The Rising Winds' 




Creating a Safer Arrow
The method for creating a safe arrow as shown in the Amtgard handbook has one flaw.  It requires the person making the arrow to place a penny on the blunt tip of an Arrow.  After having been in LARP for almost 7 years now, I can tell you from personal experience.  Do not use a penny, it is too small and copper is too weak.  Several years ago during the winter off season I took apart my arrows from another LARP group (they made their arrows the same way as Amtgard), imagine my surprise to find that most of the pennies in these arrows were shattered.  I asked myself how this could have happened and came up with this answer.  Every time my arrows hit a tree, or a boulder, or armor, or a shield, it was like a thirty pound hammer blow.  After bringing the flaw to the attention of the Game Master, we decided to move to nickel and it worked well.  I understand that some of the bow users in Duchy use quarters, this is good too. 

One of the other things I have found with arrows, is that if you use a coin and tape it to the tip, the coin has a tendency to slide.  Even if you tape it down really well, after a while it will begin to slide. 

So I decided to try something else.  I was already using the more expensive hunting arrows, and I noticed that they were threaded.  This made me think, that perhaps I could screw down the coin.  Digging around in my tool box for a screw that would fit I saw some large washers, about 1 1/2 inch in diameter, 1/8 inch thick, with a 1/3 inch hole.  After digging around in the tool box I found a screw that matched the treading of the arrow.  Then with my screwdriver attachment on my drill, I placed the washer on the tip of the arrow, put the screw through the washer and into the threads of the arrow tip, squeezed the drill trigger, and vola!  The screw tightened down and held the washer in place.  And trust me, once tightened down the washer didn't wiggle a bit!  And with a steel washer and a steel screw holding it in place, it isn't going anywhere!  Then I just followed the procedures listed in the Amtgard handbook and soon had an arrow that I trusted.  I noticed that with the washer method, the arrow padding was more stable and less likely to shift around.   Hope this helps you make a safer arrow.  Happy arrow chucking!