Matt, we all know that was intentional, but that was funny as hell. "I love a fat shaft".

The vertigris is an anti pest measurement. Since the glue they used was made from animal protein aka hide glue. Bugs that would normally eat dead and decaying animals are quite attracted to hide glue but they're instantly poisoned by the vertigris.

Fascinating, as always.

Just a quick note for everyone hypothesising about glues and drying times - these arrows are not fletched with glue. The mixture contains wax, tallow and resin and sometimes copper acetate. This mixture "dries" or more accurately cools and hardens in about 30 seconds, so "drying time" should not be a concern when discussing the use of binding the feathers as well.

That delivery. The straight face. You have a career in comedy if poking people with swords doesn't pan out.

On adhesives and wrapping, historically.. In my somewhat limited experience, mixing a glue with binding increases the effectiveness of both. I've handled several centuries old tools that were still completely functional with adhesive and fiber components. I can't say the same for either used alone.

Okay after reading a few of the comments here I thought it best to post this, I have used the same glues and methods that Will Sherman uses for his arrows on my own (can be found here for those interested www.theenglishwarbowsociety.com/TudorVerdegris2016.html 1. In my book, the glue alone is strong and could in a pinch do all by itself but once it's bound on it takes a serious amount of effort to rip the fletching off. Furthermore, the beeswax/tallow and pine resin mix is somewhat susceptible to very hot weather (it can melt) I also wonder how long its strength lasts over time but this is just a personal hunch, in any case, binding seems to be the best insurance by far. 2. Contrary to what some people have said the glue sets very quickly, and the ability to reheat it is extremely helpful in fletching without a jig (no evidence to suggest they actually existed in the medieval world), Wills theory is that the same substance is used to glue the fletchings on and then coat the bindings (originally it was thought that the verdigris was a separate stage, added once the fletches were glued and bound. Without something to cover the bindings I find that they can tear or are susceptible to damp. 3. While the presence of copper verdigris might be because of its anti-pesticide ability this isn't necessarily the reason they added it. We simply do not know for certain, another theory I have heard of is that the glues were possibly kept in copper pots, I personally happen to use a copper cup to heat up the glue mix though I haven't yet seen if this has had an effect on the glue (turning it green).

Matt, I love thet you've embraced the meme x) It's 10x better than ending people rightly ;)

I concur with your assessment of the arrow wounding. There's been so much focused on armour penetration, because it's fun :), but the practical approach is "How do you minimize your enemies desire to fight?" That's where the effectiveness of archery on the battlefield would be maximized. It might not kill you outright, but you're not going to be fighting with a bunch of sticks in you. Wounded & panicked horses would do the devil's work behind enemy lines.

The binding of the fletchings has another advantage, when the tip of the flights raises up just a mm or so it can actually end up digging quite deep into the hand when shooting high poundage bows adding the binding (specifically the part closest to the tip) can save you a lot of pain (take that from someone who had to pull out a significant part of feather out of his hand :P )

a schola video on archery awesome! the green is copper oxide to stop mites eating the fletchings nice barreled arrows btw

A lot of things that don’t make sense come down to tradition. When I was a scout I would often cover parts of my face in charcoal sludge to reduce the pain in my eyes from sensory problems (light hurts), well I came into contact with my old troop and Aparently this had caught on with the others. None of them had a clue why they did it, but they did. It didn’t serve them the way it served me, but never the less they had black stuff around their eyes

On the glue: it was very likely hide glue which is heat sensitive. Violins are still made with it as it allows you to warm the edges to pull the violin apart for repairs. So having the string would stop the fletching coming off if it was accidentally exposed to heat (at a campfire or in the field during a very warm summer).

Personally, just from a logical point of view, the glue that they used would not be strong enough to keep the fletching secure by itself. I think you're defiantly right about arrow storage but I also think that it goes further than that. General wear and tear of taking arrows on campaign(wet and humid conditions) or as far as day to day practice would also likely tear off the fletching over a fairly short period of time; not to mention if your arrow passes through a target that would very likely tear off the fletchings. Binding the arrow would make it much more durable in all cases. realistically I think the verdigris used would be pretty strong but not over the very small area of the arrow that the goose feather is in contact with the shaft. In my opinion this would be the main detrimental effect on a secure bind. Forgot to mention I wouldn't want to be sat there trying to bind a feather to a shaft with only hot verdigris. It must be a right pain, even with some sort of jig to keep the feathers in place whilst you are waiting for the glue to set.

Hide glue is plenty strong for holding the fletching but it's weakened by moisture and heat so, tieing them down is just insurance.

I believe the glue is there largely to hold the fletchings in place while you bind them, then to keep the fletchings aligned long term; to stop them slipping beneath the binding.

Medieval glues had a long working time, I.e. they took forever to dry completely. The binding keeps the fletching in place while the glue sets.

That is a very good point about the compromise: after all, if you are shooting at a man at arms on a horse, then a design which has decent armor penetrating and good anti horse capabilities gives you multiple vectors to mess things up.

I think you're missing a simple point - the barbs lengthen the cutting edge. With a cut-on-contact arrow you want to make the cutting edge nice and wide - makes for a nastier wound more likely to kill. But - if you just make the arrow head wider - you also make it heavier. That reduces range and can reduce the speed and cutting power of the arrow. Those barbs are close together, it wouldn't take much with a pair of thin pliers to push them together to extract the arrow but they WILL cut better and leave a more nasty wound than your 'armour piercing' arrow, and will penetrate better. These days we do something similar by making the arrowheads with cut outs in the center and such, but in the old blacksmith days i doubt that would have been as easy, much easier just to notch the edges from the back and reduce weight and increase cutting width.

Verdigris compound served also as a repellent against insects because they got to know that fletchings were eaten by insects during a time so by puting verdigris on they could avoid it.

Very interesting and makes a lot of sense. You certainly wouldn't want to be moving around with that arrow head slicing your flesh up

They are all duckbill heads. The wings are either pressed, forge-welded or brazed. Barbs are there to get stuck in the horse or human. Here Sir John Smythe talk about this in 1590. “Besides all which it is to be noted, that horses in the field being wounded, or but lightly hurt with arrows, they through the great pain that upon every motion they do feel in their flesh, vein and sinews by the shaking of the arrows with their barbed heads hanging in them, do presently fall a-yerking, flinging and leaping as if they were mad, in such sort, as be in in squadron, or in troop, they do disorder one another, and never leave until they have thrown and cast their master.”

hey Matt, the thread around feathers will work like waterproofing. the hide glue is water soluble and you loose feathers each time they get wet. with string holding feathers. they will just dry again later and still be in the correct place even when shot.

The whipping is what holds the fletching on, the glue is to keep the whipping held securely.

What you say about arrowheads lodging. Take a look at what Bushman hunter-gatherers arrows do. They have a detachable shaft so that the shaft falls away, and there's almost no chance of the poisoned head being pulled clear by foliage. So that makes a lot of sense that the barbed heads were designed to stay in the wound and make the wound near untreatable.

I think you're right on track with the barbs of the arrows being to keep the arrowhead stuck in the flesh and gear of men and horses both but I do not think the extra pain was the primary goal. Post wound movement would increase the damage greatly as well as the chance of killing the target later on. In the case of horses, imagine the knight inspecting the arrow wound and thinking it's fairly superficial only to have his mount drop from under him half an hour later from continued wounding and blood loss. The heads of Military arrows of that time had to be a bit narrow to punch through armor so they did much less immediate damage, as a wider blade. Modern hunting arrows are wider than military arrows because they do not have to contend with armor, they are designed to cause massive hemorrhaging and a quick death on soft targets. In America, most states have made hunting with arrows that are barbed at all completely illegal. The reason being that if your a bad shot and the blade of the arrow did not inflict a lethal wound the animal has a much better chance of recovery if the arrow passes cleanly through or works its way out more cleanly. A barbed arrow will stay stuck in the body of the animal for a very long time and as the animal moves, continue to expand the wound. If the animal isn't recovered, that extra tearing will more than likely kill the animal in a prolonged and needlessly painful manner. Incidentally, using Dogs for any reason other than recovering wounded game is illegal, at least in my state, because the tactic of hitting an animal with a barbed arrowhead and then using dogs to run it to exhaustion, letting the arrow do more damage as the animal struggles, is not something that is in the spirit of fair chase. Great video.

From what I know, verdigris and pine pitch/hide glues doesnt degrade over time as much, lot of arrow shaft from mary rose still have the glue layer intact and all the thread and feathers are gone. First you put a of glue on the shaft, let it dry, then you freehand bound the feathers on, after that you re heat the glue, it melts all over the bindings and really secures them.

I would suggest that one the reason adding barbs to arrow heads is making the arrow un-usable by the enemy if it get stuck to something. They can't just pull it out, collect it, then use it against you, since pulling it would destroy the arrow head.

I'd been waiting for this one for awhile. Always glad to learn more about Medieval projectile weapons and their ammo. I really like crossbows (bowguns) and enjoy imagining what gear an Iron Age SWAT team would use and how they'd tactically clear a keep etc. You should do a video about melee indoors and how to clear structures at sword/bayonet point etc.

I think you have it spot on. Those principles of wounding and causing destruction or hindrance to equipment, are still doctrine.

The theory I'm familiar with has that as a purely anti-plate arrowhead. Sheet metal is weak in shearing force, but strong in torsion force. The shape of the type 16 involves both. First the blade shaped end of the point cuts with shearing force, making a slot in the metal. Then, as it penetrates farther, the cone shaped shaft wedges against the flats of the slot, using torsion force to pull the slot closed with the full strength of the metal. As it closes, it pinches around the barbs, which compress. This makes the arrowhead literally wider then the hole in the armor and impossible to remove by hand. That's why many type 16's have long thin barbs that don't flare out to the side, the flare would only impede armor penetration. Armor piercing tests show that piercing steel armor with arrows is rather difficult. The result of this arrowhead is that even a partial penetration of the armor can disable a soldier, because he is forced to either withdraw from the field to repair his armor, or go into battle with a spike inside his armor stabbing him as he moves. I'd love to see a penetration test with this arrowhead to see if the theory works, but I've only ever seen bodkin and broadhead tests.

I propose a hypothesis as to the bindings: they used the bindings to hold the fletchings in place while the glue was setting. Imagine having to sit there at least half an hour holding one piece of the fletching in place while the glue sets. You'd need one and a half hours drying time for a single arrow, not to mention the awkwardness of having to keep the correct positioning/curvature of the fletching with your fingers. With binding, you are not only able to glue the fletchings on and put the arrow away to dry on its own, you can also adjust the positioning/curvature of three fletchings with every coil of the string. After the glue dried the binding would stay on and maybe give added stability, but I think that the above hypothesis is much more likely.

I have some limited experiences with wooden shafts and fish or hide glue for the fletches. I find that the thread really helps to keep the feathers in place while the glue sets (excepting pine pitch glue) it is a real pain to remove the thread one it is embedded in the glue and the glue has set. Both of those factors would be even more important when making large numbers of arrows that might be stored. As for the copper verdigris I would bet money that it helps preserve the glue and the feathers during storage.

My favourite arrowhead!

Besides keeping the arrow shaft from splitting along the nock,,,, Maybe the thread binding for the flights simply added durability to the operational life span of the arrow. It could be stored longer, handled more roughly, was less likely to detach the fletching upon being loosed from the bow, and the flights would stay attached whilst the arrow was being retrieved from the field of battle. ( or target butts )

Using a 50 pound bow with fletchings glued with modern glue, the fletchings do fall off sometime. Tying them down with a string certainly helps.

There is actually a surgical tool designed just for removing barbed arrows. I saw one at a medical museum at For Sam Houston long ago. It looks like a long handled spoon.

I think the binding is partially there to protect the bow hand, can hurt like hell without it. Also probably to keep the fletches from peeling off during practice.

Animal glues are water soluble. Binding the fletching would keep them in place if wetted.

I think i figured out why some barbs are almost flush to the socket. english longbow arrow bags use a leather disk with a separator to keep the fletchings from getting crushed, a type 16 can get stuck if you try to pull it out instead of pulling it through the bottom of the bag. if the barbs are more or less flush it doesnt get hung up on the holes in the leather disk. the barbs dont need much space to capture flesh or tendon to do their job.

Given what you pointed out, I believe barbed arrow would be the point of choice for skirmishes, there is not yet a need to kill the enemy, you can just disengage, and it forces your enemy to lose not one, but two men, the injuried one, and the one who will take care of him. Not only that, but pehaps the wailing of the injuried could torment their companions out of the fighting spirit, inducing them to retreat without an actual battle. Lastly, a force that is show to be ill prepared to care for it’s injuried might suffer of defection as soldiers realise they might not just die (aka: “rest in peace”) but actually suffer for the rest of their lives. I believe it would be highly effective in a time before large regular arms, levies should not be prepared for large numbers of agonizing ppl, and while surviving a battle may grant some sense of “immunity” to said harms (they got out alive after all), seen it BEFORE the battle might be enough for vast amounts of farmers turned soldiers to scatter during the night never to return to camp

A further, perhaps unintentional, effect of having small barbs on an arrowhead is to carry dirt and therefore infection into a wound. Typically an archer would stick several shafts into the ground near his feet, for ease of loading, so the gaps between the barbs and arrowhead would be filled with dirt when pulled from the ground.

I have some of Will's arrows and love them. He is a artist with them.

I have to agree that the barbs are meant to catch in the clothing and armor of the opponent. Looking at the shape they are so similar to the armor piercing bodkin style while adding as small and inconspicuous barbs as possible. I believe this was to reduce their surface area as much as they could to help keep their armor piercing capabilities while at the same time making them impossible to pull out after tey pierced a gambeson or brigandine. This would essentially incapacitate the enemy enough that they would not be able to continue fighting even if they weren't seriously injured. And that to me seems worth the added effort to make the type 16.

One video it would be fascinating to see would be what happens if your arrows are too slender for your high-poundage warbow. If an experiment of that could be done safely, it would be really cool to see on a high-speed camera.

About the glue and the green colour, my personal understanding: medieval skin or bone glues are very good....if it´s dry. But they can soften in damp conditions. They are also prone to being eaten by moths, beetles, bacteria, and mould. Also, they are applied warm, and need some time to cool and set. I tried it, and without using a modern mechanical device like a spring loaded press, I find it much easier to apply the glue in sections if you secure the fletches with threading while youprogress from the shaft toward the nock. I suspect the green colour is some copper salts like copper acetate or copper sulfate, which are highly toxic and anti-microbial, protecting the glue from rot during storage.

Good thought on the barbs catching on armor, but I don't think that's it. With any non-rigid armor, if you can withdraw the head from the body, you can pull the shaft down leaving the point up rather than in line to poke right back into the wound when released. I think it's just a compromise between armor piercing bodkin and meat damaging broadhead.

I'd wager that the string is to support the structural integrity of the arrow from notches and such and prevent it from splitting all the way down the shaft in case of light damage.

I think if they could glue stringed musical instruments together, they could glue feathers to sticks.

I love your deductive reasoning, you should have been a detective. great video Matt

0:39 Captain Context's superpower is innuendo.

So you're saying a thicker, longer shaft is necessary to handle more poundage? I thought it was for better penetration. Context.

I don't have a scholarly opinion on why arrow makers would use redundancy in using glue and bindings, but I would speculate that in certain conditions (rain, cold, extremely hot, direct sunlight, etc) the glues would change in performance and the bindings would assure a better range of performance. I would speculate the bindings added to glue is a composite system in keeping the fletchings in place. Because nothing is more disappointing when that one arrow that counts the most would fail and you went hungry or got wounded because the arrow drifted off the mark.

We should remember the barbed javelins used by the germanic peoples in earlier centuries. Even before the roman iron age, two-barbed or one-barbed javelins were used by germanics and were still in use after the romans.

Even the camera wants to focus on the swords, can you blame it? LOL Interesting video, know very little about historic archery, so this was highly informative.

Binding the fletchings with thread is probably for added strength, although they are rather beautiful too. The finest arrows from the Mary Rose find were bound with silk thread, which is very strong and very beautiful. So I reckon it's a reinforcement and for decoration.

i have heard reference (cant remember where) to barbed arrows having to be cut out of bodies after a battle, so if your mate gets killed by an arrow you cant just pull it out and shoot it back. the romans did somethign similar with their pilums i believe, designing them so that the enemy could not throw them back. after all you dont want to be supplying the enemy with fresh arrows!

I think we all like a nice tight fletching and that bound glue helps keep it that way.

This Will sounds like my kind of guy, thanks for the recommendations Matt, i'm gonna go see what I can learn from him.

Love the memes but just have to say above all, your content and information is top notch, keep it up!

I'd expect the barbs bend slightly with the rotation of the arrow once they enter the target, so they wouldn't need to be particularly pronounced like a hunting head.

The verdigris is in the glue is to keep insects from eating the hide glue. It's interesting that the French accused the English of poisoning their arrows because of the verdigris.

20 posts on your preference of arrow shaft thickness so far, Matt. Do be careful of the juvenile minds that are not capable of keeping things on the sidewalk and out of the gutter as it were. I enjoyed your analysis and hope you keep the content coming.

Phillip the second of Macedon, faced tha same problem as Henry the fifth during the siege of Byzantium, since he had an arrow stuck into his eye, which was removed by his doctor Critoboulos. The operation was successful but he lived the rest of his life with only one eye.

The green stuff is for prevent the insectos eat the hide glue

scholagladiatoria: proud provider of Medieval knowledge and Innuendo

Great video! Good speculations on barbed arrowheads, but there's another explanation to add. Barbed arrowhead designs to reduce metal/weight while maintaining cutting edge. The Traditional Bowyer's Bible Vol 2 highlights this in a modern hunting context--have enough blade width to clear a reduced friction "path" for the shaft, get high penetration, yet reduce the overall weight for better velocity/speed. The barbed design is the most weight and metal efficient design to achieve a given cutting edge. That explanation could also be true in a military context.

Concerning medieval glue: I made some "authentic" casein glue for a heater shield project. It's made out of skim milk, vinegar, and pickling lime (aka calcium hydroxide). I did a test in which I glued two pieces of wood together with regular, modern, Elmer's white glue, and another two pieces with my casein glue. After drying for a day, I (somewhat unscientifically) tested the bond by breaking it with my hands. The casein glue worked almost as well as the modern glue; I needed just slightly more force to break the modern glue. Now, this was my first time at making the glue, so I assume a real medieval fletcher would know what they were doing and make higher-quality glue than me. In my opinion, authentic medieval casein glue would be more than sufficient to glue feathers to a shaft. However, I have no idea how long that bond would last. I've read that the dried glue can become moldy if left in a damp place; and it can even be eaten by bugs. I would assume that the storage of arrows would try to prevent both of those from happening. Another common medieval glue is hide glue made from rawhide. It's consistency seems to be analogous to modern rubber cement. I have no experience working with that, so I can't comment on it. Does anybody know what type of glue medieval fletchers used?

The theory I find makes the most sense is the sealant (I don't know how to spell it) was used as an attempt to water proof the glue I don't know how accurate that is or how effective because I haven't seen any tests but it sense with water soluble glues

I think the string is to secure the fletchings together while the glue sets .

it could simply be for durability. If they become wet then possibly it hinders how the glue sticks so may be the string is secondary to help out in wet conditions.

I believe it may be due to the drying time and moisture susceptibility of the glues used for the feathers. I would hate holding a feather in place while hide glue dries, three times in a row, per arrow.

If the glue were water soluble, the binding would keep the fletches on when the shafts are kept in damp conditions. Coating the shaftment can prevent the binding from being broken. The coating being toxic to feather mites is useful. Why barbs? Because they cause more damage, are more disabling, than something easy to withdraw cleanly.

The question of fletchings brings up an interesting point! As far as I have been able to determine, as far back as Otzi the Ice Man, the Nydam find and others, ALL ancient and medieval European arrows were fletched using the thread-wrap method. Why? Well, I'm not that psychic, and I believe that can only ever be an exercise in conjecture. Cheers!

Henry of Monmouth was wounded in the face at Shrewsbury in 1403. An English, not a Welsh town, and while fighting against an English rebel army led by the Northumberland lord Henry "Hotspur" Percy. Near the Welsh border, but not in Wales or against the Welsh.

I think it's just used to cause the broadhead to become stuck inside the enemy. Whether it's a horse or human. The more resources and time to remove these safely would have taken more men out of the battle. Same theory they had with the 5.56 round they developed for the M-16. Wounded men usually takes 2-3 men out of the fight compared to one if he is killed. Plus let's face it. Causing the enemy more effective wounding, and possibility for infection to set in would be effective in killing more men. As well for hunting animals while foraging it would come in handy. It maybe be a harder broad head to make. But a Blacksmith who has been making them for a while would become pretty proficient in making them faster and more easily than say a blacksmith trying the first time. Just the sheer amount of pain and suffering it would cause pulling that out would cause fear of being hit by one. Plus if it breaks off, agian the risk for infection was worse. IDK if this is just a rumor, but I heard that some Bowmen would stick their BH's in horse crap to make it even more likely to cause infection. And geez, 140-200lbs bows. Amazing how strong those guys would have to be. I hunt with a 60 lb compound that's nothing really. But I know guys who do it with 80+ pound compounds, and that's really nothing compared to these. I guess they would be volley shooting mostly instead of having to hold aim for up to a minute sometimes though. So different styles I guess. But still, tough men.

If a child gets a fishhook stuck on it's finger, up to this day you have to push that hook through and cut the barb off to get it out. It'd be interesting to explore how annoying an arrow stuck in only your equipment is. Pila are said to make shields unusable, maybe arrows have a similar effect? I mean even without actually hurting the person wearing that equipment.

Ultra pure hide glue was stronger than modern glues. There are some nice stats in the traditional bowiers bibles. The problem was that they were more vulnerable to things such as moisture. Hot cold and exposure to weather could loosen the glue. If it was exposed to moisture the thread wrap would allow it to set up after. Kinda a belt and braces thing.

Actually, I would say that the Idea behind the barbs was not to make the suffering for the hit people longer, because in a time where allies often changed you didn't want to completely destroy an army, you might one day need to fight alongside them, and also the people whoms flesh you would pierce would often be the farmers and simple workers who work the fields you might capture. However, the idea of getting them stuck in equipment/armour/horses might actually be more preferable, because it causes your opponent to drop one or two fighters out of the line, have them abandon the fight for that day

Very instructive!!

Ancient glues weren't waterproof. Rain, humidity etc would often make the glue separate and then you'd lose your fletch. Many primitive arrows have been found with the fletches tied on as well.

I'm pretty sure they used barbed arrow heads because well, they knew it fucks your shit up and just got them on because fucking shit up for your enemy is a good thing. Whichever effect it had, damage to flesh of men, horses or even equipment, might not have been the main focus when developping those heads, but rather side effects to an already effective weapon.

People interested in instrument making know that glue made from hide is very effective. Your hypothesis sounds pretty convincing to me.

From what I heard, from historians, is that the verdigris kept insects from eating the rabbit hide glue they used for arrow heads and fletchings. So for long term storage, it was to keep the bugs from eating the glue, Which would be bad when you needed them. I don't know if this is the truth. But the people who said it seemed to believe this was the explanation.

Your "Henry V" type arming sword with your (I believe) most recent tulwar, create a visual "pop" that I don't think any other combination would. It's a beautiful juxtaposition of disparate sword styles!

On the barbs, if they are thin enough they would distort on impact. Aerodynamic until the hit. On the string, it could be for balancing or also for contamination purposes. Vanes arent always that important.

Maybe fletching's were bound for aero dynamics. making sure that every bit of the fletch stayed connected to the Arrow Shaft as the force of the wind maybe get in between the shaft and the arrow and fletch and force it loose or to come off therefore miss guiding the arrow shot. You want the wind flowing over the fletch not between fletch and shaft

Rather they were bound or glued, storage seems to be the common answer pherhaps the glue did not keep as well. However it could also be as mundane as resource availability. If they did not have the resources to glue thousands of arrows, then they simply would not. It may also depend upon the glue of the region pherhaps the local glue simply did not have what it takes. Pherhaps Bound arrows were cheaper or more simply made, therefore easy to mass produce.

I love a fat shaft.

There is an organic glue "horse glue" my grand father called it. Incredible stuff. I know it works on wood joining, it will blnd like it is wood itself and last for ever.

Great clip. And I love Will's arrows. I have some in my arrow bag and they are real beauties. Actually, I am always a bit anxious about breaking them. :-D About the bound fletchings: This might not be about the primary purpose, but I made a learning which I found quite interesting, also because there is still some discussion about traditional archers wearing gloves on their bow-hands. When I was shooting with different types of arrows recently, I recognized that shooting with bound fletchings was more gentle to my naked bow hand, while the uncovered quill of unbound fletching from modern wood arrows cut into the skin of my knuckle where the arrow had laid. My longbows have a rather light draw weight of 35 lbs and 50 lbs, so I assume that when shooting warbows with 100 lbs and more, the cutting wounds created by uncovered quills would be a lot worse than the tiny scratches I experienced. Just some insight that might be valuable. ;-) Thank you for your great content, Matt. One of my favourite channels.

Were they known to dip the arrows in excrement or other substances to contaminate the wound?

If the shafts were indeed made of ash, they would be very hard if not impossible to break off by the victim and have to carry the intact shaft around with them during the fight and would be very hindering as far as movement and would indeed cause more pain each times the shaft bumped into ANYTHING! So I'm in agreement that its made to cause pain and reduce the victim's ability to keep fighting!!

Comment to the discussion below of the the merits of barbed arrows: At the Battle of Stiklestad in Norway in 1030, The Icelandic poet Thormod Kolbrunarskald was fighting alongside King Olav. After the king was killed and the battle was over, he went to a cabin near the battlefield where many wounded men was. He went inside and eventually was noticed by the woman tending the wounded men. When asked, he answered (in scaldic verse, no less) that he was wounded by an arrow close to his heart. Follows a quote from an english translation of the saga. " Then she took a large pair of tongs, and tried to pull out the iron; but it sat too fast, and would in no way come, and as the wound was swelled, little of it stood out to lay hold of. Now said Thormod, "Cut so deep in that thou canst get at the iron with the tongs, and give me the tongs and let me pull." She did as he said. Then Thormod took a gold ring from his hand, gave it to the nurse-woman, and told her to do with it what she liked. "It is a good man's gift," said he: "King Olaf gave me the ring this morning." Then Thormod took the tongs, and pulled the iron out; but on the iron there was a hook, at which there hung some morsels of flesh from the heart, some white, some red. When he saw that, he said, "The king has fed us well. I am fat, even at the heart-roots;" and so saying he leant back, and was dead. And with this ends what we have to say about Thormod." source: www.scriptoriumnovum.com/l/olaf01.html and www.scriptoriumnovum.com/l/olaf02.html

Glue and thread, belt and suspenders.

They have to be big and sturdy so they can take the acceleration force 😉

You need to add a shirt to your store with a war arrow that says "I love a fat shaft"

Wearing a gambeson under say a brigandine would likely stop the arrow but then thos barbs play a role, discomfort from it just prodding in as they move, but if they pull the arrow out the barbs will tear and slice the leather that the plates are fastened too destroying the integrity alowing a thrust from a longsword or spear etc in the same vicinity to bypass the plates as they flex more. That could possibly be another purpose of them.

The arrowhead found inside Oetizi the Iceman seems to have had broad, blunt barbs

The arrow maker at 5:26 = Will Bowfletchsmith? Is that the guy's proper name? Pretty impressive.