Thanks for the heads up. I'll bear that in mind next time I go for a walk.

I will try javalins next time

Just "Don´t get shot" should work on major cases.

It’s a rule I have lived by since I first learned what ‘being shot’ was!

A solid tip for midieval survival.

True words indeed

The last confirmed longbow kill on a battlefield that I know of was WW2. The probability is higher than expected.

@@Tuck-Shop Mad Jack Churchill I believe

@@anglonorse2943 Yes. I didn't want to say as I was not 100% sure of his name. Thank you.

@@Tuck-Shop You're quite welcome

Looks about as effective as using a surgical mask to stop a virus, that didn't stop everyone believing nonsense

nothing but net. points.

Football. It is a ball and you play it with your foot. Your sport is called handegg.

@@Dalexb wrong sport. also, it was originally soccer in the UK, but they stopped using the word around the 1970s, they saw it as 'too american' (despite being a UK word)

​@@fayetal_attractionwhat you call football is literally armoured egghand. About the historical context up until the '60 the Usians were calling black people in a different way, the fact that it is historic doesn't make it automatically right.

@jjb2004mk2, If Tod ever did reenactment, his battle cry would be “That’s interesting!”. If his opponents had ever watched any of his videos, they’d be terrified by that. If not, not so much 😁

@@drzander3378 Nah, more like if Tod was an artificer character in a team battle RPG, his victory phrase would be "That's interesting!"

Imagine being in a war and tod is your medic. You get brought to him and his first reaction to your wound is: "That's interesting"

"So, time to get the mail off." A few seconds later "Oh, straight in the same hole as before! Let's go have a look." Followed up with "Oh my goodness me, look at that. Disgusting goo." I think "He's got smoke coming out of his armpits." was just the straw that broke the camel's back.

Idk its anecdotal at best

Ooh a near thing then 😁

Thanks and it is truly a miracle shield; shows why poplar was popular

@@tods_workshop I see what you did there

@@nokta7373 Tod coming in hard with the dadjokes ^^

Thanks. I hadn't thought about it until half way through when it became evident it was an issue

It's also going to just mess up formations. The front ranks get hit, and even if minimally injured the smoke in your face causes you to slow or stumble. That messes up everyone directly behind you, potentially opening a gap in the formation. How often that would have a major effect on a battle, I don't know, but it likely could be very effective.

@@patrickdix772 Thinking of the poor fellow in just mail or gambeson trying to get that thing _off_ himself. He's out of the fight, however temporarily, until the burning head's off him and that's not nothing.

Thanks for the unique insight and glad you are sorted now

Ex of mine had a big mop of curly hair, bar we were in had candles on the window sills, at about head height when you were sat on the benches along the wall. Turn out putting you girlfriends hair out can earn you major brownie points. Glad you recovered.

Especially If there is arsenic in there

Imagine a sticky one that splattered and left smoldering residue stuck to the armor

But imagine as well that you've just taken a hit to the chest with approximately half the energy as a direct hit from a sledgehammer (at least according to what I've been able to briefly research), and then trying to take a deep breath to recover after having the wind knocked out of you and immediately getting a lungful of smoke, even if it's not arsenic and is just smoke, that shit would put you on your back regardless of the lethality of the hit I definitely wouldn't want to be that guy in any case Edit: Changed the comparison to a sledgehammer, forgot to convert from different units

The sound of incoming arrows already terrifies me.

Per colonel Jack O’Neill these are both weapons of terror *and* weapons of war.

Watch the first film and you will see.....kzfaq.info/get/bejne/hs2XoLCo1N3ZgYE.htmlsi=EoFO1q-S5Fnf2c_O

I think that is almost exactly what happened! Metal conducts and disperses heat energy exceptionally well; this is why cooking pans are made of metal: it's not just that it doesn't melt, but also that it mostly cooks evenly across the surface. And while a single point of fire is going to be extremely destructive, there's more than enough heat to burn clothing even when distributed over a wider surface.

Thanks and I find the inclusion of slur bows rather odd. I didn't know they were even around then

@@tods_workshop Document supposed to be 1550, oldest extant slurbow is 1549. I honestly had no idea what one was until I read it. I can't paste the google doc link but I copied it up, in turn based on a 1796 copy of the original document: "At the Tower of London, viz. Bowes with ccciiij vi decaied 8185 Bowstaves 6019 inde 938 unservic. Wreckes of Bowestaves 983 Slurbowes 15 inde 1 lacks a bender Crosbowes 180 inde 1 lacks a tiller Bowstringes 196 gros- 10 doz. Arrowes, viz. Lyvery arrowes 14125 shefe, whereof 731 shefe to be repayred, and 30 shefe decaied. Slurbowe arrowes 132, whereof 12 with fierwoorkes. Crosbow arrowes decaied 500 Musket arrowes with 56 to be new fethered 892 shefe 13 arrows, and one case full for a di. culverin Longebow arrowes for fier woorks 12 shefe, and Longbowe arrowes with fierwoorks 98 shefe decaied." "At Woolwich, viz. Bowes to be repayred 76 Slurbowes 2 Crosbows 2 Bowstaves 6019 Slurbowes 47 Crosbowes for fier woorks 194 Wrecke of bowestaves 983 Arrowes, viz. Lyvery arrowes with 30 shefe thereof decaied 170 shefe. Slurbowe arrowes 127. Long bowe arrowes with fier woorkes 24, and Musket arrowes with 22 shefe to be new fethered 24 shefe 18 arr." "At Rochester, viz. Bowes inde 6 decaied 141 Slurbowes 10 Crosbowes 6 Bowstrings inde 10 doz. decaied 44 doz. Bowestringes 205 gros 2 doz. 10 stringes Lyvery arrowes 15418 shefe. Arrowes, viz Lyvery arrowes with 75 shefe decaied 192 shefe Of Slurbowe arrowes 47 decaied. Slurbowe arrowes with fierwoorkes 605 Arrowes for fierwoorkes decaied 75 Arrowes for fierwoorkes 16 shefe 3 arrowes. Muskett arrowes 13 shefe 13 arr. Longe bowe arrowes with fier woorkes 109 shefe 4 arr Brasers 38. Shooting Gloves 156. Muskett arrowes 983 shef. 6 arr." "At the Shippes in Harborowe, viz. Bowes 233 Slurbowes 10 Crosbowes 2 Bowstringes 17 doz. 4 stringes Lyvery arrowes 423 shef. Bracers 38 Shooting Gloves 156 Crosbowe arrowes 500 decaied Slurbowe arrowes with fierwoorks 4 shef. 1 arr. Muskett arrowes 24 shef. 10 arr. inde 2 shef dec." "At the Shippes at Seas, viz. Bowes 214 Slurbowes 10 Crosbowes 4 Bowstrings 43 doz. di. Lyvery arrowes 407 shefe. Slurbowe arrowes 115 inde 14 with fier woorks Longebowe arrowes with fierwoorks 6 shef. 3 arrows Arrowes for fier woorks 1 shefe. Muskett arrowes 28 shefe."

​@@townwitchdoctor5538 I'm assuming slurbow arrows wouldn't be fletched. What are musket arrows then?

@@CtrlAltRetreat A Musket in this period is generally considered larger than an arquebus. Potentially all of them are fire arrows to be fired from a musket, there is also listed "1 case full for a demi culverin", so a small cannon. There's depictions from the 14th c. showing pot-de-fer with arrows but it's not obvious if they were incediary or just a plain projectile. Sir Richard Hawkins (1594) describes "little short Arrowes" for muskets that could shoot through the upper parts of a ships decks where a normal ball could not. Francis Bacon (1624) comments "that we had in use at one time, for sea fight, short arrows, which they called sprights, without any other heads, save wood sharpened" and "would pierce through the sides of ships where a bullet would not pierce". The "to be new fethered" part makes me guess they're not the same thing. Or the shorter all wooden ones were a later development and originally they were more like plain arrows. The Japanese also had "Bo-Hiya" which were gun launched fire arrows. They have metal fletchings which makes more sense than feathers.

I just learned about slurbows thanks to your comment. Odd objects!

Imagine the shock you'd be in after a high heat burn like that. I've blowtorched my arm and after making myself safe I was in robot mode for a good while.

@@necromental I burned my arm on a fresh weld so I know how you feel with the burn.

J1mston, I would agree that psychologically theses would be effective

@@tods_workshop These fire arrow films has been a seriously interesting and informative topic. Thanks for covering it Tod.

And considering the era with everyone living in highly flammable dwellings with minimal firefighting capability the terror of being on fire would be even more pronounced.

Pain and bones Gona make it quite difficult

eerrrr, I mean good luck hahaha. I'm not saying I know better, just that you might be dead before being able to push it through 😅

Also the flaming part

You do not want to push that flaming ball of chemicals through your body. At best you will shear off that stuff inside your flesh and at worst you'll just get it stuck deeper, burning away at your flesh. Gnarly stuff.

Pushing arrows through is mostly a myth. If it’s already sticking out the other side, that’s one thing, but if it isn’t, your best bet is have someone pull it back out carefully, using the proper tools (actually just a couple feathers) to make sure it doesn’t snag if it’s a barbed head. If the head falls off inside you, there was eventually a tool made to extract those as well. This is obviously for the non-flaming variety though.

In fairness many folks would have always known better - this isn't a concept for which we have only some documentation from hundreds of years later claiming it happened with no archaeological evidence - there are period documents and accounts of the use of such things, and evidence they remain in use well into the black powder era, and probably surviving examples of the arrow heads in a great many places across Europe and the Middle-East. Maybe Asia too - not an area I know enough to really comment on, but being a region with many developed cultures of sufficient technological base and the Silkroad... Though the Hollywood style of fire arrow isn't generally very true to reality and I'm sure Tod has introduced many folks to a more realistic historical version

I think it depends if opinion was based on mainstream movie or mainstream history. Majority of the debunks on youtube are based off movies rather than these two videos which are taken from historical documents.

As always, there's always a truth underneath, but Hollywood butchers it and turns it into ludicrous nonsense and we start testing THEIR version and conclude that it's nonsense, never really thinking of what they *could* have done.

I don't know where you got that idea from, you must have tried this as a kid !! They burn fine. We never did try burning buildings like this, But it would work.

@@foldionepapyrus3441 I think I read there was a bunch preserved in the town´s medieval armory in Nuremberg. When examined, they pretty much matched the description found in the "Feuerwerkerbuch", so there´s that.

It´s just a flesh wound.

@@TrustSpiders Easier said than done , here in Liverpool !

"You are not my supervisor!"

>twangthock!< 😲 ... ... ... 😵

Imagine the damage it would do as the chemicals and smoke poured into your thoracic cavities! Obviously the piercing and burning trauma would be excruciating, but even if your bowels and other vitals remained miraculously unperforated, I don't imagine all of that hot gas would be good for your organs, either.

@@M4TCH3SM4L0N3 *cooked organs*

@@M4TCH3SM4L0N3 Not to mention the nasty scorch marks on your vest.

Yeah, burning from the outside is bad enough, but from the inside? Grief!

If it helps, I swore last time it happened

Bad burn wounds very easily get infected even today. So imagine how it would be back in those days. And if your wounds got infected back in those days, your chances to survive it dropped very much.

I don't think anyone is surviving the one where it's full within the dummy's chest cavity, no matter what we can do with modern medicine. You can't get the thing out, you can't pull it out, you can't push it out, and you can't surgically remove it while it's still active. The arrow keeps burning while fully inside its torso, releasing toxic chemicals as well, though I highly doubt anyone would live long enough after having their lungs and heart cooked from the inside to worry about the effects of such toxins. Absolutely mortifying, it has to be one of the worst possible ways to go. Thankfully they weren't really intended for use against unarmoured opponents, but you sure wouldn't want to catch a stray.

Did you watch the film? The arrow would melt your organs away! You will only survive this if it hits something that can be chopped off. Truly nasty. Can you immagine how haunting it would sound when your mate gets hit with this and through the agonized scream you can hear is lungs boiling while he gurgles up blood? I think i will go watch saw. Just to think about somithing less gruesome.

An incendiary grenade, or a throwable thermite. Tweak it a bit, and a flashbang or a frag. For larger sizes though, you need a better fuse. Ceramic container will just shatter and scatter a lot of the stuff unignited. Maybe a jar of flammable liquid with an incendiary compound as primer, a trebuchet-thrown molotov.

Don't worry, they had fireballs too and we have the recipes for those as well

​@tods_workshop next vid? Yes please!

Imagine creating a large pot filled with that stuff and launched via trebuchet, either at or over a castles walls in numerous places. Terrifying

​@@tods_workshopIf you ever have a falling out with your farmer friend, at least you have one more trebuchet video idea.

Now I am wondering if even full submersion in water would put one out once it got going.

@@MonkeyJedi99 nope... it doesn't go out until it burns through all of the oxydant :

No, they stay alight kzfaq.info/get/bejne/hs2XoLCo1N3ZgYE.htmlsi=EoFO1q-S5Fnf2c_O

Thanks and I hope you enjoyed/enjoy it, but I am not that technical I am afraid

Never discount the chaos of a battle, you can feel being hit on the back and think to yourself " oh its just a arrow bouncing off, " then start smelling the fire afterwards.

Yeah, people wore thick leather jackets with gunpowder charges right next to their chest. Thick gloves would make removing this quickly safe

@@Atrahasis7 Yeah that is certainly possible, though with how visible these arrows are I think you or your buddies would see it very quickly, even if you missed the initial hit.

@@PJDAltamirus0425 Depends on the type of fire arrow. Some of these were made to be very sticky. So all you could end up doing is just smearing the burning fuel over more of yourself trying to remove it.

Not everyone wore gauntlets or even leather gloves.

Thanks and yes I am fortunate

Thanks very much, I really appreciate you taking the time to watch and to comment

I suspect it would be pretty easy honestly lol.

Yes I should do that. To be honest I do keep mentioning it, because it is another inconvenience for the defender, but yes you are realistically probably able to deal with it if you have a level head and there only a very few of them. I guess I got carried away. Good idea for a film though.

Oh shit you are right!!!!

Would love to, but they are prohibited for private citizens pretty much the world over

Maybe it is very easy to scrape it off with a weapon or gauntlet. But If not it would still be very expensive and maybe difficult to prepare. Fire rate will be reduced so they would need to be much more effective than normal ones. It doesn't really work on plate it seems and for light Armour regular arrows work well enough. Against mail and gambeson it seems effective, but realistically, how many of your opponents will have that gear and aren't there many weakpoints to arrows anyway? But shields? I could see how you would want to use them against armies that rely mostly only in their shields. If you have the finaces to eqip your Army with them. But then you could probably also hire more fighters for that money

@@ronwiesel5120 Those fire arrows would probably be most useful in siege and naval warfare. In an open battle though... I guess they could potentially wreak havoc if used against horses. A burning arrow in a horse's ass is definitely going to cause a significant emotional event for the rider.

​@@ronwiesel5120You would only need one good volley before the the lines met in an open battlefield setting. Or as an opening salvo in an ambush before switching to regular shots.

Agreed

Thanks - appreciated

Oh dang, I just got shot by a fire arrow :(

You just gotta keep an eye on the sky