bows and arrows. Ancient wars were generally melee, that is, melee, and the attack distance was relatively short. People invented many things to kill enemies from a distance, such as slingshots and other long-range weapons. However, due to the limited conditions, only the bow and arrow can adapt to the complex battlefield environment, so the bow and arrow can always come in handy in various dynasties in China.

In ancient times, not everyone could be an archer, only those who could be strong were qualified. As an elite archer, the training cost is very high, and it often takes several years to train an excellent archer. If the enemy archers are executed, it will cause great losses to the enemy. Some people will say, why not surrender? In fact, it's not that simple, because the families of ancient soldiers will be monitored by the government. If they commit treason, their families will be put to death.

Let's talk about the composition and manufacturing technology of ancient arrows in China: the arrow branch consists of three parts: the body, the shaft and the feather. The length of the whole arrow is generally 70-90 cm, and some arrows are more than one meter long. Arrow feathers are feathers added to the end of the shaft, usually three pieces, in order to enhance the stability of the arrow branches in flight. Carved feathers (expensive) are the best materials used, and different shapes of arrow feathers have different effects on arrow branches, such as water drop feathers and shield feathers.

It is said that in the Tang Dynasty, a monk who was good at shooting made a "wind arrow" without a tail. There is no feather at the back end of the shaft of the wind feather. Drill a small hole three inches from the tail end, cross the shaft, and cut a "wind tunnel" in the shaft to reach the tail end. After the wind plume is ejected, the air enters the "air duct" from the small hole and escapes from the tail end to form a vortex, so that the arrow keeps balance and moves in a straight line. The shaft is the main part of the arrow, and both the arrow and the arrow feather are attached to it. In the selection of materials, bamboo is mostly used in southern China, and the straightness of bamboo arrows is higher than that of wooden arrows, and the difference between arrows is much smaller. The three-step bamboo arrows made by splicing technology is the best in bamboo arrows.

Arrows, also known as arrow clusters, are the earliest known arrows made of stones more than 28,000 years ago. With the development of human civilization, the materials of arrows are also different. Bone clusters and clam clusters appeared in Neolithic Age, and in Shang Dynasty, there were a large number of bronze arrows. After the Western Han Dynasty, the iron arrow became the world. Iron arrow has been used in modern times. During this long time, the arrow has developed a variety of styles, including three wings, two wings, triangular prism, quadrangular prism and so on. Although the shapes are different, most of them are aimed at increasing the damage. What's more, toxic grooves are cast on the arrows, and toxic powder is coated in the grooves to increase the lethality.

Bows and arrows are essentially different from modern gun shooting. Bows and arrows are slow. If they are slow, they will be biased by gravity. This requires that when archery, it is necessary to raise a certain angle to make the bow and arrow hit the target, which requires years of experience accumulation. Lyu3 bu4 undoubtedly accumulated a lot of archery experience. But on the battlefield, the enemy will not sit still and let you shoot. In most cases, they are shooting at moving targets, which increases the difficulty. We need to predict in advance to shoot the enemy.

In ancient times, there was no current assembly line machine to process arrows. So many arrows have been shot in every battle, and if conditions permit, they should be taken back at that time. This not only saves the cost of war, but also fills the military supplies. So even if it is troublesome, the soldiers will pick up the arrows after the war.