Posts: 289 Location: UK
Tue 20 Sep, 2011 10:30 am
The MR bows were braced around 5.5 - 6"
A bow's draw-weight is measured at a standard extension (typically 32" for a war bow) to compensate for the fact no two archers draw the same length.
The draw-weight is measured from brace, not unstrung. That is, the bow is strung to its brace height, then the scales are zeroed.
A well-made high-altitude yew bow will draw about 16lbs per inch for about the first 28 - 30 inches. After that, because of the design of the limbs, the draw-weight drops to about 7lbs per inch. Therefore, bracing the bow an inch higher has much more effect (relatively) than reducing the draw-length by an inch.
The length of an
arrow is the distance from the bottom of the nock to the shoulder of the head. Thus, a 30.5" long
arrow with a 2" bodkin will be around 32.25" long total (assuming a 1/4" deep nock - about average for a MR
arrow)
It is perfectly possible and acceptable to draw the
arrow its full length. In fact, any
arrow not drawn is effectively 'dead weight' contributing nothing to the shot.
The MR do not show signs of wear since they were (for the most part) new bows in storage chests. Scarring on a bow will be caused by the shaft passing the bow; so you would not be able tell whether the wear was caused by the bodkin. High-altitude yew is very dense and hard (much harder than Pacific yew) and would take a considerable number of arrows to show significant wear.
Below is a photo of me drawing a 33"
arrow with a 125lb Italian yew bow at an archery competition in China. You can clearly see the bodkin touching the back of the bow.